The board of directors of Défense Conseil International (DCI) is announcing the unanimous appointment of Jean-Michel Palagos as Chief Executive Officer of DCI. He is succeeding admiral François Dupont, who has reached the statutory age limit and who has been thanked by the board of directors for his actions at the head of the company.

Jean-Michel Palagos holds a master’s degree in law of the Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas university and is also a graduate of theInstitut d’Études Politiques in Paris. He first had an Army military carrier as an officer in the infantry. He entered the “Contrôle Général des Armées” via a competitive exam in 1992 and quickly took over the position of deputy director and director of studies in the “Centre for Higher Armament Studies” (CHEAr), where he was particularly in charge of the technical and operational studies for the French General Acquisition Directorate. Between 1997 and 2000, he became advisor in the Minister of Defence’s Office, Alain Richard; and was responsible for the move to professional armed forces. He was appointed “Contrôleur Général” in 2000 and became Director of the Human Resources in the Ministry of Defence between 2000 and 2005. He left the Ministry of Defence in 2007 to create CODEAC, a consultant firm in change organisation, strategy and management, which he put on hold from May 2012, when he joined the Office of the Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves le Drian, as deputy Director of the civil and military cabinet. He has also been one of the main actors of the restructuring of the Ministry of Defence’s governance, of the reorganisation of the armed forces, of international actions, of finances, of the HR and of MCO. He conducted the implementation of the crisis and release management plan concerning the military payroll system called Louvois.

The appointment of one of the closest collaborators of the Minister of Defence at the presidency of DCI is incontestably a proof that this company is of great interest and is part of the export “French team”

About DCI

The company was created in 1972 to assist military equipment sales to foreign countries. Its main mission consisted of providing operational training courses based on the know-how of the French Armed Forces. DCI is an upper medium size service provider in which the French government is the concurring shareholder. DCI now operates throughout the defense and security spectrum. Culturally close to the Ministry of Defense, DCI offers outsourcing services to foreign countries, for:

– consulting and assistance throughout the life cycle of armament programs,

– training engineering in the academic, operational and technical fields.

Lastly, DCI and its subsidiaries have been partners of the French Armed Forces for 10 years within the scope of service contracts and are endeavouring to extend their activities to European Union countries.