Laurent Fullana appointed President of HORIBA France

HORIBA has announced the appointment of Laurent Fullana as President of HORIBA France SAS, taking over from James Thépot.

HORIBA France is part of the HORIBA Group based in Kyoto, Japan, which brings together several international companies. The Group provides a wide range of instruments and solutions for applications such as automotive test systems, process and environmental monitoring, in-vitro medical diagnostics, semiconductor manufacturing and metrology, as well as measurement instruments and optical components for quality control and scientific research.

HORIBA France is the global centre of excellence for key product lines such as Raman Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy/Nanoscopy, ICP, Glow Discharge, Ellipsometry, VUV and Cathodoluminescence. The company also takes responsibility for the marketing and distribution of all products from the Group's scientific segment, HORIBA Scientific, in the EMEA area.

Laurent Fullana's mission will focus on accelerating the company's development in France as well as abroad, where the majority of turnover is realized. He will build on the Group's continuous innovation policy to drive the transformation of HORIBA France, adapting the organization to the evolving needs of the new generation of researchers and industrial partners. This growth strategy will lead the company to investment in customer services, strengthen the brand and user experience, develop future applications, and launch new products and services – with a view to addressing new research application areas inspired by key societal trends.

As a graduate of ESPCI and Ecole Centrale Paris, also holding an MBA from the American University of Columbia, Laurent Fullana has built most of his career as a leader and entrepreneur in various technology industries (semiconductors, medical devices, health and beauty care, specialty chemistry) in France, the UK and the United States. Passionate about business development in international and multicultural environments, he held various senior management positions such as Managing Director of Sofradir, a joint venture company of Thales/Safran with global expertise in high-performance infrared detectors.

"I am extremely honored to accept the appointment as President of HORIBA France – it is a pivotal time in our company and in our industry to be taking on this role.  We will continue to strengthen our value proposition and portfolio, focusing on better understanding our customers’ key stakes or pain points and addressing them. Thanks to our innovative solutions and our experienced experts at HORIBA France, more and more researchers will be able to explore newer and greater applications of the future: materials sciences, life sciences, environment, energy...," explains Laurent Fullana.

Masayuki Adachi, Chairman of Supervisory Board of HORIBA France SAS, President and Chief Operating Officer of HORIBA, Ltd., Japan concludes: "All together with the HORIBA France management team, I am confident that Laurent Fullana will lead our operations with energy and will successfully carry out his topline business development missions."