A collective rather than a single winner to receive the honors. It is a new kind of prize list that has been designated, for its 16the edition, the selection committee of Trajectoires HEC We & men (formerly HEC au feminine), to which Challenges participated: nine executives or creators of start-ups working exclusively in the fields of finance, industry and tech. “We wanted to identify ambassadors who embody our values to attract more young women to these sectors,” recalled Hélène Bourbouloux, president of the HEC Alumni women's network and the Trajectories committee, starting the examination of the files presented by the 26 finalists.
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The names of the ambassadors were revealed on Tuesday, November 19, during a ceremony at the headquarters of Eurogroup Consulting, in La Défense. For finance: Clotilde Croissandeau, financial director and member of the general management at Neuflize OBC-ABN Amro France, Maria Zaheer, partner at Alexa Capital (financial and mergers and acquisitions consulting) and alternative investment specialist, Tatiana of Dalmas (Axa IM Alts). In industry, the winning trio is made up of Cécile de Guillebon, business angel and administrator, Natalya Philogene, director of internal control at Scheider Electric and Julia Riou, strategy and development manager at Rubis Energie. For tech, they are Karine Rossignol, co-founder (with two other women) of the medtech Smart Immune, Valérie Lafdal, CEO of Apside (IT service and R&D consulting) and Fanny Louvet de Verchère, expert in technology. AI at W.AI.VE Consulting.
Hélène Bourbouloux, a judicial administrator who recently distinguished herself in the Atos, TCS and Sergent Major cases, is herself an entrepreneur, founder of the FHBX firm. She deciphers for Challenges the reasons for this profound transformation.
Challenges – What is the purpose of the Trajectories prize that you chair and of which you yourself were a winner in 2014?
Hélène Bourbouloux – Since its creation, Trajectoires has sought to highlight women who have dared, have had a brilliant career, capable of inspiring, and rewarded with a prize. After celebrating 50 years of diversity at HEC and 50 brilliant courses, the time has come for Trajectoires to review its arguments. We must encourage women in underfeminized sectors. As a result, the objective is no longer to reward only the best with a prize, but to select several women who throughout the year will commit to encouraging diversity in the finance and tech sectors. and industry.
Why increase the number of winners from 1 to 9 starting this year?
We naturally need to show all the possible cases in each sector of activity: according to the age and seniority of the candidates, the type of company, the different types of activity or functions in each sector. This is why we are retaining 3 per sector, or 9 in total, whose role is above all to spread the good word by testifying to their paths of excellence in their respective fields. This year, we are also going to host three symposia around these sectors, in February for finance, in April for industry and in June for technology.
Lack of visible female role models, persistent stereotypes… women are turning away from the tech, finance and industry sectors
It was a study carried out among Alumni which encouraged you to change the price. What were his conclusions?
This new format is based on the results of a study based on a survey launched in October 2023 among the HEC community and various working workshops of the Trajectories team which followed the restitution of the survey between January and March 2024.
The survey highlighted the importance of moving away from a logic of competition and elitism to favor inspiration and networking. It also revealed a requirement for transparency and objectivity in the candidate selection process as well as the need to better meet the expectations of a young public seeking guidance. Trajectories has evolved to meet these expectations, in particular by reviewing its objectives: a more transparent process and events focused on sharing experiences.
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Why are women turning away from the tech, industry and finance sectors at a time when the number of young women entering Polytechnique is collapsing?
The diversion of women from these sectors can be explained by several factors. First, these sectors are often perceived as masculine, which creates psychological barriers for young women, particularly when considering careers in these fields. The lack of visible female role models as well as persistent gender stereotypes make these environments less attractive to them. It is in this context that the Trajectories program becomes crucial: it offers inspiring models and initiates collective reflection on the need to reform these sectors to make them more welcoming and more equitable for women.
What are the qualities that bring together the nine winners of this 16th edition of Trajectoires?
What they have in common is, first of all, being courageous and having moved away from standards, which is a form of freedom. All of them were combative in their journeys. They are fighters.
