In February 1988, he was appointed Deputy Director – then director in January 1991 – in cash and financing.[6] He then moved to construction materials group Saint-Gobain where he remained for nine years before joining aluminium conglomerate Pechiney in 1996 as CFO and a member of its executive committee. When the mining firm Alcan launched a takeover bid for Pechiney in 2003, Senard was appointed chairman and became a member of Alcan's executive committee.[2]