I live in Menlo Park in California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Having started my career in France in auditing, finance and accounting, discovering the world of analytics brought me to the United States and the world of technology. For 15 years now I have focused on data in big firms like Oracle and Google and in start-ups like TriNet and Semarchy. I am now part of the world of research and teaching at the University of Berkeley, with the aim of sharing with students and businesses all that I have learnt and all that propelled me forward in my professional life.

I owe my arrival on the West Coast to my mentors and benevolent network. When I asked how to thank them, their answer was simple: "just pass it on". That’s why I chose to become an EDHEC Resource. I can only benefit from sharing all of the good fortune I have had.

For today’s motivated, hard-working, courageous and talented individuals, Silicon Valley offers so many opportunities. But the distance, visa formalities and local codes can create frictions or barriers to access. Employers don’t have enough time to deal with the complexity of recruitment. Top managers simply don’t have the time to help their peers. That’s why being an EDHEC Resource makes all the difference: our local knowledge and giving up a bit of our time can help others from EDHEC who wish to settle here.

In a highly competitive environment, I feel that being an EDHEC Resource is also about giving advice, mentoring and guiding students or alumni and the choices they make. It’s a delicate mission where we have to offer analysis that is accurate, impartial and above all not self-serving. We need to share what we know and draw on the strength of our own network when we don’t know. After more than a decade encountering all the diversity (not only French) of Silicon Valley, I feel ready to help you.

Lastly, being an EDHEC Resource is about sharing expertise. For the last two decades I have used analytics to serve my work in fields like cash flow, accounting, management control, but also marketing and HR. I have seen the extent to which getting a handle on data hugely increases professional opportunities by providing ever more refined analyses at an ever faster pace. Data expertise is a key skill for all professionals in the face of a complex and constantly changing world.

Indeed, that is why I decided to write Devenez un Data Pionnier (Editions Mardaga): to give my readers all of the tools they need to develop relevant, fast, sustainable, human and ethical analytics.

I wrote this book for you, and the reason I chose to become an EDHEC Resource is because giving to others also enriches me.