European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Nassira is a French journalist, who currently works as a reporter for the evening news at France 2 and an interviewer on the French parliamentary TV channel. She is the former director and editor-in-chief of the Bondy Blog, a news website which highlights the topic of ethnic diversity in France. In this role, she was notably among the few female editors-in-chief of a French national media outlet. Her work focused on local investigations related to marginalised people living on the outskirts of cities, particularly around Paris. She began her career as a TV reporter and news anchor at Itele/Canal+.

Yann Fleureau is a French engineer, entrepreneur and thought leader in the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. He co-founded Cardiologs to enhance cardiac care and specifically heart disease diagnostics through the use of AI and cloud technology. The medical technology start-up is famed for developing one of the world’s first CE-marked and FDA-approved medical devices powered by deep learning technology. Under Fleureau’s leadership as CEO, Cardiologs became a market leader in the United States and diagnoses over two million patients worldwide each year. Named BNP Paribas European Innovator of the Year and among the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Europe, Fleureau is now pursuing new projects to positively impact the field of digital medicine through deep technology. He is also an active investor in deep medical and biotechnologies, including surgical robotics, alternative proteins and AI diagnostics.

Clémentine is a journalist who has gone from freelance reporting on the radio and in magazines to later becoming Editor-in-Chief at EurActiv, France. She is now Editor-in-Chief Editor of Contexte, an online newspaper that focuses on French and European public policy which she co-founded in 2013. She is also Vice-President of Europresse, the association of French journalists who cover European affairs, and AJDE, an association for journalists who specifically report on energy issues. Educated in Paris and Brussels, Clémentine is a published author and was previously in charge of opening the Brussels office of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

Rabah is the Head of Regulatory and Government Relations for France and Benelux at VISA and an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Sciences Po Paris. Prior to this, he was group director of public policy and regulatory affairs at VEON and director of European legislative affairs, European government affairs and public advocacy at NYSE Euronext. Rabah has had a successful diplomatic and legal career having worked as a counsellor for major corporations and states. Rabah is a founding member of the Transatlantic Network 2020, which brings innovative perspectives on transatlantic relations by connecting rising North American and European leaders of tomorrow. He has also been awarded the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellowship and selected as a member of the Young Atlanticists Group by the Atlantic Council.

Joséphine is Chief Executive Officer at Sistech, a European non-profit supporting displaced and uprooted women to access qualified and sustainable jobs in the tech & digital sectors. Prior to this, she was leading Techfugees, an international non-profit coordinating the technology industry’s response to the refugee situation. A serial social entrepreneur and fierce activist for smarter migration policies, she was selected to be part of the EU’s immigration expert group to advise on the reform of visa rules for foreign entrepreneurs in Europe. In addition to these roles, she was a board Member for the Norwegian Refugee Council from 2018 until 2023 and was nominated as one of the top ‘30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs’ by Forbes in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Prior to founding Techfugees, Joséphine was Director of Partnerships at Migreat, a London-based start-up developing an AI for visa applicants to Europe.

Benjamin Haddad is a prominent leader in European and international affairs, known for his expertise in diplomacy, politics and transatlantic relations. Currently serving as France’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Haddad is a vocal advocate for Europe’s global role. He previously served in the National Assembly as a member of the Foreign and European Affairs committees, and chaired the French-Ukrainian parliamentary friendship group. As former director of the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., he was an advocate for a stronger and more responsible Europe in world affairs. A skilled communicator, Haddad regularly contributes to major media outlets and public debates, underscoring his commitment to informed, forward-thinking leadership that bridges diverse perspectives for a more united and resilient world.

Christel Heydemann is committed to connecting people in a sustainable world, while addressing today’s societal challenges, in her role as the Orange Group’s CEO. Prior to her current appointment, she served as the executive vice president of European operations and of France at Schneider Electric, where she also sat on the company’s executive committee. Heydemann first joined Schneider Electric as the senior vice president of global strategic alliances, in which role she focused on the launch and adoption of the Internet of Things. She previously worked at Alcatel-Lucent, where she was entrusted with a range of responsibilities, specifically in the context of the merger of Alcatel and Lucent. Having first joined Alcatel’s project finance team, she progressively made her way up the ladder to serve on the executive committee of Alcatel-Lucent as the director of human resources and transformation. Heydemann began her career at the Boston Consulting Group in Paris.

Former socialist politician, member of Parliament and minister for Digital Affairs, Axelle currently serves as the Deputy Head of the French Red Cross in charge of strategy, transformation and innovation. Prior to this, a lawyer by education, she led a proponent of net-neutrality legislation and has been a key figure in the French tech start-up scene. Axelle has also previously served as the Global Head of Terra Numerata at Roland Berger.

Guillaume is an expert in electoral strategy. He began his career in Beijing before joining the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for 4 years in France and in the United States. In 2012, he joined the French presidential campaign team of François Hollande, in which he oversaw the field campaign strategy to reach out to 5 million households, led the rollout of the campaign in 30 departments and coordinated the communication strategy. He then co-founded a political strategy firm Liegey Muller Pons to help other European political parties improve the way they run their election campaigns and engage with citizens before and after the polls. Guillaume is the co-author of Porte-à-porte, Reconquérir la démocratie sur le terrain (2013). He is also a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, where he teaches a course on electoral campaigns. Guillaume is a graduate of HEC and Harvard, holding a Master in Public Administration and a MSc in Management.

André Loesekrug-Pietri is an entrepreneur and has held leadership positions in private equity, government and industry. He is currently the Chairman of JEDI, which aims to accelerate Europe’s leadership by financing and nurturing the development of breakthrough technologies. He previously served as a special advisor to the French Minister of Defence, where he was responsible for European defence policy, as well as technology and innovation, prior to which he has 15 years of experience in private equity and venture capital. Loesekrug-Pietri is a lecturer at Sciences Po and a regular columnist at several international media outlets. Having studied aerospace engineering, he is also a private pilot and Colonel with the French Air Force People’s Reserve.

Marie is a Paris-based journalist and the Dean of the Sciences Po Journalism School. She has spent the past 15 years in international newsrooms, including Bloomberg and Reuters, digging into how technology has changed the economy, politics and culture across Europe. She has written extensively about innovation policies in the EU, in the face of US and Chinese tech giants. Passionate about the crucial role that information plays for society, citizens and businesses, she is responsible for Sciences Po’s strategy in training future journalists who will go the extra mile to understand the world and decode it. Marie is also a Senior Reporter and Editorial and Business Strategist at Sifted, a new digital media venture backed by The Financial Times and focused on European start-ups.

Frédéric is the Founder and President of BlaBlaCar, the leading European ridesharing community that connects drivers with empty seats and people travelling in the same direction, with the aim of making road travel social, cost effective and sustainable. The carpooling platform became the first French unicorn and has grown into a global community, with over 20 million members in 22 countries. Frédéric also currently serves as the Co-President Entrepreneur of France Digitale, the largest start-up association in Europe, where is work largely focuses on talent, impact and European tech sovereignty. Prior to founding BlaBlaCar, Frédéric was a scientific research at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) in Japan. Frédéric is a regular speaker at international conferences and in the media, including CNN, Bloomberg and CNBC, on the themes of sustainable development, entrepreneurship, global marketplaces and building trust in online communities. He is also an accomplished classical pianist.

Nadia, better known by her stage name Imany, is a French pop-soul singer. After a successful modelling career in New York, she reinvented and established herself as a singer in Paris. Her debut album, ‘The Shape of a Broken Heart’, released in 2011, became soon platinum. Since her debut, Imany went on to write the soundtrack for the film ‘French Women’, released an acclaimed second album, ‘The Wrong Kind of War’, and toured extensively around the world. She has mapped out her route ploughing a furrow between soul, folk, blues and pop, whilst imposing her own style.

Sophie is a multi-award-winning war reporter who has covered multiple conflicts and issues across the Middle East. Starting in 2011, she reported from inside Syria on the protests and the repression of the regime. Her work was awarded with Prix Bayeux-Calvados for War Correspondents in 2013, and the Prix Albert Londres in 2016, the most important journalism award in France. In June 2017, she was the first foreign journalist to film inside Raqqa with the Kurdish forces. In 2017, Sophie also reported from Central Africa on the civil war and from Zimbabwe on the end of the Mugabe era.

Brune is the Chief Sustainability Officer and a Member of the Executive Committee at Accor, a multinational hospitality company. Her role includes defining, driving and monitoring commitments, strategy and rollout of Accor’s plans in relation to sustainable development. She is also responsible for the Accor Solidarity and ALL Heartists endowment funds and additionally serves on the Board of Trustees of Fondation de la Mer. During her tenure as a member of the French National Assembly, Brune served as the secretary of state to the French Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition and became the first French minister elected as vice-president of the United Nations Environment Assembly. She was previously the director of sustainability and social responsibility for South Asia at Veolia, where projects focused on drinking water distribution in the slums of Indian megacities, and a coordinator of sustainability projects at the French Development Agency in New Delhi.