Continuing our "Talent from ECAM" series, we'd like to share this eighth portrait with you.

Through this video and article, we'd like to highlight the profile and career path of Michel ANTHERIEU (ECAM 84).

From his graduation to the culmination of his career, Michel ANTHERIEU looks back on his career and experience as an ECAM engineer and company director, in an interview with Baptiste MONTROCHER.

Watch the video interview on our YouTube channel: https: //youtu.be/b3r6H8N_lIk

Enjoy your reading!

Baptiste MONTROCHER: Hello Michel, could you tell us a little about your background?

Michel ANTHERIEU: Hello everyone, Michel ANTHERIEU, ECAM 1984, when I left ECAM I chose to follow an SME career path, firstly for eight years in Haute-Savoie, where I worked with several different SMEs and several different technologies to learn.

Then I moved to the Drôme region, where I had the opportunity to turn around a company in difficulty, followed by the mid-life crisis when I joined a large group to try and get some training and build myself and the rest of my career.

And at 53, I was fired and so, as the last step in my career, I had to take over a company, which I did in just a few months.

I'm at the end of a career that's just a dream, to be your own boss, to have a company that's growing, associates you can work with and rely on.

Baptiste: What does being an ECAM LaSalle engineer mean to you?

Michel : I chose ECAM because I wanted to be hands-on.
I'm quite manual, I'm quite technical, so I wanted to be hands-on, with workshops, manipulation and values.

I think both are important to me, both the values and the concrete, practical side. And that's what I've tried to develop in my career. It was very useful for me to be able to take control of a machine tool and show the operator what to do at the beginning of my career. That's been great.

And above all, values are something that has never left me.

Baptiste: What role does networking play in your life?

Michel : If someone had asked me that question ten years ago, I would have said none.

It's always the same, when you're young, you devote yourself to your family and your budding business, so I worked a lot. A bit, I'd say, with my head in the sand as I went along, and the network I didn't have, I realized was useful for looking for a company, getting to know the right people, and so on.

And so that's when I started networking, at an outplacement where my coach asked me "What's your network?", I was unable to answer the question.

Then I developed a network, I was going to say at full speed, and I discovered the pleasure of it. I discovered that the people in front of me naturally want to please you. They want to answer you, they want to help you, and so I really accelerated the network, I'd say naturally.

And so it was that I became president of Réseau Entreprendre Drôme-Ardèche, which is also a network and a family with deep-rooted values. Today, I feel very much at home in this network.

Baptiste: What are you particularly proud of today?

Michel : There are two things I feel strongly about when I think about this question.

It's one thing to be the boss.

It was a dream, I think, a dream that I saw as inaccessible when I was young, and then it's a dream that we've realized, that I've realized and that we've realized with my partners, and it's a dream that I live every day, and I'm lucky enough to have it.

It's not always an easy day, but I say it's a dream because you're really in a position to have an impact on the company, in good times and bad, to build teams, to train them, and that's really great.

The second is transmission.

I'm over 60 now, so through the Entreprendre Drôme Ardèche network, I want to pass on everything I can, my passion for business and entrepreneurship, my passion for made in France.

That's all that's deeply rooted in my gut.

My focus for the second part of my life is now on transmission.

Baptiste: Do you have any advice for younger ECAM Alumni members?

Michel : Yes, so two things: first, Dare!

I took over a company when I was 53. Today, looking back, I think it was too late.

So go ahead, do it before I do. With ECAM you have everything you need to become real bosses and good bosses.

The second thing is the network.

Here too, it's something I've been slow to do and put in place. But surround yourself with caring people, surround yourself with people who love you, who are there to help you, it's always useful.

It's effective and great for values.

Baptiste: Any final words?

Michel : If I look back, I can say that ECAM was an excellent school. It gave me the means to develop my career. So I'd say: be proud.

Be proud of it, but don't let it go to your head. It's really a fundamental thing. Stay tuned.

I'm lucky enough to have taken on an ECAM work-study student who is currently with us, so when I see him in action, when I see him in the workshops, it's a real pleasure,

I tell myself that ECAM remains, 40 years after my studies, in the concrete and in the pragmatic orientation and listening. And that's really what you have to keep in mind.

Baptiste: Thank you Michel!

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