Co-Chairman
of Galeries Lafayette and Chairman of Laser, Philippe Lemoine heads one of the
largest French groups with more than 35,000 employees. At the same time he studies
and analyses the economic and social transformations brought about by information
technology. He endeavours to develop new forms of innovation and action geared
to the issues of the new economy.
Before moving to the
private sector, Philippe Lemoine pursued the same interest in the public sector,
throwing a bridge between analysis and action.
A graduate
from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (public service), a law graduate who
successfully passed the competitive examination in civil law for outstanding students,
holder of an advanced economics diploma, he started out as an engineering researcher
at Institut National de Recherche Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA, national
institute for IT and automation research) while continuing sociological studies
at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, the social sciences school.
In
1976, the Ministry of Industry (IT Taskforce) invited him to manage the Computerization
of Society project. In this capacity he helped draft the Nora-Minc report. He
subsequently joined the office of Mr Norbert Segard, then Minister of State for
the Post Office and Telecommunications, and, after his death, the office of Mr
Pierre Aigrain (for whom he produced a report on Technology and Society). He also
headed the French delegation to the OECD's ICCP Committee meetings in 1976 and
1980.
In 1981, Philippe Lemoine was appointed Government
Commissioner to the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés
(CNIL - National Data Protection and Privacy Commission). In 1982, he took charge
of the Technology, Employment, Work programme and became Vice-Chairman of its
National Committee under Laurent Fabius, Minister of Research.
In
1983, Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy commissioned him to draft a report on information
technologies. He was also one of the rapporteurs of the Prospective 2005 report
to the Commissariat Général du Plan, the French planning office.
In
late 1984, Philippe Lemoine joined Galeries Lafayette, where he contributed to
its growth and its reorganisation into four core businesses: Galeries Lafayette,
Monoprix, BHV, Laser. In 1998, he was appointed Co-Chairman of the corporate Management
Board.
In addition to his responsibilities at a group with
traditional business lines, he continued his evaluation activities and remained
active in the public debate on the information society. In January 2000, at the
Prime Minister's proposal, he was appointed expert member of the CNIL. Philippe
Lemoine is also a director of La Poste, Rexecode and the Franco-American Foundation.
He is further co-manager of Gencod-EAN France and chairs the MEDEF (French business
federation) working group on e-commerce.
Within the sphere
of his activities at Galeries Lafayette, his focus on problems of the future prompted
him to set up Laser, a provider of specialised services and technologies for e-commerce
and consumer services whose mission is to promote innovations to support the Internet
revolution.
In collaboration with other Paris-based groups,
he set up Echangeur, a unique European centre whose mission is to maintain a technology
watch and to analyse and provide training in the areas of the internet, e-commerce
and new forms of trade (located at Parc Technologique du Marais in the Paris-district
where Laser is headquartered). Encouraged by the success of its Paris site, an
acknowledged "incubator of business strategies and a trailblazer for public
debates", Echangeur has set up a network in partnership with other businesses
and local authorities to promote innovation and intelligent practices on the internet
among regional economic players. Echangeur was inaugurated on 4 December 2000.
Within
this sphere, Philippe Lemoine also manages a series of publications, Cahiers Laser,
designed to enrich and to help structure the debates on the issues arising from
interaction between technology, trade and society.
In 2002,
he launched a social debate on modernity, involving discussions and publications,
with economic players, associations, politicians and intellectuals, intended to
guide their understanding of ongoing changes, stakes, risks, hopes, resources
and objectives.
Current positions: :
-
Chairman, Laser, Lafayette Services
- Chairman and CEO, Cofinoga
- Vice-Chairman
of BHV's Supervisory Board
- Director, Monoprix SA
- Chairman and
CEO, Banque Sygma
- Chairman of the Echangeur Network
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Philippe
Lemoine has published many works including the following three under the pseudonym
Jean-Philippe Faivret :
Les dégâts
du progrès, (The Damage of Progress), in collaboration
with J.L. Missika, D. Wolton and CFDT, Seuil, 1978
Le
tertiaire éclaté, (A Scattered Service Sector), in collaboration
with J.L. Missika, D. Wolton and CFDT, Seuil, 1980
L'illusion
écologique, (The Ecological Illusion) in collaboration with J.L.
Missika and D. Wolton, Seuil, 1981
He has
further published :
Les enjeux culturels
de l'informatisation, (Cultural Issues of Computerization) in collaboration
with F. Gallouedec-Genuys, La Documentation Française, 1980
Les
technologies de l'information enjeu stratégique pour la modernisation économique
et sociale, (Information Technologies, a Strategic Issue for Economic
and Social Modernisation), report to the Prime Minister (Pierre Mauroy), La Documentation
Française,1983
Le commerce dans
la société informatisée, (Trade in a Computerized
Society), ICC report, Economica, 1993
Self-service
mondial ou nouvelle économie de service ? (Global Self-Service
or New Service Economy?) Cahier Laser no. 1, January 1998
Commerce
électronique, marketing et libertés, (E-commerce, Marketing
and Freedoms) Cahier Laser no. 2, June 1999
La
Nouvelle économie et ses paradoxes, (The New Economy and its Paradoxes),
Cahier Laser no. 3
1954-2004 - D'une
modernité à l'autre, (From One Modernity to Another), Cahier
Laser no. 4/5
Monstres et merveilles
de la Modernité, (Monsters and Wonders of Modernity), Cahier Laser
no. 6
Une nouvelle modernité
? Traitements de surface et exploration des profondeurs, (A New Form of
Modernity? Surface Treatments and Exploration of the Deeps), Cahier Laser no.
7
Modernité 2004 : auditions
publiques au Théâtre du Rond-Point, (Modernity in 2004: public
encounters at the Rond-Point Theater), Cahier Laser no. 8
