Michel Mathieu has been appointed Senior Executive Vice President Chief Operating Officer & Chief Performance Officer.
Gil Michielin has been appointed Executive Vice President, Avionics, taking over from Michel Mathieu.
Millar Crawford has been appointed Executive Vice President, Ground Transportation Systems. He replaces Jean-Pierre Forestier, who will become a special advisor for strategic transport topics.
These appointments will be effective of the 1 February 2015.
Michel Mathieu is a graduate of Télécom ParisTech and also holds an engineering doctorate from Paris VI University. He began his career with Thales in 1977 and held various positions in air traffic management and surface radar segments. In 1997, Michel Mathieu was appointed CEO of Airsys ATM, a joint venture between Thales and Siemens. In 2003, he was appointed SVP of Thales's Air Defence business group. In 2005, he was named CEO of ThalesRaytheonSystems, a joint venture between Thales and Raytheon, specialising in air defence systems. In June 2009, he was appointed Deputy General Manager of Thales's Aerospace division, where he was responsible for the aircraft solutions segment. Michel Mathieu has held the post of Executive Vice President Avionics and CEO of Thales Avionics S.A. since February 2010.
Gil Michielin is a graduate in electronics engineering. Since 1982, he has spent most of his career at Thales, working in commercial and military avionics. Through his various roles with the Group, he has been involved in most of the major European civil and military programmes. Gil Michielin later moved to Thales's Avionics Division, where he was responsible for growing the Group's market share in the commercial aircraft segment, covering air transport, business jets and regional jets, and addressing all major commercial aircraft programmes, such as the A380 and B787, and more recently the A350 XWB, SSJ100, ATR-600 and A320 NEO. He was elected President of EUROCAE in May 2007. From 2012, Gil Michielin was Director of Thales's Optronics business worldwide, covering operations in Canada, France and the United Kingdom and addressing airborne, land and naval markets.
Millar Crawford is a graduate in mechanical & electronics engineering. He joined Thales in 1981. His experience with the Group includes management roles ranging from engineering and acquisitions to project management and operations, as well as several executive management positions. Millar Crawford has worked in both military and civil markets and has extensive international experience in France, Canada and the United Kingdom. Until August 2014, Millar Crawford was Chief Operating Officer of Thales Australia. In September 2014, he was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Thales's Ground Transportation Systems business.