Following the decease of President Denis Maugars on the 8th of August, Thierry Michal, General Technical Director, has been appointed acting Chairman of the Board of Directors of Onera by order of the Minister of Defense.
Thierry Michal has been the General Technical Director since 2010 and, as such, participates in the development of the business strategy and proposes and directs the annual activity program. He manages all of the research departments.
Having joined Onera in 1984 as a research engineer, he conducted his research in the field of space and held several positions before being appointed Director of the Long-term Design and Systems Integration department in 2000.
At the same time, as from 1993 he supervised all studies leading to the development and commissioning of the French space surveillance system Graves in 2005.
Thierry Michal attended sessions at the CHEAr defense college in 2000, as well as a European studies program at the French civil service school ENA (2009 - Promotion by Valery Giscard d'Estaing).
As a member of the French delegation to the IADC (Inter Agency Space Debris Committee) from 1999 to 2010, he received the Grand Prize of the French Academy of Air and Space in 2007, on behalf of the GRAVES team.
Thierry Michal holds degrees from the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (Sup’Aéro). He is a Knight of the French National Order of Merit.
