Mr. Pierre- is considered as one of the leading architects of the hydrogen economy. He served as Chair of Hydrogen Europe (2011- 2016) and then co-founded and
coordinated the World Hydrogen Council as secretary from 2017-2020. Within Air
Liquide, after several global business, strategy and operational management
positions, he led over the last ten years the advanced technology companies,
venture capital and Hydrogen energy activities for the Group. In 2021 he co-
founded the FiveT Hydrogen investment platform, and currently serves as the
CEO of Hy24.
Since the beginning of his career, Franc has built a development approach driven
by a belief in the power of alliances, joint ventures, and co-development. It has
helped to open new businesses (co-generation), new territories (Russia, China,
Brazil in the steel markets), new markets (hydrogen energy, IT), and new
technologies (electrolysis, hydrogen tanks, fuel cells in forklifts).
In 1994, he wrote his first book, with Christopher Hogg focusing on the
importance of customer management, which was published by Dunod. On the
occasion of the COP21 in 2015, Franc published a book that detailed his vision for
the hydrogen economy, with a preface by Pascal Lamy. His 2017 “Entreprise et
bien commun” is a reflection on the role of business in improving society, with a
preface by Gaël Giraud.
Franc graduated in 1993 from France’s HEC business school, where he was
awarded the HEC Foundation Prize and the second prize of the Ernst & Young
Foundation for his final thesis on industrial joint ventures.