Guillaume Poupard

Dr. Guillaume Poupard graduated from École polytechnique, class of ’92. Having completed a research degree in armament engineering, he started as a PhD candidate in cryptography under the supervision of Jacques Stern at the École normale supérieure in Paris, and became doctor in 2000. He also holds a university diploma in psychology.

He began his career as a cryptography expert and later became head of the cryptography laboratory at the Central Network and Information Security Directorate (Direction centrale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information – DCSSI)which formed in 2009 the basis of the new National Cybersecurity Agency of France (Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information – ANSSI).

In 2006, he joined the Ministry of Defence, continuing in the field of government cryptography and progressively moved to cybersecurity. In November 2010, he was appointed Head of the Cybersecurity Division within the Technical Branch of the National Defence Procurement Agency (Direction générale de l’armement – DGA), responsible for expertise and technology policy in the field of cybersecurity. On 27 March 2014, he was appointed Director General of the National Cybersecurity Agency of France. He is married with three children.