Jean-Pol Poncelet

Jean-Pol Poncelet has been Areva’s Senior Vice-President, Sustainable Development and Continuous Improvement, since February 2008. Previously, he was advisor to Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva, and senior vice-president, new energies policy, from February 2006.

From 2001 to 2005, Jean-Pol Poncelet was director of strategy and external relations with the European Space Agency (ESA). He prepared the European Commission's Green Paper on Space and negotiated the ESA-EC Cooperation Agreement on space activities.

A former member of the Belgian government, Jean-Pol Poncelet was deputy prime minister, minister of defence and minister of energy from 1995 to 1999. In this position, he was responsible for the opening of the Belgian electricity and gas markets, as part of the liberalization process initiated by the European Union. He was an elected member of parliament from 1991 to 2001 and served on various committees dedicated to public finance and technological and scientific matters. In Parliament, he initiated the creation of a special Advisory Committee on Scientific and Technological Issues.

From 1991 to 1995, Jean-Pol Poncelet was chairman of the board of directors and of the executive committee of ONDRAF, the Belgian Nuclear Waste Agency. He previously served as an advisor to Belgian ministers for energy policy, nuclear safety and environment.

Jean-Pol Poncelet’s professional career started with BelgoNucleaire, the Belgian nuclear engineering company, as an R&D Engineer in fast breeder reactors' plutonium fuel development and design. He later served as a researcher and a lecturer in renewable energy and environment.

Jean-Pol Poncelet is Commandeur de l'Ordre de Léopold (Belgium). He received the Grand-Croix de l'Ordre du Mérite (Luxemburg), the Great Cross of Prince Branimir's Order (Croatia) and the Grosse Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterbrand (Germany).

Born in 1950, Jean-Pol Poncelet earned a master’s in engineering from Université Catholique de Louvain. Jean-Pol and his wife, Chantal Courtin, have three children. He speaks French, Dutch and English.