Partners
Together, Jean-Yves Lagarde and Hubert de Lacvivier have over 20 years of successful investments mostly in high tech, software, light manufacturing and systems integration. They also individually have extensive hands on operations management as successful CEOs or top executives with P&L responsibilities in large corporations in fields as varied as systems integration, computer systems and software, oil and gas, the Internet of things, defense, and telecommunications among others.
This mix of financial and operational experiences and interests can be put to bear in growing small companies into larger players in their sectors in particular by introducing digitization where it has historically not been used, and by implementing scenarios of growth by acquisitions.
Partners Bios
In 1991, after he received a Master of Sciences in Engineering (Fluid Mechanics) from ENSEEIHT School in Toulouse (France), Mr Lagarde started his career in one of the largest international oil and gas companies as a Process Engineer and then in Deep Off-Shore operations.
In order to complement his engineering degree, Mr Lagarde moved from France to the U.S. in 1994 to earn his MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College with a particular focus in General Management and Entrepreneurship.
After graduation, he joined the fiber optic division of Corning Inc., a company well recognized for the training of its executives. He started there working in strategy (collectively won the Malcolm Bridge National Quality Award), and moved on to become the sales manager for the Latin America region.
In 2000, Mr Lagarde joined Boston Millennia Partners, a venture growth fund, where he led investments in technology enabled business and services. Several of his investments were successfully acquired by strategic partners while a couple had public offerings. Jean-Yves sat on the board of directors of his investments and was always operationally involved, sometimes even as interim CEO.
In 2011, Mr Lagarde joined a world leader in energy management solutions, electrical distribution equipment, services and automation. From his initial role in strategy and M&A, he sought to move into a fully operational role in 2015, successfully leading a new business unit bringing the latest technological advances into maintenance services and operations.
Mr Lagarde is a Board Member of the French-American Chamber of Commerce of New England (FACCNE) and was its former Treasurer. He resides in the suburbs of Boston. Jean-Yves’ wife is from the Boston North Shore and he enjoys all things New England. Mr Lagarde became a US citizen in 2007.
Shortly after obtaining a master in theoretical physics and a doctorate in Biophysics from the Paris University of Sciences, while working as a researcher in Paris, Mr. de Lacvivier became interested in computer science.
He started his business career at Group Bull in France in 1982. Coming to the United States two years later, M. de Lacvivier specialized in the management of highly technical projects in a transatlantic context. Initially in Boston with Honeywell, then with Thomson-CSF (now Thales) where he was the software program manager for a multi-billion dollar US defense program.
Mr. de Lacvivier started his own company in 1990 (International Project Management Co.) offering US business development services to French technology companies. This led him to become, in 1994, the President and CEO of CETIA Inc., a Thomson-CSF subsidiary which fast expanded in the US market. Mr. de Lacvivier left Cetia, Inc in 1998 to Co-found Lafayette Development, LLC a venture capital company investing US funds in early stage French technology companies and participating as a board member in the successful buildup of his portfolio companies.
In 2010, Mr de Lacvivier co-founded Efidys SAS, a French Software Company developing an application allowing people to work on projects together in the cloud without asking them to join a common platform.
Mr de Lacvivier has been a Foreign Trade Advisor to the French Government, a former Chairman of the board of the French cultural center /Alliance Francaise of Boston, and a recipient of the French National Order of Merit. He became a US citizen August 30th 1990.