Caroline Arnaud leads New Business Development at Danone Specialised Nutrition, connecting science, patient needs, and business to turn opportunities into impact. With experience across product development, marketing, sales, strategy, and boards, she thrives on simplifying complexity and bringing teams together to create meaningful innovation in healthcare.

Interviewed by Amra Zvizdic­­

Your career bridges engineering, biotechnology, leadership roles in Sales and Marketing, and now New Business Development at Nutricia. How has this multidisciplinary background defined the way you identify opportunities and drive innovation in your work?

My career has always been about connecting different worlds. I started as a biotechnology engineer and later completed an MBA, because I wanted to understand both the science and the business side from the start. Over the years, I have worked across R&D, product development, marketing, sales, business development, and M&A, and I have also had exposure to general management.

This mix of roles helps me spot where patient’s needs, innovation, and long-term business value truly meet. It also makes it easier to execute. Because I have worked in many functions, I understand how teams think, what drives them, and what challenges they face. I can translate between departments and bring people together around a clear direction.

On top of that, I have worked internationally, in France, the Netherlands, and Spain, and in both large corporates and smaller, PE-backed companies. That combination has made me adaptable to different cultural environment, comfortable navigating complexity and turning it into something practical and actionable.

Nutricia pioneers nutritional solutions that have a direct impact on people’s lives. What does ‘transforming lives through the power of nutrition’ mean to you personally as a business leader?

For me, it is not just a slogan. I genuinely believe in the power of purpose because I have seen what it can unlock. I have seen it in action through the people I work with. I have witnessed teams going far beyond what is expected. I remember situations where colleagues drove late at night or over the weekend to deliver a life-saving product to a hospital, simply because a newborn needed it to thrive. That kind of commitment doesn´t come from incentives, it comes from meaning.

At the same time, I have learned that purpose only matters if the model is sustainable. Transforming lives only happens when the product actually reaches the patient. That requires the whole system to work: strong science, real patient needs, a viable business model, and solutions that also make sense for healthcare professionals and patients. To me, transforming lives through nutrition means making sure all of those pieces come together, so the impact on the patients is real and lasting.

Transforming lives only happens when the product actually reaches the patient. That requires the whole system to work: strong science, real patient needs, a viable business model, and solutions that also make sense for healthcare professionals and patients.

You’ve been a pioneer throughout your career. Why is a pioneering spirit so important in healthcare, and how has it influenced your own vision for the future of innovation and nutrition?

A pioneering spirit is essential in healthcare because innovation directly affects patient outcomes and, ultimately, people’s lives. If we stop pushing boundaries, we stop improving care. What I have learned throughout my career is that in healthcare, being pioneering cannot mean cutting corners. Speed should never come at the expense of evidence or patient safety. We need to explore, challenge what exists, and move faster, but always ethically and safely. For me, real innovation in healthcare is about balancing ambitions with responsibility.

You speak about speed and excellence in execution. In large and complex organisations, how do you balance the need for agility with long-term strategic thinking?

Agility only works if it comes with direction. Speed without strategy burns the organisation, demotivates teams, and quickly becomes pointless while strategy without execution is irrelevant. In large organisations, the balance comes from creating structure and rhythm. What has worked for me is to set a clear cadence for the year, with strong governance around execution, measurable KPIs, and empowered teams who can deliver quickly.

At the same time, I always protect dedicated time for reflection and decision-making. In practice, that means running two parallel agendas: a delivery agenda that moves fast and is managed weekly, and a strategic agenda that runs at a slower pace, reviewed monthly or bi-monthly depending on the project. That rhythm helps maintain speed while staying aligned with long-term priorities.

Alongside your executive role, you actively serve as Board Member of Pharmactive Biotech Products, S.L.U. How has this experience influenced your leadership style, decision-making, and perspective on value creation?

Serving as a Board Member has given me a very different perspective compared to being an executive. It requires a mindset shift, because the role is not about running the business day to day, but about challenging when things go well and supporting when the business faces more difficult moments. What I realised is that it is easy to ask questions and point out what is missing. The real challenge is asking the right questions, the ones that genuinely add value, rather than creating extra complexity or unnecessary work that ends up exhausting the organisation.

This experience has made me more selective and more strategic in the way I challenge teams. It pushed me to think carefully before asking for more analysis or more actions, and to focus on what will truly move the business forward. It has also made me more aware of the reality that boards are still largely male-dominated. Even when parity is encouraged, there are moments where you feel you are invited partly because you are a woman, which can be frustrating when you want to be recognised primarily for your expertise and contribution.

Serving as a Board Member [...] requires a mindset shift, because the role is not about running the business day to day, but about challenging when things go well and supporting when the business faces more difficult moments.