Francis Mer

A graduate of École polytechnique in 1959 and École des Mines, he began his career in administration before joining Saint-Gobain Pont-à-Mousson in 1970 as planning director, where he moved up through the ranks to CEO. In 1986, he became chairman of Usinor and Sacilor, under the state-sponsored merger of the two companies. He restructured the company and handled its privatisation. In 2002, he was named minister for the Economy in Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s government. He is one of the founders of Polytechnique Insights.