Marie-Hélène Baroux is ISAE-SUPAERO’s New President

‘If someone had told me at the start of my career that I would be doing this job, I wouldn’t have believed them. But I have the impression that my career path has naturally led me here.’

In the right place, at the right time: it was with serenity and ‘a great deal of pride’ that Marie-Hélène Baroux, Ingénieur Général de l’Armement, took up her post as President of ISAE-SUPAERO on August 1, 2024. She succeeds Olivier Lesbre, who left his mark on the Institute (2014-2024).

A native of Toulouse and the mother of three children, she knows the Institute well and is very fond of it on several counts. Her father, Jean Pinet, a Concorde test pilot, came through Supaéro and its student clubs. Marie-Hélène Baroux partly followed in his footsteps, taking advantage of the opportunity during her studies at the engineering school Télécom Paris to do her third year at the Toulouse school, where she went on to do a Master’s degree (1993).

Her name is also associated with ISAE-SUPAERO, where she was Senior Vice-President from 2019 to 2021. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘I was responsible for the crisis unit and for preserving students’ living and studying conditions’, she explains. She was also responsible for implementing the Horizons roadmap, ISAE-SUPAERO’s sustainable development strategy, a subject close to her heart.

Specialist in Aerospace Engineering and Telecommunications

But let’s go back to 1993. After completing her higher education, Marie-Hélène Baroux joined the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), where she had ‘a long career’. Her dual specialisation in telecommunications and aerospace engineering is a distinctive feature of her career, as she has held alternating positions in these two sectors. This diversity of perspectives ‘has served me well as well as the projects I’ve worked on’, she says.

At DGA, she was in charge of expertise and tests in the field of electromagnetic compatibility at the Toulouse Aeronautical Test Centre (CEAT, now DGA Techniques Aérospatiales). As part of DGA’s Operations Division, she also took charge of the CERES programme, a constellation of three electromagnetic intelligence satellites. Four years later, in DGA’s Strategy Division, she steered the ramp-up of European cooperation on weapons programmes.

She also worked at ONERA and OCCAr (Organisation conjointe de coopération en matière d’armement), where she was responsible for setting up the cybersecurity and IT security aspects of the avionics and ground systems for the A400M military aircraft.

Solid Management Experience

Another feature of Marie-Hélène Baroux’s career is that she has ‘been through every stage of management, from small teams to project management to running a test centre’. These experiences have given her food for thought about management: ‘Working in management means working on people.’ Just before her appointment to the General Management of ISAE-SUPAERO, she worked in the Human Resources Department of the DGA, where her main projects were to consolidate the managerial function, transform working methods towards more collaborative work, and deploy hybrid work options.

In her new role, she will be looking to train future engineers for positions of responsibility.

‘Engineers have an important technical role, but many of them are also involved in management. Today’s industrialists are keen on soft skills, and with the right method, we can provide a different kind of management that benefits everyone.’
 

‘Maintaining the Aerospace Industry’s Position in the World’

Marie-Hélène Baroux will be able to draw on a major ally in carrying out her new missions: the 2022-2026 Contract of Objectives and Performance (COP), which sets out the Institute’s strategic objectives. ‘It’s a very structuring document, which is heading in the right direction’. She will be keeping a close eye on the roadmap to ensure that ‘certain areas are strengthened’.

‘First of all, there is the consolidation of our relations with defence’, she notes, emphasising the need to strengthen the Institute’s links with its supervisory ministry. ‘The aerospace skills of the engineers we train can play an important role in a troubled international context.’

She also emphasised ISAE-SUPAERO’s ‘major role’ in supporting Europe’s aerospace industry: ‘We have a duty to provide it with the talent it needs to maintain its place among the world’s best.’

She also wants to work to strengthen the Institute’s links with the space industry, ‘a highly competitive and rapidly changing sector’.
 

Marie-Hélène Baroux points to the ISAE Group, which brings together the French aerospace engineering schools under a common banner, as a major asset in meeting the needs of the aerospace industry in terms of training. ‘The ISAE Group meets a key challenge for the aerospace industry in terms of the diversity of skills and profiles it needs. It already federates this diversity and, in particular, has created an engineering apprenticeship programme, which is very popular today.’

The merger of ISAE-SUPAERO with the École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC), in a context of rapid change in the higher education landscape, will be one of her priority projects: ‘This merger is important for thinking about the air transport of tomorrow and for developing the skills and research that the sector needs to transform itself.’

High-level Engineers to ‘Transform Our Society’

In addition to the Institute’s contribution to the air, space, and defence sectors, she also emphasises ISAE-SUPAERO’s role in training engineers capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow’s world. ‘Training high-level engineers means preparing for the future by providing the educational background and talent that will help shape the world we live in,’ she stresses. ‘The aerospace sector is often the source of cutting-edge technologies that will then permeate the whole of society. Educating in aerospace engineering means seizing the opportunity to transform our society with new approaches.’
 

Lastly, Marie-Hélène Baroux attaches particular importance to a diverse range of profiles:
‘As a woman in a very male-dominated environment, I can testify to the strength of diversity. Attracting diverse people brings complementary points of view and stimulates both innovation and efficiency.’

As Senior Vice-President of the Institute, she had worked closely with the Institute’s social outreach programme, OSE l’ISAE-SUPAERO. ‘The name (‘ose’ meaning ‘to dare’ in French) is well chosen. There’s a place for everyone in aerospace engineering, you just have to dare!’

Key dates

1968 Birth in Toulouse
1992 Graduated from Télécom Paris
1993 Graduated from Supaéro (Advanced Master), joined the DGA as an armaments engineer
1997 Became head of expertise and tests at the Toulouse Aeronautical Test Centre (CEAT)
2003 Joins the OCCAr in the A400M military aircraft programme department
2008 Joined ONERA as multifunction antenna project manager, then DGA Techniques Aéronautiques as deputy technical director
2013 Head of the CERES programme within the DGA Operations Directorate
2015 Appointed Director of DGA Techniques Aéronautiques
2017 Joins the DGA Strategy Directorate
2019 Appointed Senior Vice President of ISAE-SUPAERO
2021 Joined the DGA Human Resources Department
2024 Appointed President of ISAE-SUPAERO