Florence Parly joins Jolt Capital as senior advisor
(Paris, July 3, 2023) To strengthen its international growth, continue its European institutionalization and increase support for its portfolio companies, Jolt Capital welcomes a fifth prominent figure to its Senior Advisory Committee in the person of Florence Parly, Minister of the French Armed Forces until 2022.
Ms Parly brings her in-depth experience of financing complex, dual-use technology to Jolt, as well as her views on issues regarding French and European industrial sovereignty. Her addition will also allow to address the critical glass ceiling issue in financing ultra-tech companies even more effectively.
Chairman and Managing Partner Jean Schmitt commented: “We are extremely pleased and honored to welcome Florence Parly to Jolt Capital. Her executive management experience with prominent transport companies and her major ministerial responsibilities are all assets which will support the ongoing global expansion of our firm, as well as the deeptech companies in which we invest. Florence will certainly be an important catalyst for our values of seriousness, commitment, and teamwork.”
Florence Parly stated: “I’m positively delighted to join Jolt Capital and its management team. We share strong common values and the rooted will to scale deeptech companies, led by innovative entrepreneurs flying European tech’s flag. Our goal is to turn them into global champions, a crucial asset for our domestic and European sovereignty”.
Florence Parly began her career as a civil servant in the Budget Department in 1987 before being appointed Budget Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office in 1997. From 2000 to 2002, Florence Parly was Secretary of State for the Budget. She then joined Agence France Trésor (French Treasury Agency) before becoming Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Agence régionale de développement Île-de-France (Paris Regional Development Agency) from 2004 to 2006. Florence Parly then turned to the corporate world, joining the Air France group as Director of Investment Strategy, then Deputy Director General in charge of Cargo (2008 - end of 2012) and finally Deputy Director General of the short-haul business (Orly airport and stopovers in France) in 2013. Florence Parly joined SNCF (French National Railway Company) in 2014, first as Deputy Director General and then, in 2016, as Director General of SNCF Voyageurs (SNCF Travelers). She was appointed Minister of the Armed Forces in 2017 as part of Edouard Philippe’s government. She retained her position when Jean Castex was appointed in 2020 and until the end of Emmanuel Macron’s first term in 2022.
Since 2023, she has been on the board of directors of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts) as Chairwoman, and of newcleo, as well as on the advisory board of Exotrail.
Florence Parly is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies) and the École Nationale d’Administration (National School of Administration, Fernand Braudel class).