François Barrault, Senior Advisor

Expertise: IT and digital strategy, carve out and outsourcing, governance

François Barrault (Centrale Nantes, DEA AI & Robotics) is an entrepreneur and digital specialist.

After a career as a researcher in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at IBM, he later founded and sold several companies.

His career has led him to senior management positions with major global companies. From 1999 to 2001, he was President of Lucent International where he led the integration of 38 acquisitions in the Internet and mobile sectors.

He then held the position of CEO of British Telecom Global Services, a subsidiary of British Telcom, and a member of the Board of the British Telecom Group until the end of 2008. With $17billion in revenue, he made British Telecom Global Services, the global leader in networked IT services with 37,000 employees, operating in 176 countries, and has led the acquisition of 32 companies around the world in 4 years.

In parallel, he led BT Innovate, the British Telecom Group’s Advanced Research and Innovation team, and has chaired and sponsored numerous initiatives with some of the world’s most prestigious universities.

Since November 2011, he is President of IDATE & DigiWorld Institute, a leading European digital Think Tank.

François is a member of several boards of public and private companies, advisory boards, private equity funds and foundations.

François is a regular speaker at the Davos World Economic Forum and many other regional forums.