François Davenne, a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications d’Evry in 1988 and of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in 1999, has always promoted interdisciplinarity as a key factor for success. After experience in international satellite telecommunications, his first assignments were in the housing sector and required strong financial and legal skills. He was involved in policy and regulation of the sector, and managed key operational programmes, in particular for the city of Paris. After three years in the French Ministry of Transport working on railway safety and regulations, with the emphasis on European regulations, he was elected Secretary General of OTIF in 2012, where, since 1 January 2013, he has promoted interdisciplinarity and partnership building to expand the uniform regulations for international carriage by rail. He’s currently Deputy Director General of UIC, the International Union of Railways. He will become Director General of the organisation end of June 2019.