Jean-Paul Louis has been named Vice President, Production at Safran, effective January 1, 2014. He replaces Denis Vercherin, who has retired.

Jean-Paul Louis, 60, graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers engineering school (1977) and earned a business management degree from IAE Paris in 1978.

He has spent most of his career at Snecma, joining the company in 1979 as a process engineer in the Production division. After holding several positions in processes and production, he was named head of the composites center of industrial expertise in 1990, then the welded assembly unit in 1994.

Jean-Paul Louis was subsequently named deputy director of production in 1997, then managing director of the Corbeil plant until the end of 2005, when he was named Snecma Vice President, Production and Supply Chain.

Safran is a leading international high-technology group with three core businesses: Aerospace (propulsion and equipment), Defence and Security. Operating worldwide, the Group has 62,500 employees and generated sales of 13.6 billion euros in 2012. Working alone or in partnership, Safran holds world or European leadership positions in its core markets.