Nantes delegation
June 7- June 14

The French-American Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest welcomed a delegation from Nantes (Western France) from June 7 –June 14, who was eager to learn more about the local market and cultural aspects. The delegation was a group of representatives from the City of Nantes, Seattle’s Sister City, Atlanpole (Cluster for innovative technologies and biotech), Nantes Metropole, representing the Greater Nantes area, four biotech companies and two IT companies.

Following is the list of participants:

Proservia: Grégory Robert, Sales Director, Thierry Congard, CEO, Julian Lawson
OBEO: Stéphane Lacrampe, CEO            
Vivalis: Pierre Miniou, Director, Business Development
In Cell Art: Bruno Pitard, CSO
Porsolt&Partners Pharmacology: Martine Lemaire, Senior Director, Business & Scientific  
Development
Clean Cells: François PEDELABORDE & Rolf CUYPERS, Business Development
NANTES Métropole: Patrick Rimbert, Vice-President, Alexandre Mazzorana-Kremer, Vice-President, Stéphane Dauphin, Cabinet Director, Frédéric Vallier, Counselor, Denis Caille, Deputy General Director & Maurice Berthiau, Project manager
Atlanpole : Jean Marc Sevault, Bernard Lefalher & Olivier Kitten, project manager - biotechnologies
Ouest Atlantique: Nadia Chibouti

The program was dense in terms of information and diverse in terms of industries. We participated in various activities including general presentations about the local economic market with highlights on IT, biotech and Clean Tech industries, meetings about the creative industry, visits of art galleries, and individual meetings with local biotech and IT companies such as Dendreon Corp, Omeros, Targeted Genetics Corp., Instant Service, Streambox, Interop Systems and many more.

The delegation was well received everywhere it went.

On behalf of the delegation and the FACC, I would like to thank the following people who participated in organization and success of this visit which was beneficial to both cities:

Matt Miszewiski, Microsoft
Kelly Hudson, Microsoft
Jonnel Bowser, Microsoft
Janet Galore, Microsoft
Behrooz Chitsaz, Microsoft
Yannick Chammings, CEO, Adeneo Corp. (member)
Michael Killoren, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs for the City of Seattle
Michael Herschensohn, Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs for the City of Seattle
Peter J. Rose, Expeditors International Washington, Inc.
Cathryn Vandenbrink, Artspace Projects Inc.
Bill Stafford, TDA (member)
Karl da Gama Campos, CTED (member)
Steve Gerritson, Entreprise Seattle (member)
David Schubert, Accelerator Corp.
Valerie Carricaburu, UW Techtransfer (member)
Beth Etscheid, Washington Research Foundation
Leroy Hood, ISB
Simon Letarte, ISB
Shawn Swift, ISB
Lee Huntsman, Life Sciences Discovery Fund
Robbie K. Philips, Fred Hutchinson cancer Research Institute
Brad Jones, Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau
Sam Webb, Stoel Rives LLC Ganjeau, Gwyn M., Stoel Rives LLC
Alan Merkle, Stoel Rives LLC (member)
Michael T. McQuade, Washington State Convention & Trade Center
Graham Evans, Washington Technology Center
Lori Mason Curran, Vulcan Inc.
Richard A. White, The Boeing Company
Melodie Hawkinson, The Boeing Company
Georges Igor Chargadieff, French Trade Commission San Francisco