Bernard Charlès  - Biography

Since becoming president of Dassault Systemes in 1995, Bernard Charlès has expanded the company's reach beyond its roots in 3D computer-aided design (CAD) to encompass the more strategic concept of product lifecycle management (PLM. Bernard Charlès coined the term PLM to describe technology that enables manufacturers to digitally design, simulate and manage their products from conception through production to maintenance.

He drives Dassault Systemes' strategic business and technology agenda through his vision of PLM as a business strategy for revolutionizing industrial processes and leveraging corporate intellectual property. Guided by his PLM vision, the company has made strategic acquisitions to complement its core products and position itself as a leader in this fast-growing market, with consistent profitability and new product development. Recently, BusinessWeek Magazine highlighted Dassault Systemes as one of the ten “little-known European companies that are conquering the world” (January 2004).

Bernard Charlès combines keen business sense with the technical savvy of a trained engineer. He has spent his entire career at Dassault Systemes on both the technical and management sides. Bernard Charlès joined the company in 1983. Three years later, he created a dedicated strategy and research department and in 1988 was named president of the company's research and development department.Bernard Charlès ran the R&D department until he was appointed president of Dassault Systemes in 1995. He was appointed to the board of directors in 1998, and was named chief executive officer in 2002.

Dassault Systemes was spun out of the French aerospace company Dassault Aviation, which developed the first version of CATIA 3D design software. As president of research and development from 1988 to 1995,Bernard Charlès led Dassault Systemes' development of CATIA-CADAM Solutions Version 4, which was based on a new architecture and established a new dynamic for rapid response to customer needs.

In 1986, Bernard Charlès notched one of Dassault Systemes' biggest accomplishments when he convinced Boeing Company Chairman Frank Schrontz to choose CATIA as the design platform for Boeing's next-generation 777 jetliner. The 777 became the first airplane designed and prototyped entirely on a digital system, with no physical prototypes.

Undaunted when Shrontz told him Dassault Systemes was “dead” if Boeing failed,Bernard Charlès guided the project through successfully, building Dassault Systemes' reputation as the foremost company in 3D CAD technology.

After becoming president in 1995, he drove development of Dassault Systemes' open Component Application Architecture Version 5 (CAA V5) development platform that enables independent software vendors to integrate their products with Dassault Systemes' PLM Solutions. Through a series of strategic acquisitions, he established Dassault Systemes' comprehensive PLM Solution portfolio with the creation of the DELMIA, ENOVIA and SMARTEAM brands.

In 1997,Bernard Charlès also convinced Dassault Systemes' board of directors to purchase SolidWorks Corporation, a developer of desktop 3D mechanical design software that had not yet turned a profit but which was poised to go public. Bernard Charlès bought SolidWorks before its initial public offering, and the division now contributes an average of 20 percent to Dassault Systemes' revenues while giving the company a presence in the desktop 3D CAD market.

Bernard Charlès graduated with honors from the Ecole Normale Superieure in Cachan, France,and still belongs to the scientific core of professors where he participates in ongoing research activities with university scholars from around the world.

In his role as CEO of the world's leading PLM company, Bernard Charlès emphasizes the strategic role of PLM and how the digital revolution is profoundly transforming all manufacturing industries. In addition, as leader of one Europe's largest technology firms, he also contributes his ideas and he debates all issues affecting high-tech companies (R&D, innovation, intellectual property, science and new technologies, education, etc.) at prestigious international forums such as ETRE, World Economic Forum of Davos, and DASAR Summits.

His interests include golf, skiing, opera, gardening, education, and surfing the Internet for new ideas and trends.