A resident of Charlotte for eight years, Isabelle Estebe is currently Business Development Director for Dassault Systèmes, leader in product life management (PLM) and innovation in software editing.

In her early childhood in the region of Chablis (France), she began dreaming about discovering unknown planets. At the age of 10, she knew all the constellations by heart and spent hours building paper rockets. During her studies, she decided to be a pilot. As the Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile did not permit women at this time, she entered the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et Aérotechnique, following in the scientific tradition of her family. However, she did not give up her dream and obtained her pilot’s licence at the air base in Tours. With an air of nostalgia, Isabelle remembers spending hours doing laps around the airstrip, “I was piloting my little DR400 among the Alpha Jets that were training there.” In order to complete her education, she moved to Paris and entered the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées.

Continuing the path of her studies, Isabelle started her professional career in the field of robotics. After having worked for the company Nastran, a specialist in digital simulation, she began working for Dassault Systèmes where she has worn many different hats. In 1996, she was appointed Technical Assistant to Dassault Systèmes’ President, Bernard Charlès. For two years, she oversaw and managed communication for the company’s key acquisitions. In 2000, she relocated to Charlotte as Communications Manager for Enovia, one of Dassault Systèmes’ brands. As Business Development Director of Dassault Systèmes, she works in close collaboration with large-scale companies in order to reinforce their presence and image in the U.S.

Isabelle Estebe is President of the French-American Chamber of Commerce of North Carolina and sits on the board of the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter. She is also a Board Member of the European-American Business Forum of Charlotte and participates in Women Executives of Charlotte. Additionally, she is Vice-President of the Southeast section of the French Foreign Trade Advisors. On April 21, 2008, she received the title of Chevalier in the National Order of Merit, by His Excellency Mr. Pierre Vimont, Ambassador of France to the U.S. Isabelle joined the FACCNE Board as a Director on December 15, 2008.