What and when did you study at INSEAD?
Being French, I learned early on about the INSEAD MBA program and decided in 1989 that after my Master of Engineering and a few years of working experience (it turned out to be 8) I would then do the INSEAD MBA program, which I ended up doing in 2004. An INSEAD MBA’04D alumnus, I was a “lifer” in Singapore.
Tell us about your career to date.
Post MBA, I have managed quite well to avoid 1) having a true career, 2) working for big corporations and 3) having to do people management, my pet hate. Thankfully, I have been lucky enough to always be presented with challenging opportunities in various industries and countries.
How can you help the INSEAD community?
Upon my return in 2007, in the absence of regular catch-ups for Sydney-based INSEAD alumni, I started the monthly Thirsty Thursdays, which I still host. Whenever I can, I like to connect people.
How did you end up in this part of the world?
I came to Australia in 1995 to do 10 months of civil service, instead of wasting 16 months of my life with the French Army. I was then working for the Australian subsidiary of French multinational Schneider Electric. I will always be thankful to the local team that allowed me to stay by sponsoring me, promoting me and eventually getting me to work for a recently acquired business. Whilst my wife and I left Sydney on the eve of its Olympic Games (stupid timing!), we came back home early 2007 after 7 years on the road (Brisbane, Brazil, Singapore (INSEAD MBA program) and France) following those work opportunities.
What would you like to see more of from the Alumni body and/or the Alumni Association?
At the end of the day, what we learn during the MBA program has a certain “shelf life” so what we truly end up buying into is a network of similarly minded people. I would like to see more involvement/participation/engagement by older alumni (even if I haven’t figured out yet how to get that from them).