Thales : appoints Isabelle Simon as Group Secretary and General Counsel
April 14, 2015 at 02:07 pm IST
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Isabelle Simon has joined Thales as Group Secretary and General Counsel, and a member of the Executive Committee, with effect from 13 April.
Isabelle Simon is a graduate of the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), HEC and Harvard Law School. She also holds a DEA postgraduate diploma in English and North American business law and a DESS postgraduate diploma in international taxation. She has been admitted to the Paris Bar and the New York Bar.
Isabelle Simon began her career in 1995 at law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, where she practised as a lawyer in Paris and New York until 2002. In 2003, she joined the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs as Executive Director for financial advisory services.
From 2009 to the end of 2011, Isabelle Simon served as Senior Vice-President of Publicis Groupe, where she headed the Mergers & Acquisitions and Legal departments and managed the Group's external development strategy and minority holdings.
Isabelle Simon then joined Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) as Senior Vice President with responsibility among others for development, legal affairs, real estate, marketing and sales, and communications.
Thales is one of the European leaders in manufacturing and marketing of electronic equipment and systems for the defense and security, aerospace, and transportation sectors. Net sales break down by product group as follows:
- defense and security systems (53.4%): C4I defense and security systems (control and monitoring systems, communication, protection, cyber-security, and other systems), defense mission systems, naval systems, electronic war systems, drones, air operation systems (air defense, air surveillance), ground defense systems and missiles;
- aerospace systems (28.4%): avionics equipment (cockpit, cabin multimedia, and simulation equipment), space systems (satellites, payloads, etc.);
- digital identification and security solutions (18.2%).
Besides, the group owns a 35% stake in Naval Group (manufacture of naval equipment for defense and nuclear energy sectors).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (29.5%), the United Kingdom (6.6%), Europe (24.8%), the United States and Canada (14%), Asia (9.4%), Near and Middle East (6%), Australia and New Zealand (4.4%) and other (5.3%).