Laura Chaubard, new Director General of École polytechnique

Laura Chaubard (X 1999) is the new Director General of École Polytechnique. Appointed at the Council of Ministers meeting on Monday, October 5th, 2022, she takes on the role previously held by François Bouchet, engineer-general of Armament, senior class,  who was the Director General of the School since January 1st, 2017.

  "I am very happy to join École Polytechnique at a key moment in its development within Institut Polytechnique de Paris. I look forward to meeting students, researchers and employees of the School to continue the work accomplished by François Bouchet," said Laura Chaubard.

The appointment of Laura Chaubard, an engineer-general of Armament, comes as École Polytechnique celebrates the 50th anniversary in 2022 of the arrival of the first women students in the École Polytechnique Cycle Ingénieur program. Laura Chaubard is featured in the exhibition entitled "Fifty years of feminization of École Polytechnique, Celebrate and Inspire", dedicated to the feminization of École Polytechnique and presenting the inspiring careers of its women alumni.

"I am very pleased to welcome Laura Chaubard to École Polytechnique. Her commitment to the Ministry for Armed Forces, her scientific background and her managerial experience will be important assets in leading the ambitious transformation initiatives of École Polytechnique," says Eric Labaye, President of École Polytechnique and Institut Polytechnique de Paris.

"I would like to thank François Bouchet for the remarkable work he has accomplished at École Polytechnique.  He has fully embraced the motto of the School: ‘For the Nation, for Sciences, and for Glory’, and he has left his mark on the development of the School and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris campuses," adds Eric Labaye.

After completing her studies at École Polytechnique, Laura Chaubard joined the Corps de l’Armement, a high level engineer and public servant body in charge of the French State armament policy, and pursued a PhD in algorithms at the University of Paris Diderot (Paris VII), focusing on the theory of formal languages from 2002 to 2006.

In September 2006, she joined the General Directorate for Armament (DGA), the French Defense procurement agency, where she held technical responsibilities for six years as an expert in big data and artificial intelligence. Between 2013 and 2016, she was head of the strategic SMEs office in charge of identifying, accompanying and supporting the 600 French SMEs of interest to the Ministry for Armed Forces. From January to August 2017, still within the DGA, she was in charge of budget programming. There, she supervised the work of preparing the 2018-2022 Military Programming Law, in a context of a historic increase in resources for the Ministry for Armed Forces.

In August 2017, she was appointed advisor for innovation and digital technology in the cabinet of the Minister of Armed Forces, Florence Parly. There, she successfully led the creation of the Defense Innovation Agency, the "Definvest" investment fund, the General Directorate of Digital Technology, as well as the drafting of the "Artificial Intelligence" roadmap of the Ministry for Armed Forces.

She took up her position as CEO of the Établissement Public du Parc et de la Grande Halle de la Villette (EPPGHV) in October 2019. Located in the northeast region of Paris, La Villette encompasses a national museum of science and technology, a major architectural complex devoted to music and an urban park dedicated to culture and open to all.

At the head of this public cultural institution, Laura Chaubard was in charge of coordinating the fifty or so players present on site and of supervising the multidisciplinary artistic program hosted in the Grande Halle de la Villette, the park or the new venues staging performances and events

Laura Chaubard is a Knight of the National Order of Merit and a Knight of the Legion of Honor.