Working with Philippe over the last five years has been a privilege and a pleasure.

We had a pretty steep start in 2009, with the incident in the LHC forcing us to redefine our ambitions of early discoveries, with a non-LHC physics program that had been compressed close to extinction, and an undefined CERN share in the upgrade of the LHC experiments. On top of these difficulties we were facing an inherited “creative” plan to reduce PH to 390 FTEs.

Philippe played a fundamental role in addressing these issues and coming up with satisfactory solutions.

His reputation of being a very refined, all-around experimental physicist was already so firmly established, that there is no need for me to be pleonastic, other than fully confirm it. Moreover, our collaboration has allowed me to experience other aspects of him, which I consider to be equally important.

First of all, Philippe has a contagious passion for physics: accepting to step in as Department Head, putting the general interest before his desire to finally look at the LHC data after many years of hard work in the construction of CMS, has surely been a tough decision for him and we should be grateful for his generosity.

Secondly, he is a living example that you can be aggressive with problems and remain kind to people.

Finally, Philippe is the most efficient physics paper reader in this galaxy!

When he told me one year ago about his intention to step down at the end of 2013, I cannot say I was happy, but I fully understood (with a hint of envy) his motivations. I hope that he will not totally forget our Monday meetings, and will occasionally drop by my office to discuss about physics.

Starting from January, Livio Mapelli,  who has been Philippe's deputy, will step in, with Roger Forty replacing him as deputy.

Welcome on board, guys, there is still plenty to do! I am sure we will have a lot of fun and a few headaches, but you know that already.

Warmest wishes for a Happy Holiday Season and I am looking forward to an exciting 2014.