Events

Among the women leaders in tourism, she is certainly among the most active.

Her face is well known in the sector, as she has contributed for many years to the smooth running of our institutions.

Vice-president of the Manor network, administrator and treasurer of the APST and of the EDV… you will of course recognize Michelle Laget Herbaut.

While women are thinning as one climbs to the highest echelons of the profession, the president of Voyages C. Mathez, a specialist – among other things – in business travel and events, particularly enjoys financial management and continues to keep a close eye on the books at the highest level. “I’ve always been immersed in the institutional world“, she tells us.

A habit she inherited from her father, Jean Laget, the founder of Voyages C. Mathez.

Together with her sister, Brigitte Bailet, they have taken the reins of the family business and shared the roles.

Brigitte, based in Nice – where the group’s headquarters is also located – oversees the southern France activity, with teams based in Marseille.

Michelle, on the other hand, runs the northern side from the Paris region. At the head of the group, they juggle three activities: cruise receptive in all the main ports of France, business travel and events.

A diversification that allows Voyages C.Mathez to stay on course, despite all kinds of uncertainties.

“We really need to have several strings to our bow. Depending on the year, some activities will perform better than others, and vice versa. That’s how we manage to get by and endure,” says Michelle Laget Herbaut. “Because with all the hurdles we’ve faced, we can say that our profession is very resilient.”.

But while Michelle Laget Herbaut embodies the face of Voyages C. Mathez, behind the scenes, another family member is gradually taking the reins of the business.

She has even just been officially named the third in the group.

Relatively discreet, Fanny Herbaut Chauveau, the daughter of Michelle Laget Herbaut, began her career in the events department nearly 14 years ago, as a project manager.

A graduate of a master’s in human resources, she has also managed the entire HR side of Voyages C.Mathez since 2012, i.e., the management of 47 people, plus about a hundred payroll records during peak season for the guides who work for the cruise receptive arm.

Hesitant at first about starting a profession she did not know, she benefited from the training provided by her mother to get started. It must be said that she has grown up in the milieu since her youngest days. “My grandfather used to take me with him on the cruise ships and my mother in the field. I would help with the cloakroom after-hours with her“, recalls Fanny Herbaut Chauveau.

For four years now, she has become the head of the group’s events division in Paris. And since last week, the new deputy general manager. “We discussed this a lot this summer with my mother. She wished to step back from operational duties, do less fieldwork to focus on financial management and on her institutional role.

I am therefore adding to my responsibilities the business ticketing, which is an important area for us, as well as the commercial division“, continues Fanny Herbaut Chauveau.

If the new DGA is indeed set to refresh the communications, marketing, and SEO across Voyages C.Mathez’s various activities, she has decided to tackle first the launch of a new brand for its events business.

“Our clients have long known that Voyages C.Mathez also has an events subsidiary, and word-of-mouth has always worked well. However, we are completely invisible online to potential new clients. When you search for ‘event agency’, we don’t show up. That’s normal because we are identified as ‘Voyages’. Today, I want to develop other sectors and other clients, because I want to grow the company“, says Fanny Herbaut Chauveau.

September 15, 2026 marks the birth of Maison Laget, whose name pays tribute to the group’s founder, and which is defined as “a complementary brand, with a high-end positioning, designed for public as well as private or corporate events“, adds Michelle Laget Herbaut.

With the aim of showing everyone the know-how of Voyages C. Mathez’s teams. “In the era of AI and service delivered instantly, all the time, it was very important for us to return to the basics, to keep that warmth and still a concierge-like touch, to be a partner rather than a mere supplier.

Of course I could launch a platform to sell transfers or breakfasts, but if there is no human behind it, it makes no sense“, emphasizes Fanny Herbaut Chauveau.

Maison Laget will initially have a website, an Instagram page, and a LinkedIn page.