Claude Poulain named Chairman and CEO of PowerJet

Claude Poulain is the new Chairman and CEO of PowerJet, decision made by the board of directors who met on July 8th at Snecma’s headquarters (Safran). He replaces Jacques Desclaux who is taking up other duties.

Claude Poulain, 59, is a graduate from the Paris Business School ESSEC and got his Mechanical and Electrical Engineer diploma from ESME (Paris).

He started his career in 1981 at Snecma’s Genevilliers plant as financial controller joining then in 1986 CFM International SA as company secretary. In 1988, Claude Poulain was named head of commercial transactions and customer finance for CFM International at Snecma’s Marketing and Sales division. From 1994 till 2001, Claude Poulain was senior VP Finance at Snecma taking care of both structured and customers finances. From 2001 to 2009, he was at the head of the commercial engines market, in charge of marketing the CFM56 and SaM146 engines. In 2010, Claude Poulain is named Snecma senior Vice President commercial strategy for commercial engines and services and senior VP Marketing & Sales for PowerJet.

PowerJet, founded in July 2004, is a joint venture of Snecma (Safran) of France and NPO Saturn of Russia. The company manages the SaM146 engine program, including development, production, marketing and sales, as well as customer support and MRO services. In April 2003, the SaM146 engine was selected by Sukhoi to power its Superjet 100 regional jet.