Alain Minc
Alain Minc (; born 15 April 1949) is a French businessman, political advisor and author. Biography. Early life. Alain Minc was born on April 15, 1949 in Paris to a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father, Joseph Minkowski, was a dentist and a member of the Communist Party. Alain Minc is a graduate of the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, Sciences Po and the École nationale d'administration. Career. In 1979, he became CFO of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. In 1981, he was selected to be one of the first "Young Leaders" of the French-American  Foundation. In 1986, he became Vice-Chairman of CIR International and General Manager of Cerus, non-Italian affiliates of Benedetti Group. In 1991, he founded his own consultancy firm, AM Conseil. He has been the Chairman of "Le Monde"'s supervisory board. He sits on the board of directors of Criteria CaixaCorp since 2007. He is also a Board member of Prisa, Fnac, Direct Energie, Ingenico, and Yves Saint Laurent. He has been an advisor to Edouard Balladur, François Pinault, Vincent Bolloré, and ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He came under fire for criticizing Pope Benedict XVI's position on  the French Romani repatriation in 2010. He is a member of the Nicolas Berggruen Institute. He is also a recipient of the Legion of Honour. Since December 2011, he is President of the board of directors of "Société des Autoroutes du Nord et de l'Est de la France" (SANEF) which operates motorways in northeast France under a French government concession.