COO, GM SBU C2

ThalesRaytheonSystems
French Operations

Yves Lefort is Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of the Command and Control (C2) Strategic Business Unit of ThalesRaytheon
Systems’ French Operations.

Founded in June 2001, ThalesRaytheonSystems is the global defense industry’s only structural joint venture equally owned by two industry leaders, Thales and Raytheon.

With sales of $700M in 2005, over 80% of which were made internationally, the company is a worldwide leader in air defense command and control systems,  and ground-based radars.

The company’s 1400 employees are equally split between its two sites at Massy, near Paris, France and Fullerton, California, USA.

As a member of the ThalesRaytheonSystems Leadership Team, Yves Lefort is responsible for the execution of French Operations.  This includes management of programs, new business pursuits, support functions and facilities.

Prior to his current position, Lefort was Marketing Director of the Avionics for Military Aircraft Strategic Business Unit within Thales. Before this he worked as Bids & Proposals team manager of the same unit.

In 1990 Lefort participated in the development of the Hemet Mounted Sight and Display product line while working for Sextant (acquired by Thales in 1996). After this, he began working in Bid and Project management, principally in export sales of avionics equipment for various training, transport & fighter aircraft. In 1997, he was appointed Program Manager of the project to develop the cockpit and display system for the Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft.

Lefort joined Thales (then Thomson-CSF) in 1985 as an electronics engineer, working on the Laser Designation Pod programs.

He received his degree in Digital High-speed Analog Electronics from the Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité in 1984.