Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles

Michael Schack is President of Les Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles, President of HJ Conseil, and President of SOLiHA des Yvelines. From 1989 to 2008 he held executive roles in the transport and infrastructure sector, including Directeur Général of the Sanef motorway group (2003–2008), during which the group was floated on the stock market and privatized, Directeur Général of Transroute International, and President of the Directoire of the Compagnie Générale de Stationnement. Between 1970 and 1989 he served in French public administration, including positions at the Direction des Routes, the DATAR, and as Directeur Départemental de l'Equipement de la Somme.

Catherine Delcroix serves as Vice-President of Les Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles and works as an independent administrator and board member. Her background is in the mechanical and industrial engineering industry, with experience in engineering management, energy, and process engineering. She is a graduate of ENSTA ParisTech.

Gilles Drouard is Président Honoraire of BADGE (Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles), an association that finances and supports young innovative companies. In 2025, the organization funded 23 startups for 4.2 M€, which contributed to those companies raising 12 M€, and since its founding it has financed 246 companies for a total of 60 M€. His areas of focus include marketing, strategy and planning, regulation, and startup investment.

Gilles Vaillant is the Chief Executive Officer of DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN), a public cloud company serving over 650,000 customers and more than 4 million developers. He previously served as CEO of GoTo (formerly LogMeIn), where revenue grew from $120 million to over $1 billion, and founded the cloud observability platform Opstera, which was acquired by Avanade. Earlier in his career, he built the Xively IoT platform, later acquired by Google, and contributed to the launch of technologies at Microsoft including .NET and SharePoint.

Henri Jannet is President of Les Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles, President of HJ Conseil, and President of SOLiHA des Yvelines, and holds the title of Ingénieur Général des Ponts, des Eaux et des Forêts (honorary). From 1989 to 2008 he held executive positions in the transport and infrastructure sector, including Directeur Général of the Sanef motorway group (2003–2008), where he oversaw the company's stock market listing and privatization, Directeur Général of Transroute International (1999–2001), and Président du Directoire of the Compagnie Générale de Stationnement (1989–1998). Between 1970 and 1989 he worked in French public service in roles including Directeur Départemental de l'Equipement de la Somme and positions at the Direction des Routes and the DATAR.

Jacques Tamisier is Président Honoraire of BADGE (Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles), an association that finances and supports young innovative companies. In 2025, the organization funded 23 start-ups for a total of €4.2 million, which contributed to €12 million in overall fundraising; since its founding, BADGE has financed 246 companies for a total of €60 million. His areas of focus include marketing, strategy and planning, regulation, and start-up investment.

Olivier Gaumont is COO and co-founder of HyImpulse Technologies GmbH, which he helped establish in 2018 and which employed around 65 staff by mid-2022. In this role he has led the company's Testing and Production departments, overseeing static fire engine testing, test bench setup and operation in Germany and abroad, and development of atmospheric entry and descent systems. Prior to this, he worked as a research scientist in the Propellants Department of the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion from 2016 and contributed to the HyEnD STERN project at the University of Stuttgart from 2012.

Patrick Frinault is CEO at Business Performance Management, working as a transition manager and consultant focused on customer satisfaction, supply chain, new product introduction, and operational performance. His background covers R&D and manufacturing operations in process industries such as paper, color picture tubes, chemical, and agro industries, as well as assembly processes including elevators, HVAC, and electronics, with expertise in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, and change program management. He has worked internationally over 12 years across the US, Mexico, Poland, Italy, Spain, the Middle East, China, and India, and has served as a judge in the Carrier worldwide quality award process.

Brandon Zick is a consultant in energy transition and, since early 2022, a Business Angel coordinating sourcing for BADGE Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles, where he advises roughly 300 startups per year and has invested in around twenty projects, mainly in Green Tech. He works as a trainer at universities and with elected officials, supports municipalities in the western Paris area toward carbon neutrality and initial adaptation measures, and advises mid-sized companies in the circular economy. His prior roles include marketing director for the Services division at Engie and regional director at Suez, and he served as a reviewer for IPCC Working Group GT3 in early 2022 and is a certified Fresque du Climat trainer.