In May 2007, Guillaume de Saint-Bon EMBA '04D became Director of Assistance Operations for Asia, for International SOS, in Singapore to help in saving lives.
For this role, Guillaume simultaneously relies on his extensive experience in aviation and his team-building, management and leadership skills gained from his professional experiences and further developed at INSEAD by taking the EMBA programme.
"I love my job, because we are saving lives. In a crisis, my team works through the night because they believe in what we are doing. Having an EMBA from INSEAD has helped me tremendously in team management and understanding how an organisation such as International SOS operates."
Guillaume is responsible for coordinating the logistics, from onsite ground personnel to third party service providers, such as doctors, hospitals or plane operators, in any arising medical crisis situation for their clients. International SOS handles on average 800,000 cases a year, of which
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Guillaume de Saint-Bon EMBA '04D at the Singapore Alarm Centre, where he is based |
about 20,000 involve air evacuations. When Guillaume first approached International SOS, they were so impressed by him that they merged two jobs to create his current position, which also fulfils some of his personal interests - flying, travelling, leadership and Asia.
We asked Guillaume to tell us about his career before and after INSEAD. Read on.
More about Guillaume:
Guillaume spent 15 years in the French Army in operational roles, after graduating from Saint-Cyr Military Academy (1990-1993).
Serving in army aviation, Guillaume became a combat helicopter pilot in 1995 and opted for the 3rd Combat Helicopter Battalion – 1100 people / 80 helicopters, ready for worldwide military operations. There, he spent 4 years (1995 - 1999) as the Second-in-command of a helicopter squadron (40 people, 10 helicopters) in charge of crew training & logistics. During this time, he was sent twice to former Yugoslavia, as the leader of a helicopter platoon in Sarajevo and as the Operations Officer of a multinational paratrooper and helicopter task force in the Republic of Macedonia.
From 1999 until 2001, Guillaume served as the Logistics Company Commander of his battalion. He directly managed 13 technical teams (320 highly specialised people) to support all air-base logistical requirements and led his company for five months in Kosovo to support a multinational helicopter task-force.
From 2001 until 2005, Guillaume was Staff Officer for the Land Forces Command Headquarters in France, where he led a platoon in the International Relationships Department and participated in the creation of a the French NATO certified Operational HQ.
In 2005, after graduating from the EMBA programme at INSEAD, Guillaume co-founded Helit Air, the first private helicopter company in Singapore. In July 2006 Guillaume founded Aero Solutions, a multi-services consulting company for light aviation.
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