Bruno Sainjon - the new Chairman of ONERA

Professional experience

May  2014 – present: ONERA

• May 28, 2014: named Chairman and CEO by official decree of the French Council of Ministers. He is named head of the research establishment following the death of Denis Maugars on August 9, 2013, although in the meantime the acting Chairman and CEO was Thierry Michal, general technical director of ONERA.
• May 13, 2014, Bruno Sainjon is elected Chairman of the Board of Directors.

2005 – 2014: DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement, the French defense procurement agency)

• October 7, 2009: named director of operations, also representing the French defense minister on the supervisory board of OCCAr (Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d’Armement), the European Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, which includes Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.
• January 21, 2009: named director of weapon systems, and promoted to the rank of "ingénieur général hors classe de l’armement" ("chief scientist defense").
• By decree of January 21, 2008, named "ingénieur général de l’armement" 1st class.
• January 24, 2007: named deputy director of weapon systems, in charge of procurement for nuclear and naval forces.
• Bruno Sainjon joins the DGA as director of the nuclear and missile programs department, part of the weapon system directorate.

2003 – 2005: SGDN (Secrétariat Général de la Défense Nationale)

• On July 1, 2005, he is named "ingénieur général de l’armement", 2nd class.  
• Bruno Sainjon is named deputy director of sensitive technologies and transfers in the national defense office (SGDN).

2002 – 2003: DGA
Bruno Sainjon returns to the DGA in December 2002 as special advisor to the head of the aircraft maintenance department.

2000-2002: SNPE (Société Nationale des Poudres et des Explosifs )

• February to November 2002, secretary to the SNPE Executive Committee .
• May 2001 to May 2002: also holds the positions of Chairman and CEO of CELERG and CELERG International.
• On March 1, 2000, named vice president for strategy and development, energetic materials, at SNPE.

1996 – 2000: services of the French prime minister and cabinet of the minister of defense
o    July 1997: joins the defense minister's cabinet as technical advisor, then named advisor for economic, financial and budgetary affairs.
o    1996: joins the French government as head of economic affairs and coordination in the interministerial delegation for the 1998 Soccer World.

1987 – 1996: DGA

• Bruno Sainjon started his career in 1987 at French defense procurement agency DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement), in the missiles directorate, later renamed the missiles and space directorate.
• From 1987 to 1992 in the gunpowder and explosives engineering department, Bruno Sainjon was in charge of R&D for solid propellants in tactical and ballistic missiles, then head of the general design group.  
• In 1993 he moved to the strategic and space systems engineering department, as deputy head of the propulsion office, with specific responsibility for industrial policy and relations with the commercial launcher sector. In this position, he was the French representative on the commission mandated by the UN to inspect ballistic missile activities in Iraq.
• In 1994 he was named head of the missiles-space-nuclear programs office, reporting to the weapon programs delegate.

Education:

Bruno Sainjon holds degrees from the École Polytechnique (1982) and the École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées (1987) engineering schools.

Born on January 25, 1961, Bruno Sainjon holds the rank of Knight in the French Legion of Honor and Officer in the National Order of Merit.