Paris
Chair
Paul Taylor
Editor of the FT's Connected Business and US Telecoms Editor, Financial Times
Paul Taylor is the editor of the FT’s The Connected Business section, which focuses on the application of IT to business, and US telecommunications editor.
He joined the FT in 1978 and has since served as local government correspondent, assistant news editor, Americas page editor, New York correspondent, foreign news editor, SE Asia business correspondent and management writer. He was the FT's UK-based IT correspondent for most of the 1990s, launched the FT’s personal technology column in 2002 and started The Connected Business service in September 2010.
Mr Taylor left the FT briefly in 2000 to help found a web-based technology analysis start-up and moved back to New York, where he is now based. He speaks regularly at conferences on technology and the Internet. He has also appeared on CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, BBC TV and others.
Mr Taylor received a post-graduate degree from Cardiff University, Wales, and a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.
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Alain Benoist Head of Group Processes and Information Systems, Société Générale Group Since October 2010, Alain Benoist has been the Director of Processes and Information Systems for the Société Générale Group, a role in which he supervises the transformation of the operating model, a major axis of the Ambition 2015 program. Mr Benoist began his career at Meteo France before joining Société Générale in 1991. At first he occupied various IT project management positions, both in France and in the US, and subsequently took responsibility for the management of different IT departments. From 2000 till 2006, Mr Benoist was Chief Information Officer for the debt and financing product line of the Corporate & Investment Bank, and was Chief Technology Officer from 2007 to 2008. At the end of 2008, as part of the direction of Resources and Innovation, he led the implementation of a shared services centre for IT infrastructure (GTS) at group level and was appointed Deputy Director for this entity. Mr Benoist has a diploma from the École Centrale, Paris, and a diploma from the National School of Meteorology. He is also a member of the Bank’s management committee. |
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Eric Blanchot Chief Information Officer, Veolia Environment Services Eric Blanchot is Chief Information Officer at Veolia Environmental Services and has held this position for the last three years. Before this he was Chief Information Officer at Legris Industries Multi-Activities Group from 2007 to 2009. Over the last 25 years Mr Blanchot has worked to define and implement information systems in order to create business value using different Enterprise Resource Planning solutions for various industries, including automotive, car remarketing, mining, telecommunications and utilities. He began his career in 1989 as Project Manager at Sopra, where he was responsible for implementing the HR information system. Subsequent roles at the company included Chief Information Officer of Waste Management France, Chief Information Officer of Waste Management International, and ultimately Program Director at Steria to implement ERP internationally. Mr Blanchot holds a degree in Engineering from EISTI and a Master’s degree in Computer Sciences from FIT. |
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Alain Larousse Chief Information Officer, Air Liquide Alain Larousse was appointed Chief Information Officer in December 2011 after having worked on a mission for General Management to define the medium term strategy of the group related to IT. His career with Air Liquide started in 1992 in Research and Development, where he managed a domain dedicated to innovation in process control. In 2000 Mr Larousse joined Air Liquide Electronics UK as Managing Director. He later integrated the Group Operations Control team in Paris, subsequently taking the lead of this department. In 2006, he took on responsibility for Air Liquide’s activities in southern and sub-Saharan Africa. |
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Ghislain Lescuyer Chief Information Officer, Alstom Ghislain Lescuyer has been Chief Information Officer of Alstom since May 2012. Prior to this he was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development for the Group. From 1982 to 1993, Mr Lescuyer held commercial positions at Société Anonyme des Télécommunications and Hewlett Packard. He was a consultant at McKinsey & Company from 1989 to1993 before joining Bull the following year as Sourcing and Logistics Director. Subsequently he held the roles of President of the Manufacturing Division, President of the Smartcards & Terminals Division, and finally became President of Bull Services. Mr Lescuyer was appointed as Managing Director of Groupe Arnault‘s internet investment fund, Europatweb, in 2000. He then joined Thomson as an Executive Board Member and Group Senior Executive Vice President, and was successively President of the Systems and Equipment Division and Vice President of Group Strategy and Marketing. In 2007 he was appointed as Executive Vice President of Areva T&D’s Products business. Mr Lescuyer graduated from the “Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications” in Paris and holds an MBA from INSEAD. |
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Robert-Jan Thomassen Enterprise Services France, Area Sales Manager, HP Robert-Jan Thomassen leads the Strategic Sales activities for HP Enterprise Services in France, with a specific focus on high-value, complex outsourcing engagements in the Infrastructure, Applications and Business Process areas. Mr Thomassen has developed an extensive knowledge of the outsourcing business through more than 20 years of experience. Prior to taking on this responsibility with HP, he held various positions with IBM and Sema Group, including Strategic Sales and management of large global outsourcing contracts in multiple industries (Telecoms, Electronics, Manufacturing, Finance). He has degrees in Economics and Computer Sciences from University Paris Dauphine. |
