François Caron
François Caron (1600–1673) was a French Huguenot refugee to the Netherlands who served the Dutch East India Company ("Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie" or VOC) for 30 years, rising from cook's mate to Director-General at Batavia (Jakarta), only one grade below Governor-General. He retired from the VOC in 1651, and was later recruited to become Director-General of the newly-formed French East Indies Company in 1665 until his death in 1673.