Graduate, HEC Paris and Ecole Nationale d’Administration. Started career as a Judge, Conseil d’Etat; 1998, appointed Adviser to French President Jacques Chirac, focusing on emerging technologies. 2002, elected Member of the National Assembly; 2007 and 2012, re-elected. 2007, appointed Minister for Higher Education and Research, the youngest member of the cabinet; reform of France’s higher education system is widely perceived as one of the main achievements of Sarkozy’s presidency. 2011, appointed Budget Minister and Government Spokesperson; helped manage public finances in a challenging post-crisis context. As Member of Parliament, 2012-15, Member of the Finance Commission. Concurrently, Leader of the Opposition, Regional Assembly of Île-de-France (Greater Paris). December 2015, elected President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France. The Greater Paris region is home to 12 million citizens and, at $847 billion, its GDP is the largest of any region in Europe, comparable in size with Indonesia, Saudi Arabia or Turkey.