Marie-Hélène Baroux, new Director General of ISAE-SUPAERO!

In the right place, at the right time: it is with serenity and “a great deal of pride” that Marie-Hélène Baroux, a general weapons engineer, has taken up her post as Director General of ISAE-SUPAERO on 1ᵉʳ August 2024. She succeeds Olivier Lesbre, who left his mark on the Institute (2014-2024).

A native of Toulouse and the mother of three children, she knows the Institut well and is very fond of it for several reasons. Her father, Jean Pinet, a test pilot on Concorde, came through Supaéro and its student clubs. Marie-Hélène Baroux partly followed in his footsteps, taking advantage of the opportunity during her studies at Télécom Paris to do her third year at the Toulouse school, where she went on to do a Master’s degree (1993).

Her name is also associated with ISAE-SUPAERO, where she was Deputy Director from 2019 to 2021. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, “I was responsible for the crisis unit and for preserving students’ living and studying conditions”, she explains. She was also responsible for implementing the Horizons roadmap, ISAE-SUPAERO’s strategy for sustainable development. It’s a subject close to her heart.

Specialist in aerospace engineering and telecommunications

But let’s go back to 1993. After completing her higher education, Marie-Hélène Baroux joined the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), where she spent “a long career”. Her dual specialisation in telecommunications and aerospace engineering is a distinctive feature of her career, as she has held alternating positions in these two sectors. This diversity of points of view “has served her well and the projects I’ve worked on”, she says.

At DGA, she was in charge of expertise and tests in the field of electromagnetic compatibility at the Toulouse Aerospace Test Centre (CEAT, now DGA Techniques aérospatiales). As part of DGA’s Operations Division, she also took charge of the CERES programme, a constellation of three electromagnetic intelligence satellites. Four years later, as part of DGA’s strategy department, she steered the ramp-up of European cooperation on weapons programmes.

She also worked at ONERA and OCCAr (Organisation conjointe de coopération en matière d’armement), where she was responsible for setting up the cybersecurity and IT security aspects of the avionics and ground systems for the A400M military aircraft.

Solid management experience

Another special feature of Marie-Hélène Baroux’s career is that “I’ve been through all the stages of management, from small teams to project management to running a test centre”, experiences that have nurtured her thinking on management: “Working on management means working on people. Just before her appointment to the General Management of ISAE-SUPAERO, she worked in the Human Resources Department of the DGA, where her main missions were to consolidate the managerial function, transform working methods towards more collaborative working and deploy hybrid working.”

In her new role, she will be looking to train future engineers for positions of responsibility. “Engineers have an important technical role, but many of them are also involved in management.” Today’s manufacturers are keen to develop soft skills, and with the right method, we can provide a different kind of management that benefits everyone.

Engineers have an important technical role, but many of them are also involved in management. Today’s industrialists are keen on soft skills, and with the right method, we can provide a different kind of management that benefits everyone.

“Maintaining the aerospace industry’s place in the world”

Marie-Hélène Baroux has a major ally in her new role: the 2022-2026 Contract of Objectives and Performance (COP), which sets out the Institute’s strategic objectives. “It’s a very structuring document that is heading in the right direction”, she says, adding that she will be paying close attention to “strengthening certain areas”.

“First of all, there is the consolidation of our relations with defence”, she notes, emphasising the need to strengthen the Institute’s links with its supervisory ministry. “The aerospace skills of the engineers we train can play an important role in a troubled international context.”

She also emphasised ISAE-SUPAERO’s “major role” in supporting Europe’s aerospace industry: “We have a duty to provide it with the talent it needs to maintain its place among the world’s best.” She also wants to work to strengthen the Institute’s links with the space industry, “a highly competitive and rapidly changing sector”.

We have a duty to provide the European aerospace industry with the talent it needs to maintain its place among world leaders.
Marie-Hélène Baroux points to the ISAE Group, which brings together the French aeronautical and space engineering schools under a common banner, as a major asset in meeting the needs of industry for training in aeronautics and space. “The ISAE Group meets a key challenge for the aerospace industry in terms of the diversity of skills and profiles it needs. It already brings this diversity together, and in particular has created an engineering apprenticeship programme, which is very popular today”.

The rapprochement of ISAE-SUPAERO with ENAC, in a context of rapid change in the higher education landscape, will be one of his priority projects: “This rapprochement is important for thinking about the air transport of tomorrow and for developing the skills and research that the sector needs to transform itself.”

Top-level engineers to “transform our society”

In addition to the Institute’s contribution to the air transport, space and defence sectors, she also emphasises ISAE-SUPAERO’s role in training engineers capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow’s world. Training high-level engineers means preparing for the future by providing the thinking matter and talent that will help “shape the world we live in,” she stresses. The aerospace sector is often the source of cutting-edge technologies that will then permeate the whole of society. Training in aerospace engineering means seizing the opportunity to transform our society with new approaches.

The aerospace sector is often the source of cutting-edge technologies that then permeate society as a whole. Training in aerospace engineering means seizing the opportunity to transform our society with new approaches.
Finally, Marie-Hélène Baroux attaches particular importance to the diversity of profiles: “As a woman in a very male-dominated environment, I can testify to the strength of gender diversity.” As Deputy Director of the Institute, she worked closely with the Institute’s social outreach programme, OSE l’ISAE-SUPAERO. “The name is well chosen. There’s a place for everyone in aerospace engineering, you just have to dare!”

Key dates

• 1968: Born in Toulouse
• 1992: Graduated from Télécom Paris
• 1993: Graduates from Supaéro (Master’s degree), joins DGA as a weapons engineer
• 1997: Becomes head of expertise and testing at the Toulouse Aeronautical Test Centre (CEAT)
• 2003: Joins OCCAr in the A400M military aircraft programme department
• 2008: Joins ONERA as multifunction antenna project manager, then DGA Techniques aéronautiques as deputy technical director
• 2013: Head of the CERES programme within DGA’s Operations Directorate
• 2015: Appointed Director of DGA Techniques aéronautiques
• 2017: Joins DGA’s Strategy Directorate
• 2019 : Appointed Deputy Director of ISAE-SUPAERO
• 2021: Joins the DGA Human Resources Department
• 2024: Appointed Director General of ISAE-SUPAERO