One question remains when this man sleeps

The "Republic of ideas", to borrow an expression dear to Pierre Rosanvallon, would, also, its jobholders Judging by the CV of Bernard Spitz, forty-nine years, might be expected. But the new President of the French Federation of insurance (FFSA) is the living proof that such cumulation, counterproductive far there, can be very fruitful. Member of the century, of Gracchi over which he presides, of the Board of the Aspen Institute France and various "think tanks" French and European, author many trials dealing with topics as diverse as the reform of the State ("State of emergency", with Roger Fauroux) or the consequences of the ageing of the population on our social model ("Le Papy-crash"), Bernard Spitz addresses the issue of insurance in his own way : in practitioner, not even in expert, but intellectual. "Whether it retreats, health, sustainable development or terrorism is not a single area in which the insurance has a role to play", analyzes. A role even more important to his eyes, in a world plagued by generalized zapping and permanent acceleration, insurance has the specificity of "think long term."

This taste for ideas, which conflates him with the sense of the general interest, this admirer of Malraux was first cultivated as a journalist. Student at Sciences po and Essec day evening, funded his studies in drawing for "The world". Employment of busy that does not preclude his pen and its neurons to Michel Rocard service, his mentor since the legislative elections of 1978. In the wake of the IEP, it unhooks the ENA before opening the doors of the Palais-Royal. He still works at the Council of State when Rocard, finally appointed at Matignon, called in his cabinet. Will there be for three years head researcher in the field of economic and social office, sometimes advocating the deduction at source, sometimes suggesting the Prime Minister to speak of "clients" instead of "users" of public services.

Digital revolution

After this detour by the Palace of the Republic, the former journalist returned to his first love columnist "The Express" and "Liberation" and even as a man of radio on-Air France Culture. With regard to television, he prefers to stay on the other side of the camera and pull the strings in the shade, that his position as Director of the Directorate General of Canal has allowed to from 1992 to 1995. Six years later, he joins Jean-Marie Messier at Vivendi Universal as Director of the strategy. This choice must nothing random: Bernard Spitz was one of the first in France to understand the scope and issues of "the digital revolution", theme of a note that he wrote on behalf of the Saint-Simon Foundation in 1999. A revolution today at the heart of its pattern of SME activity: BS Council, he created after his departure from Vivendi in 2004, helping multinational French or foreign to adapt to the digital age. The recent contract with the South Korean Telecom France shows that the little shop of the rue d'Anjou, redone, radiates far beyond the 8th arrondissement of Paris. One question remains: when this man sleeps