Bruno Bellier, new Director General of École polytechnique

Bruno Bellier, a senior defense procurement engineer and alumnus of École Polytechnique (Class of 1992), was appointed director general of École Polytechnique at the Cabinet meeting on August 31, 2026. He will also serve as interim chairman of the board of directors until the publication of the new decree governing the School’s organization.

31 Aug. 2026

Institution

A graduate of École Polytechnique (class of 1992), Bruno Bellier holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences and a Master’s degree in industrial strategies and public defense policy. He has spent most of his career at the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. He succeeds Laura Chaubard, who has served as Director General of École Polytechnique since October 2022.

Bruno Bellier joined the DGA in 2003. There, he served notably as head of the “Chemical Analysis and Evaluation” division at the Bouchet Research Center, then as director of the program for the detection and identification of biological agents (Detecbio). He also held positions of responsibility in the field of nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical (NRBC) defense within the DGA’s Operations Directorate.

From 2015 to 2017, Bruno Bellier served as deputy to the deputy director in charge of human resources policy at the DGA, after having served until 2015 as deputy to the director of operations, responsible in particular for international affairs and the coordination of defense science, research, technology, and innovation. He then served as Deputy Armaments Inspector, responsible for security in the biological and chemical domains.

In 2018, he joined the Defense Innovation Agency, where he became head of the “Defense Strategy and Technologies” division. In 2021, he was appointed director of the “DGA Nuclear, Radiological, Bacteriological, and Chemical (NRBC) Control” division within the DGA’s Technical Directorate. This center serves as the Ministry of the Armed Forces’ leading authority in the field of NRBC defense.

Bruno Bellier had also been appointed, effective July 1, 2025, as deputy director of engineering and technical expertise at the DGA.

His career at the DGA and in defense innovation has led him to hold leadership roles in the scientific, technological, industrial, and managerial fields, at the intersection of research and defense issues. This experience aligns with several of the missions of École Polytechnique, which trains engineers and scientists who are called upon to contribute to major contemporary technological and strategic challenges.

This appointment comes at a strategic time for École Polytechnique, which is set to continue its development, expansion, and transformation in the service of its students, staff, and partners under a new Performance and Objective Contract.

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