François Gayet
Chair
International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations and Secretary General AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe
François Gayet is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique. He received a Master of Science degree from Stanford University, California, holds a commission as Ingénieur en Chef de I’Armement in the French defense procurement agency (DGA) and is a Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor.
He began his career as a research engineer at the Aeronautics and Telecommunications Department of the DGA before joining THALES in 1975, where he was in charge of international radar and laser fire control systems programmes for the Avionics Division. In 1982, he joined the Electronic Systems Division as Export Sales Director and was appointed Deputy Sales Director in 1984. In 1986, he was appointed Director of Projects and Systems, then Head of the Radiocommunications Department at the Thales Telecommunications Division. He took part in the creation of the Radiocommunications, Electronic Warfare and Security Division and became its director in 1990. In 1994, he was appointed Director of the Missile Systems Division (DSM). In 1995, François became Managing Director of Thales Airsys. From 1997, François was Vice-President in charge of Strategy and Business Development for the Detection and Missile Systems operating group. From 1997, he was appointed Chairman of Thales North America and Chairman and CEO of Thales, Inc. In June 2001, François Gayet became Senior Vice-President Defence France.
In 2002, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Managing, Naval Systems Business Group. In May 2004, he became Senior Vice President Marketing & Sales.
In 2005, he retired from Thales and was elected Secretary General of the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe – ASD, based in Brussels.
