Team / François Leraillez
“Trained as a typical ‘French Engineer’, I have devoted a large part of my career to business entities belonging to the Anglosaxon or Rhineland cultures. This has allowed me to measure the impact cultural differences have on management decisions and efficiency, even if their influence isn't recognized explicitely or professionally.”
Born in 1936, after graduation from Ecole Polytechnique and from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, François Leraillez entered in 1962 the telecomm industry as R&D engineer specializing in data communications and networks. As Data Networks Technical Director in the Telecom department of Thomson Houston, he had to develop the data communications of the first Air France reservation system.
In 1970, he moved to the computer industry joining Honeywell Information Systems in Waltham (Massachussets) where, as strategic planner he was responsible during three years for the small computers and terminals strategy implemented in US, UK, Italy, and France. Back in Paris, he became the Development Director for the Small Computer line of Honeywell until 1980. During this period he had to merge the Bull and CII teams of his domain.
Joining the Philips Group in 1980, as Technical Director of TRT (5000 people), he developed the radio and transmission product lines of Philips, in close cooperation with the other parts of Philips in the world. In 1987, as Chairman CEO of TRT, he had to restructure and then split the company in order to merge the defense half with Thomson, and the civil half into the newly created Communications and Systems Division of Philips, of which he became Vice-Chairman in 1989, residing in the Netherlands.
In this assignment, he was responsible for the Strategy, and the Products/Business Development for this international group of 12.000 people located mainly in Germany, France, UK and the Netherlands. In 1993 he was called in Nürnberg, where he was elected Vorstand of the PKI AG, responsible for the Network Systems with 5000 people (80% in Germany, 20% in France). In this function he had to deeply restructure and refocus the German unit to come back to a profitable business. Three years later, in order to align the business on the new Philips strategy, he lead the divestiture of his part to AT&T, later Lucent Technologies, a move which proved beneficial to the unit, now in charge of worldwide assignments in this new American environment.
After leaving Nürnberg in 1996, for his last year he acted as advisor to the CEO of Philips Business Electronics, until he retired from the industry.
Early 1997, back in France after 8 years of expatriation, he created a Company, Costratege SARL, to provide consulting to Companies confronted with internationalization. As examples he worked for AT Kearny, the CS Group, MIRCEB the internationalization arm of the Region Brittany, CNET the France Telecom Research Center, and with Jacques Pateau Consultants to assist in their acculturation programs companies like France Telecom-Deutsche Telekom or Aventis.
He is chevalier de l'ordre National du Mérite.
