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Thomas is a European Affairs graduate from the Catholic University of Louvain and the London School of Economics. He joined the Brussels office of Confrontations Europe in March 2020 and works on financial regulation and supervision issues, especially on the revision of the Capital Markets Union and the European Green Deal.

Thomas previously worked at the Ministry for an Ecological and Solidary Transition, specializing on financing the ecological transition following the ratification of the Paris Climate Accord.

Nicole Alix is in charge of the working group on the social economy, for which she acted as treasurer until end-2013. In April 2011, the Crédit Coopératif, where she was Development Director, assigned her to work with Confrontations Europe.

Nicole has been involved in the social economy for over 35 years, more particularly in cooperative banking and in community services and policies for social NGOs. From 1980 to 2000, she was Deputy Director General of UNIOPSS (an umbrella organisation for social welfare NGOs). For 20 years, she worked with François Bloch-Lainé on the specific characteristics of NGOs and, in 1989, established the French Code of Conduct Committee for NGO Fund Raising. She has been involved in the establishment and running of several social economy networks in Europe. From 2000 to 2003, she was Director General of Maisons d’Isatis and managed fifteen or so retirement homes for dependent elderly people.

She is a former student of HEC-JF business school and speaks fluent English.

Michel Cruciani advises Confrontations Europe on climate and energy issues.

Since February 2007, Michel has been a project manager at the Centre of Geopolitics of Energy and Raw Materials at Paris Dauphine University. His main role is to develop relationships with prominent figures and institutions outside the Centre. He also helps to organise conferences and is involved in the introduction of a new Master’s degree in energy, finance and carbon.

From 2000 to 2007, he worked in EDF’s European Affairs Division where he was responsible for monitoring Community initiatives impacting the energy industry. One of the key projects during this period was the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Prior to 2000 he was Deputy General Secretary of the CFDT’s gas and electricity federation and, as such, was responsible for European and environmental matters. After a three-year assignment in Indonesia, he was elected as a worker member of the board at Gaz de France, from a list of CFDT-sponsored candidates. He was subsequently assigned to the company’s economic research department.

Michel Cruciani began his career in the joint engineering department of Electricité de France and Gaz de France.

He has written a number of articles on energy and climate change; he also designed the board game Kyogami, the rules of which are based on the flexibility mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol.

Michel Cruciani graduated as an engineer from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers (Aix-en-Provence) and speaks fluent English.

Bernard Housset advises Confrontations Europe and Eurofound on employment, training and labour market issues. He has a special interest in macroeconomic and social policy, international relations, geopolitics and organisation/human resources development.

Bernard has spent most of his career at the Danone Group. For almost 30 years, he was Human Resources Director in several of the Group’s companies in France and Italy (Milan). He was also Corporate Social Projects Director at the Group’s head office in Paris (as such he was involved in negotiating agreements on working time and flexibility, and represented the interests of the Danone Group and the agri-food industry with social affairs ministries).

In 1982, he was assigned to the Prime Minister’s Office to work on employment-related issues. Subsequently, he was seconded as Research Manager to Eurofund, the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2003 to 2006, and occasionally thereafter).

He has also produced articles and research papers and organised European seminars on ageing, employability, social change, participative management, profit sharing and job quality.

He has a Master’s degree in macroeconomics (1969), two degrees from the CNAM (15 credit units including psycho-sociology, ergonomics, organisation and HR management ) and a certificate of specialisation in international relations (equivalent of a Master 1 degree, CNAM Paris, 2013). In 1992-1993, he completed a strategic management course at CEDEP-INSEAD. He speaks fluent English and Italian.

Jean-Robert Leonhard advises Confrontations Europe on financial issues. He takes part in numerous activities, such as the working groups on financing the economy and long-term investment.

Jean-Robert was HR Director at CNP Assurances from 1992 until he retired in 2002. Prior to that he was HR Director at Scetaroute (a company specialising in motorway engineering), Secretary General of G-C.A.M (the IT branch of the CDC), and project manager at C3D (a holding corporation for CDC subsidiaries). He began at the CDC (deposit and consignment office) as a government administration officer and subsequently pursued his career in several of the group’s companies, mainly in human resources management (he was HR Director at the C.A.M).

He is a graduate of Sciences Po (Institute of Political Science) Grenoble and has a degree in public law.

Since 2008, François Michaux has been advising Confrontations Europe on matters relating to industrial, employment and training policy. Among other things, he produced the 39^th edition of L’Option for Confrontations Europe: the demographic shock in Europe 2015-2050.

In 2008, François was working for the Renault Group, where he was in charge of long-term human resources planning (worldwide). He joined Renault in 1990 as Head of the Recruitment Department and was then appointed Executive Secretary to the Group’s General Secretary. In 1981, he was working as Human Resources Adviser to the Director General of L’Assistance Publique, Hôpitaux de Paris, before being appointed Director of Economic Affairs. He began his career in 1975 as a sub-prefect at the Ministry of the Interior.

He is a former student at ENA (French National School of Administration).

Since he left the European Commission in 2012, Armand Rauch has been advising Confrontations Europe on social economy matters, on a voluntary basis.

During his time at the European Commission, Armand assumed operational responsibilities relating to internal control, external auditing and relations with other European institutions such as the Court of Auditors, the European Ombudsman and the European Data Protection Supervisor. Prior to that, he was the right-hand man of the Director General in two successive DGs, the DG Enterprise and Industry and the DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology (formerly INFSO). Armand joined the European Commission in Brussels in the early 90s. He helped to set up a new unit focusing on the social economy and was involved in early research into specific statutes for social economy organisations in Europe. He began his career at Mutualité française, where he was in charge of European issues and relations with mutual organisations outside of France; he focused on developing economic research into supplementary sickness and health insurance, and was involved in strategy development.

He has a Master’s degree in mathematical statistics and a Master’s degree in business economics and management.

Alain Turc retired in 2008 and now advises Confrontations Europe on European budget matters.

He spent his career at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance (statistics office , forecasting department, public accounting department, general economic and financial inspectorate), where he gained broad experience in public finance (macroeconomic impact analysis, revenue and expenditure management, infrastructure, audits and internal control, modernisation of public management). In his various roles, he took an interest in the comparative analysis of public management and public enterprises during cooperation and teaching activities (he was Director of Seminars at the French National School of Administration, ENA, from 2004 to 2006).

Alain Turc has a degree in economics and is a former student at ENA.

Christine Gauffreteau is an executive assistant at Confrontations Europe, where she is in charge of member and partner relations.

Christine joined Confrontations Europe in 2009. She has over 15 years’ experience in corporate finance departments, where she carried out administrative tasks and other duties relating to cash management and credit management. In 2005, she joined the International Catholic Child Bureau, an NGO which defends children’s rights. She spent four very rewarding years there as assistant to the finance director.

In addition to a Master’s degree in English from the University of Paris-Sorbonne, she has a diploma in international trade from the Paris Chamber of Commerce.