Geneviève Fioraso (born 10 October 1954) is a French politician, representative of the first district of Isère from June 2007 to June 2017, and a member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

. On 16 May 2012 she was appointed Minister for Higher Education and Research in the French government of

Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...

. Since 2008 she has been deputy for the Economy, Universities and Research for the City Council of

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. During her previous term she was Deputy assistant for the Economy, Innovation, Trade and Craft, and First Vice-President of ''Metro'' - Agglomeration community of the Grenoble Alpes Métropole-, in charge of economic development. Since 2003, she has been the CEO of the ''S.E.M. Minatec Entreprises'' (public-private venture, entrusted with the marketing of high-tech building of

Minatec Minatec (initially called the Micro and Nanotechnology Innovation Centre) is a research complex specializing in micro-nano technologies in Grenoble, France. The centre was inaugurated in June 2006 by François Loos, French Minister Delegate ...

). She also serves as Chair of the ''

Institut d'Administration des Entreprises The French IAE are part of the French universities, except for the IAE of Paris which has a special status. They are academically selective, socially inclusive and very affordable Graduate School of Management within the French Public Research Un ...

Grenoble'', ''Business Administration Institute of Grenoble''.

Origin, and Training

Born in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

in 1954, the youngest of six children, Fioraso obtained her high-school diploma Baccalauréat at the age of 16 years and married at 18. A student of Hypo- Khâgne, she continued her studies and obtained a master's degree in English, then worked as an English teacher in

. In 1978 she left teaching and moved to

, where she served first as Information Officer, then managing Documentation and Press for the City of

, where she began collaborating with Hubert Dubedout, city's mayor and MP, and became his parliamentary attaché in 1983.

Professional and political curriculum

In 1985 she participated in the ''cantonal'' electoral campaign, alongside

Michel Destot Michel Destot (born 2 September 1946) is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Isère department, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche. He was the mayor of Grenoble between 1995 and ...

. From 1989 to 1995, she was part of the management team of Corys, a

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

of the CEA. Once he was elected mayor of

in 1995, Michel Destot requested that she serve as his Chief of Staff, for which she followed the economy and innovation affairs in particular. From 1999 to 2001, Fioraso was director of the ''Agence Régionale du Numérique'', a regional agency set up by the digital network of cities of the

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône ...

region. From 2001 to 2004, she was a senior marketing manager at

France Telecom Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

, in charge of emerging markets in the social-health sector. In 2007, Genevieve Fioraso won 63.03% of the vote and defeated

Alain Carignon Alain Carignon (born 23 February 1949 in Vizille (Isère), is a conservative French politician. From 1986 to 1995, he was deputy to the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower h ...

to be elected ''députée'' -member of the French Parliament- in

Isère's 1st constituency The 1st constituency of Isère is a French legislative constituency in the Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère ...

. At the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

, she was a board member of the ''Socialist, Radical, Citizen and various left'' group; member of the ''Committee on Economic Affairs , the Environment and Territory''; and member of the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices''Parliamentary Office for evaluation of scientific and technological options'' (OPECST)
, official description from th
Site of the National Assembly of France
/ref> (OPECST, ''Office parlementaire d'évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques''). She did not contest the

2017 French legislative election Legislative elections in France were held on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 members of the 15th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They followed the two-round presidential election won b ...

External links

* her job in Grenoble (French
from: grenoble.indymedia.org

Fioraso Genevieve Blog.

Magazine Article in ''Acteurs de l'économie''

Official page on the site of the National Assembly

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fioraso, Genevieve 1954 births Living people Socialist Party (France) politicians Women members of the National Assembly (France) French people of Italian descent People from Amiens Politicians from Hauts-de-France Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic 21st-century French women politicians Women government ministers of France