Olivier Lafaye has been named Vice President for International Development at Safran's International and Public Affairs department, effective 1st April 2016. Lafaye, who has broad experience of Asian markets, succeeds Bruno Cotté, who becomes Vice President, International and Public Affairs. 

Lafaye, 60, was Vice President for International Affairs, Defense and Security, from 2015 until this latest appointment.

He started his career as a parliamentary assistant from 1979 to 1985. He then joined Thales, before moving to Thomson (now Technicolor) in 2000, building up his expert knowledge of international markets (mainly in Asia), management and lobbying. For four years, he was in charge of the Research and Innovation department at Thomson.

Based in Beijing from 2004 to 2010, he was responsible for Thomson's business and communications in Asia. In 2011, he joined Safran’s Morpho security unit as deputy director of business development, then was named head of sales and marketing in 2012 and senior vice president, international development in 2014.

Lafaye holds degrees from the University of Bordeaux (1978) and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School (1998).