Fleur Pellerin (;

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Kim Jong-sook, born 29 August 1973) is a French businesswoman, former civil servant and

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

politician who served as a

French government The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who i ...

minister from 2012 to 2016.

Early life

Pellerin was born in 1973 in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, where she was abandoned on the streets aged only three or four days old before being rescued by an orphanage; six months later she was adopted by a French family. According to her adoption records she was called Kim Jong-Suk (), although it is unclear how she came by that

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...

. Raised by middle-class parents — her father, who has a doctorate in nuclear physics, is a small-business owner — she grew up in two Paris suburbs, Montreuil and

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

Early career

Pellerin graduated from

ESSEC The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...

business school (Master's degree in Management) while she was just 21. She then graduated from

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

(MPA) before attending the

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...

(ENA). She joined the French

Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management. It has 27 members ( ...

where she rose to become a high-ranking civil servant. From 2010 to 2012, Pellerin served as president of the 21st Century Club, a French group that promotes diversity in employment.

Political career

Pellerin took charge of ''society and digital economy issues'' for

candidate

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

in his successful 2012 French presidential election campaign. After Hollande's election, Pellerin was appointed as with responsibility for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Innovation and the Digital Economy. In July 2012, she publicly announced her opposition to the sale of massive surveillance technologies causing quite a stir in French political circles since France is one of the biggest sellers of such technology. In November 2013, she implemented the creation of the French Tech label.

Minister of Culture and Communications, 2014–2016

In August 2014, Pellerin was appointed

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

as part of the first government of Prime Minister

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...

. Shortly after Pellerin was appointed Minister of Culture, the French magazine ''

L’Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' reported that she vacationed at the Corsican villa owned by film producer Pascal Breton, raising ethics questions. In March 2015, Pellerin nominated Serge Lasvignes to head the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, in a surprise choice to replace

Alain Seban Alain Pierre Seban (born 15 July 1964) is a French cultural institution head and senior official. He was the president of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Pompidou Centre in Paris until February 2015. As such, he also heads three organisations linked ...

. Under her leadership, the French Culture Ministry made a bid in September 2015 to purchase one of a highly coveted pair of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

portraits from

Éric de Rothschild Baron Éric Alain Robert David de Rothschild (born 3 October 1940) is a French banker. Early life Éric de Rothschild was born on 3 October 1940 in New York City.Antoine FouchetÉric de Rothschild plaide pour « l’enseignement de la Shoah » '' ...

for the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris, offering €80 million, or about $90 million. As part of a major government reshuffle in early 2016, Pellerin was sacked and replaced by

Audrey Azoulay Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French civil servant and politician who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2017, becoming the second female le ...

, who at the time served as Hollande’s cultural advisor.

Business career

In August 2016, Pellerin resigned from the

French Civil Service The French Civil Service (french: Fonction publique française) is the set of civil servants (''fonctionnaires'') working for the Government of France. Not all employees of the state and public institutions or corporations are civil servants; howe ...

to begin a new career in the private sector. She then became the head of Korelya Capital, an

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...

aimed at

emerging technologies Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized. These technologies are generally new but also include older technologies finding new applications. Emerging technologies ar ...

Fleur Pellerin lève 100 millions d'euros pour son fonds d'investissement

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pro ...

, 29 september 2016 which benefited from a 100-million euros funding by the South Korean

Naver Corporation The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the onlin ...

. She also holds several other positions, including the following: * Reworld Media, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2019) *

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2018) *

Schneider Electric Schneider Electric SE is a French multinational company that specializes in digital automation and energy management. It addresses homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries, by combining energy technologies, real-time automation ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2018) In August 2018, Pellerin was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 2 in the list of 100 Most Influential French Entrepreneurs.

Other activities

* Louvre Endowment Fund, Member of the Board of Directors *

Institut Montaigne Institut Montaigne is a think tank based in Paris, France, founded in 2000. Institut Montaigne's makes public policy recommendations to advance its agenda, which broadly reflects that of the large French companies that fund it. It contracts expert ...

, Member of the Board of DirectorsBoard of Directors

Personal life

Pellerin is married to Laurent Olléon, also an ENA graduate, who works for the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

providing legal advice to the

References

External links

*
www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellerin, Fleur 1973 births Living people People from Seoul French adoptees South Korean adoptees ESSEC Business School alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni Judges of the Court of Audit (France) French politicians of Korean descent South Korean emigrants to France Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French Ministers of Culture French businesspeople 21st-century French politicians 21st-century French women politicians Women government ministers of France Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite