René Sautier -Chief Executive Officer of Elf Aquitaine, Founder and CEO of Sanofi

Born February 10, 1923 in Périgueux (Dordogne). Excideuil Primary School, Lycée de Périgueux, École nationale d'administration (1957-1959). Inspector at the General Tax Directorate (1948-1955). Civilian Administrator in the Department of Finance (1959-1963). Seconded to SNPA in 1963; head of the General Affairs Department in 1963, Director of Economic Services in 1968, Director of Development in 1971, member of the ATO Management Board from 1971 to 1975. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi (which he founded and developed with Jean-François Dehecq in June 1973) from 1973 to 1987 and of Sanofi Research from 1981 to 1987. Chief Executive Officer of Elf Aquitaine's chemicals branch in 1983, then Chief Executive Officer for chemicals and health and hygiene in 1984 until 1988. CEO of Elf Bio-industries and Elf Bio-research in 1985. Chairman of Sanofi Inc. in 1986. President of Initiative et finance in 1988, Chairman of the Industrial Relations Committee of the CNRS in 1989, President of the National Union of the Pharmaceutical Industry (1989), member of the National Ethics Committee (1986). Member of the Board of ATO, Director of UCEA and ATO Chimie, then of Atochem, Diagnostics Pasteur, Soficar, CNRS, BNP, etc. Member of the Collège de la prévention des risques technologiques in 1989. Author of the book L'Autre Façon d'être patron (1989) and co-author of Des Technologies pour demain, biotechnologies, fusion nucléaire, laser (Paris 1992). Died December 25, 2012.