"Comeback" is the first that comes to mind but Henri Poupart-Lafarge rejects. "The markets have changed, assets have changed, Alstom has changed... and I changed me also," noted the President of the transmission of electricity sector just bought to Areva and renamed Alstom Grid. Rest that ex-grand the group chaired by Patrick Kron paymaster familiar activity which he has to take the reins to having been Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2004, date of the assignment to Areva. They are therefore well reunion that sign the "closing" of the operation, which it naturally contributed significantly.
Another phrase that rejects the leader is "numbers man", a little too reductive to his liking. Yet, in its curriculum it was prepared to see things through a financial Prism: former Ginette received in 1988 at Polytechnique, which he sufficiently well ranked for - in extremis it is true - a place in the corps des Ponts et Chaussées, he completed his education by a year at the World Bank, followed by another at the MIT. And then integrates the Almighty Treasury direction, then led by Jean Lemierre, and finally joined the cabinet of Jean Arthuis at the Ministry of economy and finance, six months before the dissolution surprise (and missed the point of view of the Executive), 1997. The twelve years he then spent in the Alstom group will see evolve in functions exclusively financial.
A "man of details".
His first mission, for which he was recruited, will be put in music the introduction on the stock exchange of GEC Alsthom in 1998, birth of the Alstom that we know today. After passing Flash in the team of Jean Arthuis, Henri Poupart-Lafarge was indeed returned to the fold, i.e. to Treasury management, where he was responsible for overseeing the opening of the capital of France Telecom side Bercy. Valuable experience which took value of Sesame in the eyes of Pierre Bilger and his lieutenants. "SOP" carried out, the staff of the group will shortly find to this young, brilliant rookie position to the extent of its ambition: he was only thirty years old when he became Financial Director of the T & D sector.
The remainder of his route overlaps with that - chaotic - group. At the phase of "globalisation" of T & D succeeded sale to Areva and for Henri Poupart-Lafarge, the exfiltration in the parent, then the more evil. The years 2004-2006 are black, extremely tense years. "We had a series of objectives to be achieved, one after another." "And not the right to miss a single", remembers the former Financial Director. The lull that brings the next period will help to initiate substantive reforms: "the finance function is is largely built during this period," said his former manager. She brings to her only about 3,500 people.
In the light of this curriculum, the question arises: since he challenges the expression of "numbers man", how to define himself Claiming a taste for the operational, a great intellectual curiosity and a greater requirement still in terms of "expertise" - word that is often in his mouth - at the same time, he takes the time to reflection before delivering his answer: "A man of details." These details where, in cases such as elsewhere, hiding often the devil.
And there is also the question of the shared guardsParis and Berlin are returning to the load2 in may for an overall price increase of 1Let there be no mistake the leader he wasThe time of the long and costly developments is gone4 in the former GDR 4535 million jobseekersThis is called rowing against the currentThank you monsieur de Castries told Walter bThe Group intends to clarify its targets early 2011We're going into the unknown he acknowledges
