225 years contributing to economic development

For over 200 years, Polytechniciens have occupied positions as executives and business leaders in many large French corporations in every sector of the economy. In transport, alumni include André Citroën, pioneer of the automotive industry; in railways, Auguste Detoeuf, founder of Alstom, Claude Martinand, first Chairman of RFF (French Railway Network) and Jacques Gounon, CEO of Eurotunnel, and in the aerospace industry, Guillaume Faury, President of Airbus. François Gracchus Cabrol (X 1810) was a pioneer in the steel industry and Louis Loucheur in construction, founding the Société Générale d’Entreprises in 1908, now known as Vinci. There have also been many Polytechniciens in the energy sector, including Conrad Schlumberger, founder of the Schlumberger oil company, Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of Total, Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of EDF and Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman of Engie. In the electronics industry there is Pascale Sourisse, Director General of International Development at Thales, and in software engineering Florence Verzelen, Executive Vice President at Dassault Systèmes. In the luxury goods sector, Bernard Arnault is CEO and owner of the LVMH group. In the media, Jean-Jacques Servan Schreiber founded the news magazine L'Express, Anne-Sophie Pastel the Au Féminin group, and Catherine Sueur became CEO of Télérama after leaving her post as Deputy CEO of AP-HP. Patrick Drahi is the founder of the telecommunications giant Altice. Finally, in the banking and insurance sector, former X students include Tidjane Thiam, CEO of Crédit Suisse, Claude Bébéar, creator of Axa, and Dominique Senequier, President and founder of the private equity giant Ardian.