Renault chairman Senard to step down from Nissan’s board

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TOKYO (Reuters) -Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is to step down from Nissan’s board of directors, the Japanese automaker said on Thursday, as the company tackles its declining performance.

Senard, who served as Nissan’s vice chairman, will resign at the end of the annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled for June, a company statement said.

It said another Renault representative, Pierre Fleuriot, would also leave Nissan’s board at the same time.

As the two step down, Valerie Landon, a former Credit Suisse executive who is serving on the board of automotive supplier Forvia, and Timothy Ryan, who was an executive at Natixis, would be nominated to join the board.

A source close to Renault, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the financial background of the two nominees, put forward by Renault, meant they could support Nissan in its ongoing restructuring.

As part of an alliance that stretched back more than two decades, Renault and Nissan have had two representatives each on the other company’s board.

Senard joined Nissan’s board in 2019. He said last month that Renault was ready to help the Japanese carmaker through its current challenges.

Senard faced the task of improving relations between Renault and Nissan after the arrest in 2018 of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn. He was accused by the Tokyo prosecutor’s office of financial misconduct, which he denies.

Fleuriot has served on Nissan’s board since 2020.

Both automakers agreed in March to modify their alliance to allow for a reduction in cross-shareholdings and to relieve Nissan of its commitment to invest in Renault’s electric vehicle unit Ampere.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Jan Harvey and Barbara Lewis)