All of this happened last year, when Societe Generale's contemporary art collection expanded its selection committee from two to four art experts and added four Group employees who work in pairs with the experts. "I wanted to bring together the expertise of employees who are knowledgeable amateurs and art experts," explains Hafida Guenfoud-Duval, Head of Patronage and Sponsorship at Societe Generale. "The selection committee is an important space for sharing and discussion. It takes the Group's values of team spirit and applies them to art." Employees were selected through a competition open to Group employees based in the Paris region.

"The Selection Committee's first job was to choose the works to be presented at an initial board meeting. My partner on the committee, Régis Cotentin, who is an Exhibition Commissioner, is based in Lille," explains Cléry. "We mainly discussed issues by e-mail, and our exchanges encouraged me as I made my choices. I still consider myself an outsider, and at times it's hard for me to find the words and arguments to defend a work I've proposed and believe in to the experts. But that might be the key to the committee's work: striking a balance so that we can make selections which fit into the Collection and its spirit, while taking risks and betting on young and unfamiliar talents."

The four expert-employee teams debate the merits of the works proposed by all of the committee members at their preparatory meetings. "That's the best part. The art experts on the Committee let it all out when they're discussing the works. There's nothing politically correct about it!"

At the second meeting, the committee narrows down its choices and starts to contact galleries. The artistic patronage team then presents a portfolio of two of three works per artist to the Purchasing Committee, headed by General Management.

Cléry confides that, "My favourite purchase that we've made is definitely "Etat Montagne" by Mélanie Vincent. She used a variety of very different techniques, like engraving, embossing and neon to create a work which is peaceful, contemplative, harmonious and nuanced. She's only 26 years old and I feel that it's very important to purchase works by young artists, as well as from more experienced artists."

How would he sum up his year on the committee? "Now I really feel that the Collection is alive! I have a firsthand view of the care taken to maintain and enrich it, to get it out of the Towers and to get people talking about it."

Click here to find out more about the Societe Generale contemporary art Collection