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Fleur Pellerin | |
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 Fleur Pellerin at the2017 Cannes Film Festival | |
| French Minister of Culture and Communications | |
| In office 26 August 2014 – 11 February 2016 | |
| President | François Hollande |
| Prime Minister | Manuel Valls |
| Preceded by | Aurélie Filippetti |
| Succeeded by | Audrey Azoulay |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Tourism and French Nationals Abroad | |
| In office 9 April 2014 – 26 August 2014 | |
| President | François Hollande |
| Prime Minister | Manuel Valls |
| Preceded by | Nicole Bricq (Foreign Trade) Sylvia Pinel (Tourism) Hélène Conway-Mouret (French overseas) |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Thévenoud |
| Minister Delegate for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Innovation and the Digital Economy | |
| In office 16 May 2012 – 2 April 2014 | |
| President | François Hollande |
| Prime Minister | Manuel Valls |
| Preceded by | Éric Besson |
| Succeeded by | Axelle Lemaire |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kim Jong-suk (1973-08-29)29 August 1973 (age 51) Seoul, South Korea |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Alma mater | ESSEC;Sciences Po, Paris;ENA, Strasbourg |
Fleur Pellerin (French pronunciation:[flœʁpɛl.ʁɛ̃];néeKim Jong-suk, born 29 August 1973) is a French businesswoman, former civil servant andSocialist Party politician who served as aFrench government minister from 2012 to 2016.
Pellerin was born in 1973 inSeoul, South Korea, 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.[1][2] According to heradoption records, she was called Kim Jong-suk (김종숙;金鍾淑), although it is unclear how she came by thatname. Raised by middle-class parents, her father is a small-business owner, and she grew up in two Paris suburbs,Montreuil andVersailles.[3]
Pellerin graduated fromESSEC business school (Master's degree in management) while she was just 21. She then graduated fromSciences Po (MPA) before attending theÉcole nationale d'administration (ENA). She joined the FrenchCourt of Auditors 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.[4]
Pellerin took charge ofsociety and digital economy issues forSocialist Party candidateFrançois Hollande in his successful2012 French presidential election campaign.[5]
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.[6] In November 2013, she implemented the creation of theFrench Tech label.[7]
On 11 February 2014, Pellerin was among the guests invited to thestate dinner hosted byU.S. PresidentBarack Obama in honor of Hollande at theWhite House.[8]
In August 2014, Pellerin was appointedMinister of Culture as part of thefirst government of Prime MinisterManuel Valls.[9] Shortly after Pellerin was appointed Minister of Culture, the French magazineL'Express reported that she vacationed at the Corsican villa owned by film producerPascal Breton, raising ethics questions.[10]
In March 2015, Pellerin nominatedSerge Lasvignes to head theCentre Pompidou, in a surprise choice to replaceAlain Seban.[11] Under her leadership, the French Culture Ministry made a bid in September 2015 to purchase one of a highly coveted pair ofRembrandt portraits fromÉric de Rothschild for theLouvre in Paris, offering €80 million.[12]
As part of a major government reshuffle in early 2016, Pellerin was sacked and replaced byAudrey Azoulay, who at the time served as Hollande's cultural advisor.[13]
In August 2016, Pellerin resigned from theFrench Civil Service to begin a new career in the private sector.[14] She then became the head of Korelya Capital, aninvestment fund aimed atemerging technologies[15] which benefited from a 100-million euros funding by the South KoreanNaver Corporation.[16] She also holds several other positions, including the following:
In August 2018, Pellerin was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 2 in the list of 100 Most Influential French Entrepreneurs.[24]
Pellerin is married to Laurent Olléon, also an ENA graduate, who works for theCouncil of State providing legal advice to theFrench government.
Pellerin overcame a sense of inferiority and defeat coming from being an abandoned child with the enlightened view that "something important happens by accident."
born in Seoul in 1973, Pellerin was found on the streets of the capital when she was three or four days old and was sent to an orphanage. She was adopted six months later.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by |  Minister for Culture 2014–2016 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
