Laura Chaubard appointed acting president of École Polytechnique

Laura Chaubard, Director-General of École polytechnique has also been entrusted with the interim role of president of the School's Board of Directors, as of September 17th, 2023.

Eric Labaye's term as Chairman of X, which he had held since 2018, ended on September 16th. Eric Labaye's role as President of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris also came to an end on this date. École polytechnique is one of the founding Schools of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, alongside ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis.

The ministerial order appointing Laura Chaubard, issued by the Minister of the Armed Forces on September 13th, states that the Director General of the École Polytechnique, "is responsible for acting as president of the Board of Directors of the École Polytechnique, as of September 17th, 2023".

At the same time, Professor Thierry Coulhon was appointed acting Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.

After completing her studies at École Polytechnique, Laura Chaubard joined the Corps de l’Armement, a high level engineer and public servant body in charge of the French State armament policy, and pursued a PhD in algorithms at the University of Paris Diderot (Paris VII), focusing on the theory of formal languages from 2002 to 2006.

In September 2006, she joined the General Directorate for Armament (DGA), the French Defense procurement agency, where she held technical responsibilities for six years as an expert in big data and artificial intelligence. Between 2013 and 2016, she was head of the strategic SMEs office in charge of identifying, accompanying and supporting the 600 French SMEs of interest to the Ministry for Armed Forces. From January to August 2017, still within the DGA, she was in charge of budget programming. There, she supervised the work of preparing the 2018-2022 Military Programming Law, in a context of a historic increase in resources for the Ministry for Armed Forces.

In August 2017, she was appointed advisor for innovation and digital technology in the cabinet of the Minister of Armed Forces, Florence Parly. There, she successfully led the creation of the Defense Innovation Agency, the "Definvest" investment fund, the General Directorate of Digital Technology, as well as the drafting of the "Artificial Intelligence" roadmap of the Ministry for Armed Forces.

She took up her position as CEO of the Établissement Public du Parc et de la Grande Halle de la Villette (EPPGHV) in October 2019. Located in the northeast region of Paris, La Villette encompasses a national museum of science and technology, a major architectural complex devoted to music and an urban park dedicated to culture and open to all.

At the head of this public cultural institution, Laura Chaubard was in charge of coordinating the fifty or so players present on site and of supervising the multidisciplinary artistic program hosted in the Grande Halle de la Villette, the park or the new venues staging performances and events

Laura Chaubard is a Knight of the National Order of Merit and a Knight of the Legion of Honor.