Board of directors

To fulfill its missions, the Fondation Chirac wished to provide itself with a board of directors capable of taking the initiative and providing effective and rigorous management of the resources implemented in its programs.

The team Jacques Chirac has gathered around him meets these aims. Each of its members brings his or her rich experience and wellhoned creative skills in his or her area of expertise.

Founder: Jacques Chirac

	Mohamed Arkoun Professor emeritus in history of Islamic thought at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. Born in Greater Kabylie (Algeria), student at Oran, Alger and Paris, he became tenured professor of Arab language and literature (1956), professor and lecturer in universities throughout the world. He has authored many reference works, translated into several languages, on applied Islamic studies. Among these: Essais sur la pensée islamique (“Essays on Islamic thought,” Maisonneuve & Larose, 1973); Arab Thought, ed. S. Chand, New Delhi 1988; L’islam, hier et demain (Islam, yesterday and tomorrow, Buchet-Chastel, 1978); L’islam et les musulmans en France duMoyen Âge à nos jours “IslamandMuslims in France fromtheMiddle Ages to Today,” Albin Michel, 2006).

	Yann Arthus-Bertrand Photographer, journalist, writer and ecological activist, he is as experienced in group action as he is familiar with worldwide success through publishing (Earth from the Air has sold over 3 million copies in 24 languages). In 2005, he created the Good Planet association and organizes “carbon action,” which aims to offset greenhouse gas emissions and to finance projects based on renewable energies. His latest project – “Six Billion Others” – is planetary in purpose and will be the subject in 2009 of an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.

	Marie-Hélène Bérard Chief Executive Officer of MHB SA, an investment advisory firm founded in 2000 and specialized in the assisting French companies seeking to set up businesses in Central and Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union. After working several years in the French Ministry of Finance following her graduation from the ENA (national school of public administration), she was a counselor in the office of Simone Veil, Minister of Health, then worked in this capacity for Prime Ministers Raymond Barre and Jacques Chirac. In 1990, she joined the senior management of the French bank Crédit Commercial de France, and worked for ten years on developing its presence in the countries which her business currently focuses on.

	Michel Camdessus (Founding member) Honorary president of the “Social Weeks of France,”member of the “Africa Progress Panel,” chaired by Kofi Annan, he was Managing Director of The International Monetary Fund from 1987 to 2000, after serving as Director of the French Treasury (1982- 1984) then Governor of the Banque de France (1984-1987). He has applied his expertise through many missions and interventions in the service of “the global public good”: Jacques Chirac’s personal representative to NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development), chairing namely the World Panel on Financing Water infrastructure, whose report was published in 2003 in conjunction with the Kyoto Summit. He then became a member of the Commission for Africa chaired by Tony Blair and as suchwas associatedwith the report “Our common interest,” published in 2005. In 2004, he directed the working group on “le sursaut – vers une nouvelle croissance pour la France” (“the jolt, towards new growth for France”),whose report remains a reference on the subject.

	Catherine Colonna French Ambassador to UNESCO, Minister Delegate to European Affairs from 2005 to 2007, she serves as spokeswoman to the President of the Republic (1995-2004) before taking over the direction of the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) until 2005. An alumnus of the ENA and a career diplomat, she notably was posted to the French Embassy in Washington, to the department of Legal Affairs and to the Center for Analysis and Forecasting at the Quai d’Orsay before taking the position of deputy spokeswoman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then returning to the Elysée Palace.

	Geneviève Ferone She is currently Director of Sustainable Development at Veolia Environnement, after holding the same position at Eiffage from 2006 to 2008. PhD in international business law, possessing broad experience of international organizations, including the International Energy Agency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She applied her innovative skills in 1997 to founding ARESE, leading French rating agency covering listed companies in the social and environmental domains,which corresponds to her own area of specialization in the field of socially responsible investment. She has authored several publications on this theme, including this year, 2030 : le krach écologique, (2030: the Ecological Crash; Grasset).

	Jean-Pierre Lafon (Founding member) President of the Bureau of International Expositions (B.I.E.), an intergovernmental organization charged with approving and coordinating universal expositions, since December 2007. Prior to this position, he spent his entire career in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he joined after graduating from the ENA, in the Department of Cultural Affairs, charged with European relations. His career path is rich and varied, leading him to London before being posted to Iran, Niger, and to the head of the United Nations Department of the Quai d’Orsay. He was French ambassador to Lebanon and to China before becoming secretary general of the French Ministry of foreign Affairs, function he performed until 2006. He was appointed Ambassador of France in 2005.

	Tristan Lecomte He is founder and President of Alter Eco. The company, which he launched in 1998, today distributes the production of 160,000 correspondents grouped into 43 cooperatives operating in 25 countries. Producers’ compliance with commitments to fair trade enables them to gain access to international markets. He was first recognized for his efforts to promote fair trade through associations – with the Solidarité France-Népal association he created – and by means of his company. Tristan Lecomte is a graduate of the HEC business school and the Getúlio Vargas Foundation Brazil). Not yet 35, he is the management board’s most junior member. See Alter Eco

	Besnik Mustafaj A man of politics and letters, born in northern Albania, he is a professor of foreign literature at the University of Tirana, as well as a writer, translator and journalist. He served as Albania’s ambassador in Paris (to France and UNESCO) from 1992 to 1997, and as a member of Albania’s Parliament under the label of the party he cofounded with Sali Berisha, the DPA (Democratic Party of Albania). Following the 2005 elections, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until his resignation in April 2007. He has written and published many books, poems, short stories and novels, some of which have been translated into French by Actes Sud including ( Les cigales de la canicule (the locusts of the heatwave) Un été sans retour (a summer of no return).

	René Ricol (Founding member) He is Vice President of Ricol, Lasteyrie & Associés, a leading independent financial expertise and financial risk management in France. For over twenty years he has played an active role in national and international bodies governing the financial profession, contributing to its development and professionalizing the field of growth and performance advisory services. In October, 2008 René Ricol has been appointed Credit Mediator by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to restore the contact between the banks and SME”. Former president of the Compagnie nationale des commissaires aux comptes (French national association of independent auditors), and the Conseil supérieur de l’ordre des experts-comptables (French national association of certified public accountants), he also chaired the International Federation of Accountants, which gathers the professional associations of 119 countries, from 2002 to 2004. He is currently President of the Réseau “Tous pour l’emploi” (“Everyone for employment” Network) as well as the guiding council of “France Investissement.”.

	Jean-Michel Severino Director of the French Development Agency since 2001, Inspector General of Finances, he was the director of the World Bank for Central Europe and its vice-president for Asia. He has been grappling for many years with the enormous challenges facing emerging countries. He is also a member of the “high-level consultative committee” of the AfricanDevelopment Bank (ABD), set up in 2006 to advise it on its strategic vision. He has also written numerous publications notably on the subjects of public development aid, urbanization and conflicts over water.

	Valérie Terranova (Founding member) In May 2007, she founded her own consulting firm in strategy. A graduate of the Institut des Langues et CivilisationsOrientales (also dubbed “LanguesO”), for eight years she was charged with the mission of overseeing the international relations of the city of Paris. General Commissioner of the “Year of France in Japan” from 1996 to 1999, she joined the staff of the office of the President of the Republic of France that same year, where she specialized in intercultural relations.

	Bernard Vatier (Founding member) Lawyer, former President of the Paris Bar, he was elected President of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) serving from 2003 to 2005. He acquired firsthand knowledge and expertise through his work at a law firm which specialized in commercial transactions and the corporate law. A teacher and very active in the defense of the values represented by the law profession, he is internationally recognized for his competencies in the field of arbitrage.

	Wu Jianmin Former president of the China Foreign Affairs University, he is a founding member of the China-Europe forum. A diplomat, he notably served as Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Netherlands, to the United Nations office at Geneva and to France. In 2003, he was unanimously elected President of the International Bureau of Expositions, a mandate he held until 2007.