Guillaume LESAINT

After two years of Integrated Preparatory Classes  (CPI) in Rennes, the important place given to lab classes, and the opportunity to work for one year in a company, were the main reasons encouraging me to enter the École de chimie de Mulhouse (ENSCMu).
The immersion year in a company, which I spent at two giants of chemistry (Philips in Holland, then BASF in Germany), confirmed my desire to work for the R&D department of an international group. I then had a very enriching year, both professionally and culturally, in the USA, at Arkema, during which I discovered paint formulation.
Back in France, I very quickly joined a big American group (Ferro) as a formulation engineer providing technical assistance for the production of decorative paints for glass (cosmetics, bottles, etc.) before joining Parexlanko in 2008, a French specialist in industrial cements, still as a R&D engineer.

Today, I am R&D Manager for Speciality Cements at Parexgroup. I am supervising a young, dynamic team including two engineers and three technicians. Managing a large portfolio of development projects for technical cements (concrete repair, weather-proofing, structural work, roads, etc.) allows me to interact with many services such as marketing, production and purchasing.

ENSCMu allowed me to build my career and to better understand my expectations, through working abroad. I then chose product formulation and development, where I am totally happy with their real-world and applied aspects. It is always a pleasure to think that many places are paved with cements developed by my own team!
A piece of advice then: do not hesitate to grab the opportunity to take internships abroad, it is an exceptional stepping stone and a particularly enriching experience.