Francois Planaud has assumed the role of CFM Executive Vice President, replacing Denis Vercherin. Mr. Vercherin has accepted the position of Senior Vice President of Hispano-Suiza.
CFM International, the world's leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines, is a 50/50 joint company between Snecma Moteurs (Safran Group) of France and General Electric Company.
As part of the CFM Executive Team, Mr. Planaud serves as the primary interface between Snecma Moteurs (Safran Group) and GE. Along with his counterpart at GE, he is responsible for overseeing CFM56 program management, marketing and sales, communications, and after-sales support.
Since joining Snecma (Safran Group) in 1987, Mr. Planaud has held a variety of positions within the CFM program, including: CFM56 engine assembly-line manager; CFM56-5C program manager; and operations manager of the CFM56 program office in Toulouse, France, serving as the CFM56 program interface with Airbus to provide customer and aircraft assembly-line support. As part of Snecma's (Safran Group) production organization, he also led the rotating parts production line.
Most recently, Mr. Planaud was the Snecma (Safran Group) program director for the European TP400 turboprop engine for the A400M military transport aircraft.
Mr. Planaud is married with three children.