The associates

Alexandre Medvedowsky graduated from IEP Paris. He holds a DEA in Macroeconomics (Paris I) and is a former student of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (Denis Diderot class, 1984-1986). He has been a magistrate at the Conseil d'Etat since 1986 and a member of the cabinet of Laurent Fabius, then President of the French National Assembly from 1990 to 1992. From 1998 to 2001, he was associate professor at the University of Aix-Marseille III and taught at the IEP in Paris until 2006. He was a councillor of the Bouches-du-Rhône from 1998 to March 2015. Appointed State Councillor in July 2001, he joined ESL & Network Holding the same year and became a member of the Management Board of ESL & Network Holding. In 2005, he was appointed Chairman of ESL & Network France. He was appointed Chairman of the Management Board on 1 January 2013. He was elected Chairman of SYNFIE, the French economic intelligence syndicate, in May 2014, and he has also been President of the Observatoire de l'Intelligence Économique since January 2020. His expertise in the energy sector comes from more than 20 years of working with clients in the sector.

Holding diplomas from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), ENS, IEP Paris, PHD in Economic and Social sciences, Dorothée is member of the Council of State(member of the highest advisory and judicial body of the French government) since 1989, and ” Conseiller d’Etat” since 2011. She has been members ot the staff of Minister Alain Lamassoure (European and Foreign affairs ) from 1993 to 1995, and deputy c hief of staff for Minister Corine Lepage (Environnement) from 1995 to 1996. She has also served as deputy CEO in the following companies : PICARD Surgelés (2001-2005), Chevrillon and associates (1999-2001), and CEO of DP Conseil(2005 to 2007). From 2011 to 2012 she was the Director-General of the Federation of social enterprises and housing, and before that Deputy Director-General of the Assembly of French Chambers of Commerce and Industry She was Deputy Chief Executive Officer of MEDEF (Mouvement des Entreprises de France) between 2013 and 2017. She is member of the board of Groupe Axa, Albingia, and STEF. She also has been elected at the city council of Boulogne-Billancourt, in charge of urbanism and Culture, between 1995 and 2008, and elected at the Région Ile de France between 1998 and 2010.

Vincent Montlahuc is Deputy Chief Executive Officer, in charge of the group's support functions. A trained Sup'Aero engineer, Vincent Montlahuc has spent his entire career working in finance departments. He started his career at Mazars as a financial auditor, then spent ten years learning about entrepreneurship by creating his own consulting firm providing assistance to financial and general managers. In 2008, he joined the listed retirement home management group Korian as Chief Financial Officer and participated in the group's development until the merger with the Medica group. In 2015, as Secretary General, he worked in an industrial property firm where he restructured the group legally, as well as in the partnership’s sector. Vincent Montlahuc joined ESL Network in January 2019.

Dominique Leblanc is a graduate of the HEC Paris business school, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) in Paris and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA, National School of Administration). In 1979 he joined the Ministry of Industry (Department of Mechanical, Metallurgical and Electrical Industries) and, in 1984, the Ministry of Economics and Finance (Department of the Treasury). In 1988 he joined the Société des Bourses Françaises, today known as NYSE-Euronext, as Deputy Director of Products and Operations, later becoming Director of Market Promotion, Vice-President and Deputy Managing Director. In 2001, he became Deputy Managing Director of Viel et Cie, and in 2003, Deputy Managing Director of FinInfo SA. In May 2008 he created the consulting company Information & Finance Agency S.A.S., a member of ESL & Network, specialising in market finance and the valuation of companies, and of which he is the CEO. Dominique Leblanc has served as President of the French Federation of Investment Clubs since 2003, and is President of Wansquare.

Olga BELOT-SCHETININA is a graduate of the Moscow Institute (University) of International Relations. She completed her studies with an MBA from HEC (Paris, France) in 2003, specialising in international finance. She began her career at Lucent Technologies CIS, Corporate Finance Department in Moscow. Later she joined Motorola as a participant of the Motorola European Talent Pool Program (1996 - 1998). She worked at Motorola EMEA for 4 years (1998 - 2002) in various commercial and finance roles. She joined ESL & Network in 2004 to develop the group's activities in Russia and other CIS countries. Olga has extensive experience in Energy, Industry, Transport sectors in EU, CIS, Central Asia and Africa.

Philippe Reclus has been President of IEAG, the European geo-economical analysis institute, an ESL brand, since 2011. Assistant director of the Tribune then Figaro newspapers, he created and directs the Croissance Responsable foundation at the Institut de France, as executive officer. His experience of more than twenty five years in economic media sector offers to Philippe a strong network and a very good understanding of situations. Philippe is in charge of conferences at Ecole Polytechnique. He works with his students on relationships between companies and their stake holders.

Holder of both a B.A. in law and a Masters’ degree in Marketing Strategy, Florent joins Publicis Group and evolves there for 13 years to finally be appointed Special Projects Manager to the Management. He then joins Havas group Euro RSCG Worldwide Events, and specialized in institutional communication issues. Reknowned expert in design and production of large events, conferences, and summits he is today, Florent intervened on the World Economic Forum, the Petra Nobel Conference, the Monaco Media Forum, the Dakar Agriculture Summit, the L’Oreal UNESCO for Women and Science, the Women’s Forum, the World Policy Conference, the G20 in France, the Wharton Global Forum, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in Doha etc. He advises several institutions and think-tanks such as the German Marshall Fund France, the WPC Foundation or the Zermatt Summit, and counsels international organizations in the modernization of their communication strategies. In 2010, he joins Agence Publics as a Managing partner, responsible for all institutional and event-related missions.

As a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (Academy of Human and Political Sciences) at the Institut de France, a professor at the renowned Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, and an independent Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Jean-David Levitte has enjoyed a distinguished diplomatic career. Joining the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1970, Jean-David Levitte began his diplomatic career in Hong Kong, then moved to Peking, before being called upon by President Giscard d'Estaing to join the Elysée in 1975, where he remained until 1981. He was, between 1995 and 2000, Diplomatic Adviser and Sherpa to President Jacques Chirac, having previously occupied a number of posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notably Director General for Cultural, Scientific and Technical Relations, Director of the Department for Asia and Oceania, Assistant Director of West Africa, and French Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. Between 2007 and 2012, he was the Diplomatic Adviser and Sherpa to President Nicolas Sarkozy. Prior to this, between 2003 and 2007, he was French Ambassador to the US in Washington, D.C. covering the difficult period of the War in Iraq, while in 2000 to 2002, he had been French Ambassador to the UN in New York, presiding over the Security Council at the time of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and successfully negotiating the return of the arms inspectors to Iraq in 2002. Jean-David Levitte joined ESL & Network group in September 2015.

Trained engineer (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile), and holder of a degree in Economics, Sami Baghdadi carried out his career in prestigious high technology companies (Texas Instruments, ST Micro, Nokia, Gemplus and Certplus) as well as in management consulting at KPMG Peat Marwick, one of the world’s leading consulting firms. As Certplus’ CEO, he actively participated to the implementation of French key e-government projects. In his 30 years of work, including 20 holding executive positions, he exercised his responsibilities in several operational domains, especially marketing and communication. He joined ESL Agence Publics Marocco as Deputy Director General, and is involved in the public and private sectors both in Marocco and North Africa.

Omar Alaoui graduated from Queen Mary University of London in International Relations. He was Chief of Staff to the President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar. Omar Alaoui then served as Special Advisor to the Morocco-European Union Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) between the European Parliament and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco. He was also Adviser to Mr Mustapha Bakkoury, President of MASEN, in charge of communication and international relations. In November 2019, Omar Alaoui joined ESL Network as a partner.

Bertrand Besancenot has spent most of his career in the Middle East as a French diplomat. In 1977, he joined the Quai d'Orsay as Foreign Secretary for the Middle East. At the age of 26, he became First Secretary at the French Embassy in Qatar. From 1981 to 1995, he was Deputy Consul in New York, Counsellor at the Permanent Delegation to NATO in Brussels, and Deputy Representative of France to the UN Conference on Disarmament. In 1998, he was appointed Ambassador of France to Qatar. From 2002 to 2007, he was Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Defence Michèle Alliot-Marie. He was appointed Ambassador of France to Saudi Arabia in 2007 ;  a position he held until 2016. In February 2017, he was appointed Diplomatic Advisor to the French Government, special envoy of President Macron for Gulf Affairs from 2017 to 2019. He joined ESL & Network in March 2019.

Former student of the Saint Cyr Special Military School (1980-1982), Army General (2S) Didier Castres spent most of his career in the Marine Infantry. He followed the classic beginning in the military career, alternating between staff positions, troop time and command of operational units. He became Deputy to the Special Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic from 2005 to 2009 under the terms of Presidents Chirac and then Sarkozy. He then commanded the Operations Planning and Conduct Center (CPCO) of the Armed Forces General Staff (EMA) until 2011, when he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff "Operations" of the EMA for 5 years. In these different functions, General Castres participated in the planning and conduct of all operations led by France, alone, in coalition or within the EU, NATO or UN framework: Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Central African Republic, Iraq and Syria, but also on national territory. Most notably, he planned and commanded the Serval and Barkhane operations. In 2016, he was appointed Army Inspector until July 2018. He then joined CEIS (European Company of Strategic Intelligence) to strengthen its strategy consulting activities. Two years later, in the summer of 2020, he created the consulting firm DC TARHA CONSEIL, specialized in the field of defense and national security strategies mainly focused on African States. On September 1^st 2020, he joined the ESL and Network group as senior advisor.

A specialist in European, national and local public policy, she began her professional career at the European Parliament. She went on to manage European projects at the CNRS and the Côtes d'Armor Departmental Council, and worked in the office of Claudy LEBRETON, Chairman of the ADF. She then joined the office of the President of the European Metropolis of Lille, Damien CASTELAIN, where she managed transport and economic development issues. In 2017, she was elected MP for the Nord region. She sits on the National Assembly's Finance Committee and has been appointed co-rapporteur spéciale for the transport infrastructure and services budget. She has twice been commissioned by the Prime Minister and has produced reports on the deployment of the industry of the future 4.0, and on the future of forests and the timber industry in France. For nearly 7 years, Anne-Laure has been involved in setting up and managing European projects, from project development to responding to calls for tender, including the search for European funding and project implementation. She joins Rivington in July 2022 as Deputy Managing Director.

Clara da Silva is a graduate of IEP Paris in Public Affairs and holds a "Master 2 de Droit public de l'Économie" from the Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), which enabled her to follow a course dedicated to Public Affairs and then to perfect her knowledge of public and european law. Previously working for a management consultancy in a team specializing in the public sector, she had the opportunity to work on a wide range of issues in sectors enabling her to work alongside a large number of French public decision-makers. Clara da Silva joined ESL Rivington in 2023 as a Senior Consultant.

Chiara holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Parma, as well as a Master’s degree in European Law focusing on the area of freedom, security and justice from the Institute of European Studies of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Prior to joining ESL & Network, Chiara had several professional experiences in Brussels, including an internship in the legal service of the European Parliament, where she was familiar with European politics, and at the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) as a legal assistant, where she was in charge of monitoring the EU legislative process. Chiara joined the Brussels office of ESL European Affairs in 2021. She works mainly in the agriculture, health and environment sectors. She speaks Italian, French and English.

A senior plenipotentiary minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bruno DELAYE began his career as chargé d'affaires in Egypt. He subsequently served as French Ambassador to Togo, Mexico, Greece, Spain and Brazil. He has also held the posts of Africa Adviser to the President of the Republic and Director General of International Cooperation and Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A graduate of IEP Paris (1997) and ESSEC (1999), Laurent LOTTEAU first worked as a financial analyst at Paribas Belgique (Brussels) (1997-2000). In 2000, he joined Euro RSCG in Paris, where he worked first as a consultant and then as an account manager (Lagardère Group, BNP Paribas, Crédit du Nord, Assystem, Accenture, Banque Populaire Group, Crédit Agricole Indosuez). In 2003, he worked as a development consultant for agencies in the Lowe Partners network (Dakar, Abidjan). Returning to France in 2004, he joined M&M Conseil as consulting director, before becoming associate managing director in 2005. In 2008, Laurent LOTTEAU became Associate Director of Groupe BLT (Boury-Lotteau-Tallon), the holding company for Boury & associés and M&M Conseil. In 2010, he became Communications Director of the D&O Group, a major player in the multi-professional social protection sector, before setting up Rivington in 2011. During his years in Euro RSCG, he was in charge of implementation of pension fund regulations within the European Commission on behalf of Paribas Bank.

With a degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Granada and a specialisation in the development of IT visual information systems in Brussels, Lino is in charge of data mining and information coordination for the Brussels team. Formerly at EIS, publisher of Europolitique/Europolitics, Lino joined ETI - later acquired by the ESL group - in 2005 as a training programme coordinator and webmaster. Since 2013 he has been responsible for data mining and the coordination of information retrieval and dissemination systems. Through the discovery and analysis of unknown or hidden information patterns within large databases, Lino ensures the technological, legislative and regulatory monitoring of subjects that concern ESL’s clients’ business. He is also in charge of the design and implementation of the technical and functional architecture of the information systems adapted to the objectives and needs of the team and the visual and IT elements of the communication. Lino speaks Spanish, French and English.