The leaders of Ilex International all share strongly held values that have made us the number 1 French vendor of identity and access management software. For more than 30 years, we have also managed to retain our independence: the company is still led by its founders, Laurent Gautier and René Lagrez, who own 98% of the shares in the company.
Laurent Gautier,
President and Co-founder
Having graduated from the prestigious Centrale Paris school of engineering and completed his PhD in electronics at the University of Lille, in 1985 Laurent Gautier began his career with Cap Sogeti, a large French Integrator. Around this time, he started writing and selling financial shareware as a hobby. He then joined the IT division at BNP, where he headed up the Terminals & PCs department.
Driven by his passion for IT and his belief in the potential of this market, Laurent founded Ilex International in 1989 with René Lagrèze, and started supplying connectivity and security software services and solutions to some of the largest organisations in the world, including airports, international airlines, top-tier banks, the Nasdaq stock market, Morgan Stanley, and more.
After 30 years leading Ilex International, Laurent Gautier still enjoys a hands-on role, including helping drive the company’s international growth.
René Lagrèze,
Managing Director and Co-founder
René Lagrèze shares Laurent Gautier’s passion for IT. He holds a Master’s degree in telecommunications and a postgraduate diploma from the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre. In 1978, he worked on the first major smart card project led by BULL and Roland Moreno. He then went to work for BNP’s IT division, joining the Branch Systems team.
In 1989, René set up Ilex International with Laurent Gautier, while also carrying out consulting and presales assignments for Philips and Digital Equipment Corporation. In 1996, he created and headed up the Ilex Health Care team, tasked with developing the middleware for the French healthcare system’s multi OS/multi-platform smart cards.
After 30 years at the helm of Ilex International, René Lagrèze continues to provide leadership to help his company grow.
Olivier Morel,
Deputy General Manager
Olivier holds an engineering degree from the Paris Higher Institute of Mechanical Engineering. In 2000, he joined Syntegra (a subsidiary of BT) as project manager, while continuing to contribute to a range of IT projects for Fortune 100 companies.
Recruited in 2005 by Ilex as pre-sales consultant, he helped the company maintain its growth trajectory, and was subsequently appointed Pre-Sales Director in 2007. He recruited and led a team of consultants and worked closely with the Sales and Technical departments on improving quality of service and meeting increasing customer demand.
As Deputy General Manager, Olivier Morel will continue to contribute strongly to accelerating the company’s growth, notably outside France, and will have direct responsibility for the Presales, Sales and Marketing departments.
Fabrice Bérose,
Sales Director
After studying business, Fabrice Bérose spent more than 15 years building his experience in the sale of software solutions, particularly in a field he is passionate about: information system security.
He was recruited in 2012 as a Sales Manager. For 5 years, Fabrice significantly enhanced Ilex International’s reputation in the industry, media, services and finance sectors, before leaving to pursue new professional challenges.
In 2018, Ilex calls him back for a challenge he can’t refuse : take the head of the company’s sales department. Thanks to his management skills, entrepreneurial spirit and detailed knowledge of the cybersecurity market, Fabrice plays a key role in supporting the growth priorities of the company, which is currently in a rapid expansion phase.
A member of the executive committee, Fabrice is actively involved in Ilex International’s strategic decision-making.
Vincent Desbiendras,
Product Director
A graduate of the Sup Galilée engineering school, Vincent joined Ilex International in 2005. His passion and curiosity led him to take on a number of roles, such as project manager, head of integration and IDSphere product manager.
As a result of his career path, Vincent has a well-defined view of the market and a high level of technological expertise. He has been with Ilex International throughout its development, and embodies the spirit and the values of the company.
As Product Director, Vincent Desbiendras’s main role is coordinate all the activities of the product division.
The ultimate objective is to provide the market with a high-performance software response combining security, ease of use and technological innovation.
