Atomic Anne redirects here. For the military hardware known as Atomic Annie, see M65 Atomic Cannon

M65 Atomic Cannon

The M65 Atomic Cannon, often called Atomic Annie, was a towed artillery piece built by the United States and capable of firing a nuclear device. It was developed in the early 1950s, at the beginning of the Cold War, and fielded by 1953 in Europe and Korea....

Anne Lauvergeon (born 2 August 1959 in Dijon

Dijon

Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....

, Côte-d'Or, France), is a French businesswoman, and CEO of Areva

Areva

AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...

 2001 – 2011 .

Biography

In 1978 she attended the École Normale Supérieure

École Normale Supérieure

The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

 to pass the Agrégation

Agrégation

In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...

 in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

. Then she entered the Corps des Mines. In 1983 she enrolled in her first vocational course with the Corps de Mines, in the iron and steel industry, at Usinor

Usinor

Usinor was a French steel making group formed in 1948. The group was merged with Sacilor in 1986, becoming Usinor-Sacilor and was privatised in 1995, and renamed Usinor in 1997....

. A second vocational course, in 1984, took place with the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique

Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique

The Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives or CEA, is a French “public establishment related to industrial and commercial activities” whose mission is to develop all applications of nuclear power, both civilian and military...

, where she studied chemical safety in Europe. From 1985 to 1988, she was with the l'Inspection générale des carrières (IGC). In 1990, she was placed in charge of the mission for the international economy and foreign trade by French President François Mitterrand

François Mitterrand

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...

. The following year, she became assistant secretary general. She was then named “sherpa

Sherpa (G8)

A sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state of government who prepares an international summit, particularly the annual G8 Summit. Between the G8 summits there are multiple sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out. This reduces the amount of time and resources...

”, i.e. personal representative to the president, and charged with preparing international meetings such as the G7 summit. In 1995, she joined the banking sector, and became a managing partner of Lazard

Lazard

Lazard Ltd is the parent company of Lazard Group LLC, a global, independent investment bank with approximately 2,300 employees in 42 cities across 27 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, Central and South America...

. In March 1997, she was named general director of Alcatel

Alcatel

Alcatel Mobile Phones is a brand of mobile handsets. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent of France and TCL Communication of China....

, before becoming part of the group's executive committee.

Leadership in nuclear power

In June 1999, she was named CEO of the group Cogema

Areva NC

Areva NC, formerly Cogema is a French company, created in 1976 from the production division of the French government's CEA It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling...

, succeeding Jean Syrota, who resigned under pressure from The Greens

The Greens (France)

The Greens were a Green political party to the centre-left of the political spectrum in France. They had officially been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as René Dumont’s candidacy for the presidency in 1974...

. In July 2001, she merged Cogema, Framatome and other companies to create Areva

Areva

AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...

. Taking the head of the new company, she entered the small circle of women directing international corporations. The 2006 Fortune Global 500

Fortune Global 500

The Fortune Global 500 is a ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by Fortune magazine....

, published by the American magazine Fortune

Fortune (magazine)

Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...

, ranked her as the 2nd most powerful women in Europe, behind Patricia Russo

Patricia Russo

Patricia F. Russo is an American businessperson most widely known for having served as chief executive officer of Lucent Technologies and its successor, Alcatel-Lucent, a large communications equipment manufacturer. She currently serves on the board of directors of HP, General Motors, Merck & Co....

, future president of Alcatel

Alcatel

Alcatel Mobile Phones is a brand of mobile handsets. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent of France and TCL Communication of China....

-Lucent

Lucent Technologies

Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...

.

In 2001, Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg

Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg

Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg is a French politician. From 1981 to 1983 he was President of the Movement of Radicals of the Left in the French Parliament.He was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques....

 chose her to chair the "national contest of assistance the creation of companies of innovating technologies".

In September 2002, the daily economic newspaper Les Échos uncovered a report from the French court of auditors, citing her compensation (salary of €305,000 with bonus of €122,000) and "golden parachute

Golden parachute

A golden parachute is an agreement between a company and an employee specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. Sometimes, certain conditions, typically a change in company ownership, must be met, but often the cause of termination is...

" of two years' wages.

Towards the end of 2006, Areva encountered difficulties with its new European Pressurized Reactor

European Pressurized Reactor

The EPR is a third generation pressurized water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome , Electricité de France in France, and Siemens AG in Germany...

 and announced an expected delay of eighteen months to three years for its delivery according to the French daily newspaper La Tribune

La Tribune

La Tribune is a French financial newspaper that was founded in 1985. The paper is in tabloid format and has a circulation of around 78,000.- External links :**...

. The reactor is to be the first of its kind in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. The delay may cost €700 million.

Anne Lauvergeon is also President of the board of directors of École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Nancy

École nationale supérieure des Mines de Nancy

The école nationale supérieure des mines de Nancy is one of the prestigious French generalist engineering Grandes Ecoles...

 and is a director or board member of Suez, Total S.A.

Total S.A.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...

, Safran

SAFRAN

Safran is a French conglomerate involved in defense, aerospace propulsion and equipment, and security. It is the result of a merger between the propulsion and aerospace equipment group SNECMA and the defense conglomerate SAGEM. Its headquarters are located in Paris.The name Safran, literally...

 S.A. and Vodafone

Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...

.

On 10 July 2008 in the French economic paper "Challenges," she stated: "Uranium is a main part of our success. Our model is... Nespresso: we sell coffee machines and the coffee which fit for them. And coffee is very profitable. So in China, we sold two nuclear parts, plus 35% of our uranium production. This is our integrated business model".

In 16 October 2009, Anne Lauvergeon she addressed journalists out side the “Women’s Forum” organised in Deauville

Deauville

Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...

. She declared: “To be clear, with same competences, sorry, we will choose the woman or something else rather than the white male”. She said these words during France 2

France 2

France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...

 evening news. This statement generated reactions and was chosen as an example by Eric Zemmour

Éric Zemmour

Éric Zemmour is a French conservative political journalist and writer. He has been a columnist for the daily newsparer Le Figaro and a panelist on France 2 talk-show On n'est pas couché and on I-Télé current affairs show Ça se dispute...

 and Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen is a French politician, a lawyer by profession and the president of the Front National since 16 January 2011...

 to explain that positive discrimination was a kind of racism.

In June 2010 from 3rd to 6th, she was at Bilderberg conference

Bilderberg Group

The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence. About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from...

 in Sitges

Sitges

*Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla . It houses two Gothic sepulchres , belonging to the an older church located on the same site...

, Spain. She is as well member of Trilateral Commission

Trilateral Commission

The Trilateral Commission is a non-governmental, non-partisan discussion group founded by David Rockefeller in July 1973 to foster closer cooperation among the United States, Europe and Japan.-History:...

.

On 16 June 2011 Francois Fillon

François Fillon

François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...

, the French Primeminister, announced that Anne Lauvergeon's mandate as head of Areva

Areva

AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...

, terminating end of June, 2011, would not be renewed. She will be replaced by Luc Oursel, member of the Areva board of management since 2007.

International Recognition

In 2009, she was ranked by the magazine Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

as the ninth-most powerful woman in the world.