Monica Lemaire is a well-known figure at Galland where she has worked for many years. These days she has the post of Manager of continuing improvement for the environmental section of the Supply Chain.; Her unusual trajectory reveals her great capacity for adaptation. A highly appreciated capacity in our company.

 

“I was born in Constanţa, Romania and this is where I studied and graduated as a  mechanical engineer. After the Fall of Berlin, I left Constanţa for England. I met my husband there. Later, in France, my Diplôme d’études spécialisées in international communication made a more managerial approach of the company possible. I completed these studies with a 7-month training course in commercial export and a module concerning monitoring and economic intelligence at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in the years 2000.”

In June 2007, Galland bought the SCEFOM company which Monica was working for; quite logically this was integrated into the sales department. “I specialized in calls for tender in collaboration with the sales department. The company was growing and these files required more and more specialized responses.”

 

“Corporate social responsibility is not exclusive to big corporations »

Since September 2022, Monica’s meticulousness and analytical mind has fully expressed itself in the Supply Chain where projects linked with the environmental performance of the company are entrusted to her.

“The company has matured and is confronted with new requirements in the domain of Sustainable Development. It is necessary from now on to be able to demonstrate a good knowledge of the life cycle of our products, their level of recyclability, and to be able to evaluate their carbon footprint, in order to be competitive on the European and international markets. Thus my principle mission is to decompose our range of articles in order to analyze their percentage of recycled matter. Interrogating our suppliers can be a delicate affair sometimes, because not all companies are aware of this CSR approach. However, Galland has resolutely turned to this eco-responsible approach : our aluminum steady arms are 100% recyclable, but it’s not the case of the fiberglass that the section insulators are composed of. ….we also study closely the recycling channels of this material and we give precedence to regional service providers in order to limit transport costs to a minimum. We also participate in work groups with other companies on the latest methods of optimizing our carbon footprint and professionalizing our actions in favor of the environment. . In the long term, Galland would like to give its clients the choice of investing in standard products and a range of eco-conceived products.”

 

An innovative approach which is based on the advantages of Galland, according to Monica. “Corporate Social Responsibility is not the exclusive privilege of  big corporations. It’s also a concern for family companies like ours, where the decisions are facilitated. Last year we obtained the environmental certification 14 001 and we continue to improve.”

 

Her family situation

I have two adopted daughters from Vietnam, we live in Libourne and we feel happy in this town

 

Her hobbies

Hiking and pastries. In 2015 I took the exam and obtained my professional qualification as a pastry chef, as an external candidate. I treated my colleagues to a lemon tart. They still talk about it to me !

 

Her mantra

Sartre used to say : “We are our choices”. I totally agree with this idea.