OUR ALUMNI

Could you tell us more about your professional career?

I started by doing an extended VSNA (similar to a VIE, Ed.) in the United States, where my job was to put the DATAR, Délégation interministérielle à l’Aménagement du Territoire et à l’Attractivité Régionale (“Inter-Ministerial Delegation for Land Management and Regional Attractiveness”), in contact with American industrial investors.

Having further specialised in artificial intelligence at SupTelecom (1981-1982) after my degree at ISAE-SUPAERO, I joined Framentec (a subsidiary of Framatome, which became Areva, then Orano, Ed.) in 1986, specialising in the development of expert systems, where I worked as a R&D project manager.

In 1988, I then joined the European Space Agency, first in the field of AI, then simulation, then as a satellite systems engineer (ENVISAT), before finally joining the International Space Station program in 1997. Here, I was first sent as a liasion engineer to NASA, then appointed as the manager for the development and later management of the European ground segment program until 2019, when I decided to retire after a 30-year career, which, while difficult at times, was very exciting.

What obstacles did you overcome when you founded the J.E. in 1979?

As co-founder, the J.E. was initially born out of the desire to confront real problems that companies around us faced, no doubt also to find our place there.

It was difficult starting out since nothing like this had been done before. I still have fond memories of it - my first personal project taught me what it meant to really want something.

Could you tell us more about your professional career?

I decided to join Thales to work on computer science, a bit by chance, since I was counting on joining Arthur Anderson or a similar firm instead. After a couple of years working in technical positions, I decided to move into management where I worked in several positions.

Afterwards, I wanted to innovate the services sector by creating a Services Business Unit, central to Thales, which would be responsible for major outsourcing contracts regarding aircraft operations, maintenance, training, etc.

Following the end of this strategy, I joined the space division where I developed the same approach for Syracuse (a telecommunication system by satellite), then for Earth observation.

Since 2015, I’ve launched the financing for the Stratobus project (a stratospheric airship). I’m continuing to work on this today, as well as on client relations.

What obstacles did you overcome when you founded the J.E. in 1979?

Founding a Junior-Enterprise within an engineering school in 1979 was no small task.

The first step was to get the school’s administration to understand and accept our entrepreneurial process. We then had to convince the school’s management that our investment in the Junior-Enterprise would not negatively impact our grades.

Could you tell us more about your professional career?

I had always wanted to work in a factory, so I turned down a position in flight testing at a missile systems company and ended up working as a Production Methods engineer at an automotive supplier that had the good idea of inventing the airbag. There, I carried out tasks as varied as directing a product launch, selling production lines abroad, and managing a factory. I experienced first-hand the transformation of this company, Autoliv, from a European medium-sized company with 3,000 employees to an international group with 50,000.

The aeronautics industry caught up with me again, at Aerolia and then Stelia Aerospace, where I had some great adventures - first in Operations, then in setting up a factory in the United Arab Emirates, then finally in managing the Aerostructures program.

Today, as the Director of Airbus Programs at Hexcel, I lead a team which coordinates projects to improve the performance of our current and future contracts with the Airbus group.

Could you tell us more about your professional career?

I joined Sagem, which became Safran after the merger with Snecma, to supervise drone flights. This experience allowed me to discover navigation systems and their inertial sensors. I also had the opportunity to put continuous improvement methods into practice.

Since 2017, I have returned to the Safran drones team for the industrialisation of the Patroller UAV as an Industrial Unit Manager.

Could you tell us more about your professional career?

After my 2nd year at ISAE-SUPAERO, I continued my studies with a double degree at Georgia Tech in the Master in Aerospace Engineering program. I had every intention of returning to France after one year and continuing my career in the Toulouse region.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that it would be interesting to start a career in the United States to make the most of my American degree. At the beginning of 2014, I realised that the aerospace industry on the other side of the Atlantic was reserved for American citizens for national security reasons. At the same time, I had the opportunity to do a summer internship at Bank of America in Atlanta in their Corporate Investment Group. I was then contacted again to join the team full-time, and so I started my career at Bank of America at the beginning of 2015.

After a short-term assignment in the London office, at the beginning of 2018, having recently been promoted, I hesitated between continuing in the finance industry or in a large tech group. I decided to join Goldman Sachs in New York in my current position. I am what you call a “desk strat” - i.e., a “quant” (quantitative analyst) who works at a trading desk together with traders. My desk is the Treasury Desk. Our mission is two-fold: on one hand, we are responsible for financing all the company’s activities and redeploying the funds raised to Goldman Sachs’ other business units. On the other hand, we consolidate all of our credit, funding, and interest rate delta risk at our desk. We hedge this risk in order to limit the impact of market movements on our assets and liabilities. Every day, there is a lot of math, programming, and interactions around the world: Hong Kong, Bangalore, London, Tokyo… Contrary to popular belief, the corporate culture is excellent, with a very present “hive mindset”.

Could you tell us more about your professional career?

Thanks to ISAE-SUPAERO, I had the opportunity to study at two other schools: École Polytechnique and the University of Berkeley in California. I have worked in multiple industries, from telecoms to naval to facility management. These experiences made me realise that many companies failed to the make the most of the digital revolution. That is why I decided to start a data and digital consulting firm based in Frankfurt, Germany immediately after my studies.