Groupe des Ecoles des Mines - Quality careers in all areas of the economy

Georges Charpak graduated from the Ecole des Mines de Paris at the end of the Second World War and specialized in Experimental Physics while studying under Frédéric Joliot-Curie at the College de France. In 1959 he began working for the CERN (the European Center for Nuclear Research), to which he devoted his career. The Center is now known as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. In 1992 he was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in recognition of the particle detector he invented in this laboratory. Since his retirement, he has developed instruments based on his multi-wire proportional chamber, initially for the School of Physics and Industrial Chemistry of Paris and then for a private company he founded. These instruments, especially those using a low dose of radiation, can be used in Biology and Medicine.He now devotes most of his time to the wide-scale reform of school teaching of Science. Thus he has undertaken research at the EMSaint-Etienne into innovative and inexpensive instruments destined to teach young school-children how to measure radiation.

A graduate of the Ecole des Mines of Paris,Maurice Allais began his career as an engineer at the service of the Mines of Nantes, before becoming a Research Director at the prestigious French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). His position as an economics professor allowed him to produce a lifework that has owed him international recognition as well as many French and foreign awards, of which the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1988. Maurice Allais has also done considerable work in the field of physics, by studying gravitation and the movement of the paraconic pendulum in particular.

Jeanne Fradet was graduated from EMAlbi in 1997 and worked as Development Engineer at CORUS STRIP PRODUCTS in Great Britain. In less than one year, she became Accounts Manager in Germany, in charge of the major customer accounts in the automotive sector: Volvo, Ford, Smart... She is pursuing this task in the Netherlands, after the merger with the Dutch Group HOOGOVENS. She is currently responsible for the development of products and markets for the Tin branch and has taken charge of the research and choice of the pilot product lines for agribusiness packaging. A fine example of an international career!

Carlos Ghosn, an alumnus of the Ecoles des Mines de Paris, joins in 1978 the MICHELIN GROUP, the world leader in pneumatics, and quickly climbs the ladder to become in 1996 the president of MICHELIN NORTH AMERICA. He pursues his career as the Managing Director of RENAULT until 1999, and heads to Tokyo to take on, with well-acknowledged success, the role of president of the NISSAN GROUP.

An alumnus of the Ecole des Mines de Paris,Roland Hecht began his career as Vice-Director of the prestigious French National School of Fine Arts (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts) before taking on an international career in finance. At the head of different banks and corporations for several years, he created and managed the International DEXIA Network.He is now President of the OTZAR HASHILTON HAMEKOMI Bank in Tel Aviv.

Coming from the Ecoles des Mines de Nancy, Michel Rose joined the LAFARGE GROUP in 1970 as a manufacturing engineer. He moved to the Research Center before taking charge of in-house communication and then managing the company's activities in Brazil. Later on he headed the Biotechnological Division. Between 1992 and 1995, he held the position of Chief Executive Officer of LAFARGE NORTH AMERICA. Since 1996, he is the Managing Director in charge of the cement activities.

A graduate of the Ecoles des Mines de Saint-Etienne, Olivier Fleurot began his professional life as an engineer on construction sites of DEGREMONT in Turkey, Iraq and Libya and then in a subsidiary in Virginia. On returning to Paris in 1978, he earned his first journalistic spurs in the field of, among others, high technologies at USINE NOUVELLE, the main French engineering periodical, and then at the ECHOS, the main French business daily. After a brief period with a startup, he returned to the ECHOS in 1988 as Circulations, Marketing and Public Relations Manager. In 1996, Olivier Fleurot became Managing Director. Two years later, he was nominated to the Executive Committee of the prestigious FINANCIAL TIMES in London.

An alumnus of the Ecole des Mines de Nancy and of the French National School of Administration (ENA), Jean-Claude Trichet became a Finance Inspector in 1971. He occupied different functions within the Ministry of Finance and Economy before joining the Treasury in 1987. He became director of the Banque de France in 1993. Today he is Wim Duisenberg's successor at the head of the European Central Bank.

Coming from the Ecole des Mines de Douai, Jean-Jacques Lefebvre started his career within the FOUGEROLLE corporation. He became the CEO until its merger with other companies and the birth of EIFFAGE CONSTRUCTION,which he manages today and which employs 18 000 people. This corporation is currently in charge of the construction of the highest bridge in the world: the Millau viaduct in France, which will be completed in 2005.