Sofradir has appointed Jean-François Delepau as the new managing director of its subsidiary ULIS.
ULIS specialises in manufacturing uncooled infrared (IR) detectors. Delepau, formerly deputy director at ULIS, takes over from Jean-Pierre Chatard, who headed ULIS from 2002 and was one of the original founders of Sofradir.
As ULIS's new head, Delepau's role will be to reinforce ULIS' capacity to produce mass volume, high quality, infrared imaging products to meet the demands of professional and consumer markets and create opportunities for further growth.
ULIS develops and manufactures uncooled IR detectors based on amorphous silicon technology, a semiconductor material that can be produced cost-effectively, thus making infrared vision affordable for all applications.
Camera applications for ULIS' IR detectors include industrial maintenance, security and surveillance, building inspection, fire-fighting and law enforcement, and night vision enhancements for vehicles.
Prior to joining ULIS as deputy managing director in 2007, Delepau, 44, worked with ASK, a provider of RFID cards and equipment for three years. First he served as product marketing director, then was promoted to profit centre director. There, he headed a team of 30 and was instrumental in creating ASK TongFang, a joint venture to make and sell mass-produced RFID (radio frequency identification) labels, in China. From 2002 to 2004, Delepau was product marketing director for the component division at Thomson, a digital video technologies company, where he worked on optical readers for DVDs. During his tenure, he managed cost reduction programs and successfully negotiated co-development agreements. Before that, he worked as strategic marketing director for Alcatel's mobile GSM networks division for four years.
Delepau also has eight years of experience as a technology consultant, which he acquired at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Cap Gemini. Trained as an engineer, Delepau attended Ecole Polytechnique from 1983-1986 and Telecom Paris from 1986-1988. He earned an MBA from Insead in 1994.
