Our speakers

Bernard Charlès has been Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dassault Systèmes, since January 2024. He served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2022, and was Chairman & CEO in 2023. 

Charlès started his career in the company in 1983 to develop new design technologies. In 1986, he founded a dedicated New Technologies, Research and Strategy department, and in 1988 was appointed President of Strategy, Research and Development.

He has helped instill a culture of ongoing innovation to further consolidate Dassault Systèmes’ scientific capabilities and make science part of the company’s DNA. The inspiration behind digital mock-up, product lifecycle management and 3DEXPERIENCE®, he firmly believes that virtual technology is about making possible the impossible: 3DEXPERIENCE universes are the most powerful vehicle for testing concepts and creating the future, bringing dream and reality together, and stretching the limits of science and imagination to drive progress in society.

Charlès has positioned Dassault Systèmes as the preferred partner for sustainable innovation in three major sectors of the economy: Manufacturing Industries, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Infrastructure & Cities. The company, established in 1981 and world leader in virtual worlds, was recognized as one of Forbes’ "World’s Most Innovative Companies". 

Bernard Charlès is co-author with philosopher Pierre Musso of The Industry Renaissance, which discusses the power of virtual universes to sustainably transform industry. 

He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of engineering and a member of the French Academy of Technology. He holds the rank of Commander in the “Légion d’honneur” (French Legion of Honor). He is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure engineering school in Cachan and has a PhD in mechanical engineering majoring in automation engineering and information science. He also holds an agrégation — the most senior teaching qualification achievable in France (specializing in mechanical engineering).

Patrick JOHNSON is Executive Vice President, Corporate Research & Sciences  at Dassault Systèmes. His mission is to define the scientific bases of the company’s solutions and invent disruptive technologies for the Industry Renaissance.

After joining in 1996, he held various positions in R&D, from Product Lifecycle Management foundations to product design for the CATIA flagship brand. In 2001, leading the Artificial Intelligence department, he contributed to important new practices now adopted in the industry for knowledge & know-how capture and automation.

Head of Research in 2004, he initiated many strategic technologies, resulting in key innovative products and patents and significantly grew the innovation ecosystem promoting multiple public/private partnerships with prestigious research institutes. 

Finally, he launched a new diversification field for the company, with the BioIntelligence European research program, resulting in an innovative modeling, simulation and big data application suite for the life sciences sector, and the creation of the BIOVIA brand.

Mr. Johnson is based at 3DS world headquarters near Paris and is a member of the National Academy of Technology as well as of the scientific board of INRIA.

Antoine PICON is the G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology and Director of Research at the GSD. Trained as an engineer, architect, and historian, Picon works on the history of architectural and urban technologies from the eighteenth century to the digital era. He has published extensively on this subject.

He is amongst others the author of French Architects and Engineers in the Age of Enlightenment (1988, English translation 1992), Claude Perrault (1613-1688) (1988), L'Invention de L'ingénieur moderne (1992), La Ville territoire des cyborgs (1998), Les Saint-Simoniens (2002), Digital Culture in Architecture (2010), Ornament: The Politics of Architecture and Subjectivity (2013), and Smart Cities: A Spatialised Intelligence (2015). He has edited many other volumes, in particular L'Art de l'Ingénieur (1997), and La Ville et la Guerre (1998). Antoine PICON is also Chairman of the Foundation Le Corbusier, and a member of the French Academy of Architecture and the French Academy of Technology.
 

George M. CHURCH, PhD ’84, is professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, a founding member of the Wyss Institute, and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data. Church is known for pioneering the fields of personal genomics and synthetic biology. He developed the first methods for the first genome sequence & dramatic cost reductions since then (down from $3 billion to $600), contributing to nearly all “next generation sequencing” methods and companies.

His team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications – including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme Disease and Malaria.  Church is director of IARPA & NIH BRAIN Projects and National Institutes of Health Center for Excellence in Genomic Science.  He has co-authored more than 515 papers and 130 patent publications, and one book, “Regenesis”. His honors include Franklin Bower Laureate for Achievement in Science, the Time 100, and election to the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. 

Rhonda BARNET has over three decades of experience as a female trailblazer, achieving great heights in male-dominated industries and institutions.  A STEM graduate in mathematics, she is a successful executive, entrepreneur, and director, as well as a key voice in Canada, and around the world, on industrial policy, skills of the future, and diversity. Barnet frequently shares the stage with Canada’s biggest names in business and politics, and is a nationally renowned, dynamic public speaker.  

Barnet has held various positions in her family manufacturing company, AVIT Manufacturing (formerly Steelworks Design Inc.), including VP Finance, President & COO, and Chair of the Advisory Board. She has grown this company into a global automation company offering custom solutions to the largest manufacturers in the world.  She has extensive expertise in corporate leadership and strategy, business development, trade, finance, governance, turnarounds, and succession planning. 

Barnet was the first woman in history to chair the National Board of Canada’s oldest, largest trade association, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME).  She led the organization through a period of turmoil and financial turnaround, finding and onboarding a new CEO and reducing the size of the board through a modern governance journey. When Barnet started this journey with CME, it was an outdated patriarchal institution; as she leaves her post in 2021, CME is a modern, diverse, relevant, and sustainable organization poised to help the manufacturing sector grow and prosper in Canada.

Barnet is the founder of Canada’s Women in Manufacturing Initiative, led by CME and funded, in part, by the federal government’s Ministry of Women and Gender Equality.  Most notably, she led a campaign to add 100,000 new jobs for women in Canada to the manufacturing sector.  In just 18 months, 41,200 jobs were gained.  This was after a 30-year period of no gains. During the pandemic, there were unprecedented job losses for women in all sectors, with manufacturing reporting losses of 115,000 jobs held by women.  Programs led by Barnet have contributed to a return of 95,000 of those jobs, and she is passionate about tackling more broadly the distressing gender employment and wage gap revealed and exacerbated by the pandemic.

In June 2020, Barnet was appointed to the Government of Canada’s Industry Strategy Council by the Honourable Navdeep Bains and named Chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Strategy Table.  The council’s report – Restart, Recover and Reimagine Prosperity for all Canadians:  An Ambitious Growth Plan for Building a Digital, Sustainable and Innovative Economy – was published in December 2020. Barnet volunteered hundreds of hours at the decision table with nine of the country’s most distinguished sectoral leaders. This influential council was chaired by Monique LEROUX, Vice-Chair of Fiera Holdings Inc. (and former president and CEO of Desjardins Group). 
Barnet was named to Canada’s “Inspiring Fifty” (2018) by the Honourable Navdeep BAINS for her contributions to advancing Canadian women in STEM.  More recently, in 2020, Trent University awarded her the Distinguished Alumni Award – “for being a trailblazer and Canadian leader in the manufacturing sector, and an inspiring role model for young women in STEM and business.” Previously, in 2017, Barnet was awarded a lifetime achievement award in business from Junior Achievement for her work as a trailblazer in the manufacturing sector. 

In pursuit of community building and philanthropy, she serves on the board of directors of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (as immediate past chair) and NGen Canada (the manufacturing super-cluster for Canada).  As a champion for building the skilled labour force of the future, Barnet is a director for Palette Skills (Chair of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and is a co-founder of FemSTEAMPtbo, a regional innovation hub in Peterborough, Ontario.  FemSTEAMPtbo is poised to advance the participation of young girls in post-secondary STEM and trades pathways by 5 percent in five years.  Barnet has decades of experience serving on local community boards and councils. She has an unwavering commitment to giving back to and building success within her company, her community, and, most significantly, her country. 
Barnet is a sought-after advocate for the advanced manufacturing sector and is an international spokeswoman on diversity, women in manufacturing, innovation, skills, and the future workforce.  Rhonda believes in the value of mentorship and upholds the philosophy “If you can see me, you can be me”.

Engineer where she developed business strategy and technical approaches to engaging with customers on their MBSE deployment initiative. In 2015, she published “A Model Identity Card to Support Simulation Model Development Process in a Collaborative Multidisciplinary Design Environment”. Göknur then became Innovation and Research Leader in Autonomous Vehicle & Smart Mobility Service Design where she did In-depth market research and competitive analysis to enable a long-term vision and road map  for Research Renault/Nissan Alliance.

In 2018, as an Innovation Eco-System Manager, she helped business development team to audition the smart mobility and autonomous driving  start-ups and to conduct the Proof of Concept with selected start-up. The same year, she joined the Paris City Makers Open-Innovation Program.In 2010, Göknur obtained a B.S degree in Computer Engineering from the Galatasaray University in Istanbul (Turkey).

Two years later, she received her M.S degree in Information Systems Engineering and Management from the IAE de Paris Sorbonne. While studying in Georgia Institute of Technology, she did research on “Model Based Systems Engineering” .  She received her PhD from Ecole Centrale Paris in “ Complex Adaptative Systems Engineering” in 2015.

Göknur has been identified as “Les femmes qui façonnent le futur des entreprises du CAC40” by Business Insider 2018. She also won the Competition, Best Impact Simulation Award 2014 at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Innovative Design Simulation Challenge (IDSC) in Buffalo, NY, USA.

Philippe LUSCAN is at the helm of an international network of manufacturing and distribution sites. His ambition is to reinforce manufacturing and supply excellence, to ensure production and reliable delivery of essential, high-quality medicines and vaccines to patients worldwide. Under his leadership, Sanofi ramped up its biologics production capacities and in 2019 opened its first digitally-enabled factory in Framingham, Massachusetts. The factory of the future uses continuous biologics production technology and paves the way for the transformation of the global industrial network.

Philippe began his career in 1987 as a Production Manager at Danone. In 1990, he joined Sanofi as Director of its Sisteron site in France, and subsequently served as Industrial Director in the US, as Vice President Supply Chain and as Vice President Chemistry between 2006 and 2008.

From 2015 to 2017, Philippe also served as Chairman of Sanofi in France.  Since January 2018, Philippe also sits as the Chairman of Pacte PME, a joint association of big companies and public entities supporting French small and mid-size companies. Philippe is a graduate of École Polytechnique (X) and École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris in Biotechnology. 

Philippe is a family man, who loves French rugby, swimming in the sea in Brittany, and has been known to write poetry for family, friends and colleagues on special occasions.

Claire Biot is Vice President, Life Sciences Industry, Dassault Systèmes, where she is responsible for helping companies digitally transform their approach to scientific innovation by using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to catalyze the next generation of therapeutics. Claire was also recently appointed to the Board of Directors at Mauna Kea.

Previously, she was the manager of industrial methods at the biopharmaceutical company LFB, then head of the division, health product pricing, and reimbursement at the French Ministry of Health.  Most recently, she was managing director of Agence générale des équipements et produits de santé (AGEPS), France’s central agency for health products and technologies, and a subsidiary of Greater Paris University Hospitals (AP-HP).  

In addition to engineering degrees from France’s Ecole Polytechnique and the Corps des mines program, Claire Biot earned a Master of Science degree in life sciences from the Watson School of Biological Sciences in New York, and a doctorate in immunology from the Institut Pasteur.  She has also been an active member of several World Health Organization working groups.

Simon HUFFETEAU leads the Construction, Cities and Territories Industry organization of Dassault Systèmes, a European multinational software company that develops 3D design, 3D digital mock-up, and product lifecycle management solutions. 

He is responsible for the solutions and worldwide strategy for the architecture, engineering, and construction sector, utilities, as well as cities, and territorial authorities.

Mr. HUFFETEAU joined Dassault Systèmes in 2014 in Boston, where he was in charge of the business consulting for the Energy sector. Prior to that, Mr. HUFFETEAU worked for the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) as the head of a regional office. 

Mr. HUFFETEAU holds a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from the École des Ponts ParisTech and a Master of Science from the École Polytechnique.

Jonathan Goodman is the CEO Polestar UK and Head of Global Communications. A role he has held since July 2020. He took this role after 3 years as Chief Operations Officer for Polestar, charged with overseeing the operational launch of the new stand-alone electric performance car brand within the Volvo car Group.

Prior to this, Jonathan was Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications for Volvo Cars from October 2014. He joined Volvo Cars after a 28-year career at PSA Peugeot Citroën where he held the role of Executive Vice President, Communications, in Paris (2012-2014). Before that, he held several leading commercial positions within the PSA group including Managing Director for Peugeot in the UK and Managing Director in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Jonathan holds a degree in Combined Honours in French, English Literature and International Politics from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and additionally a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Coventry.

He is married with 2 children (27 and 25 years of age).
 

Laurence MONTANARI brings nearly 30 years of automotive engineering and business experience to the largest of Dassault Systèmes’ 11 industries of focus, following a career at the French multinational automobile manufacturer Groupe Renault, where she began as a mechanical engineer in 1992. 

In her most recent role at Groupe Renault – senior innovation manager of its in-house LCI (Collaborative Innovation Laboratory) – she led experimental projects to address emerging trends and develop disruptive mobility solutions for urban areas, including an electric vehicle aimed to understand the last-mile delivery of goods, by creating an atypical innovation ecosystem and driving the adoption of cloud-based technologies. 

This involved bringing together and spearheading a virtual value network of project stakeholders from engineering, design and product marketing disciplines – each with their own challenges – to facilitate open innovation and collaboration around a vehicle’s digital model. Project stakeholders had the opportunity and autonomy to engage in a new digital “test and learn” experience with dashboard managers, powerful realistic rendering images, urban delivery web monitoring, and virtual visualization with a headset but without data transfer or processing. Laurence MONTANARI holds a mechanical engineering degree in robotics from the Ecole Centrale de Nantes in France. 

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