AVP DAY 2025

Barbara Belvisi, born 1985, is a French entrepreneur passionate about space, hardware, biology, and AI. At 27, she founded an asset management firm for deeptech startups and co-founded Hardware Club at 29, a VC fund for hardware and robotics with offices in San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo. She helped launch Hello Tomorrow, a major deeptech event. At 33, she worked with NASA on controlled-environment agriculture before founding Interstellar Lab in 2018 in Los Angeles. The company builds AI-powered greenhouses for autonomous plant growth on Earth and in space, serving cosmetics and food industries and enabling lunar and Martian food production. Interstellar Lab won the NASA Deep Space Food Challenge (2022-2024) and announced Mission Little Prince in 2024 to grow roses on the Moon and Mars. Belvisi is a Top 10 Woman in Tech in France, Forbes Top 100, Best Innovator (2022, 2023), and Choiseul 100 (2023-2025).

David Del Bourgo is the CEO and co-founder of WhiteLab Genomics, a Techbio company developing an AI platform to unleash the potential of genomic medicine. Before founding WhiteLab, David led teams in business operations, marketing, and customer support in genomic biotech and medical device companies, including GE Healthcare and Genomic Vision. He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth and a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from UTC Compiègne.

Benoit joined AVP in 2020, focuses on growth stage investments, and is based in Paris.

Prior to AVP, Benoit has successfully been CFO and then Deputy CEO, focusing on France, of Veepee, a digital-native e-retailer in 14 markets with over €4bn in sales.

Benoit started his career in the year 2000, by helping the first generation of French tech entrepreneurs as an investment banker focused on Technology, Media and Telecommunications at CACIB. He then led the development of the investment banking platform of this bank in the USA, based in New York, for five years.
As CFO of Veepee.com, Benoit invested in several growth tech companies. Benoit brings a strong knowledge of the European tech ecosystem, combining more than 12 years of investment banking in France, and strong operational experience at Veepee.com as a C-level executive.
Benoit graduated from Edhec Business school.

Eric Levesque is the COO and Co-Founder of Strider. Eric leads the operations and growth priorities of the company, working with employees, partners, and customers to deliver on the company’s mission of enabling organizations to utilize open-source data to manage risks and compete in a new era of global strategic competition.

Prior to founding Strider, Eric led the technology investment team at Oman Investment Authority, tasked with executing the investment strategy of Oman’s ‘Vision 2040’ economic plan. Additionally, Eric served on the Board of Directors for Teal Drones, a drone technology startup delivering cutting-edge drone platforms to U.S. and European militaries.

Previously, Eric worked in the Private Markets Group at Russell Investments and started his career in the Corporate Credit Group at Standard & Poor’s in New York City.

Eric is a Term Member at The Council on Foreign Relations and serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy and World Trade Center Utah. He holds an M.B.A. from Brigham Young University and a B.S. in Economics from Utah State University. He is fluent in Russian.

François is the Managing Partner of AVP that he founded in 2015, based in Paris. François has both an operational experience, in particular in financial services companies and an investment experience. He was CEO of AXA Rosenberg (joint-venture between AXA and founding team doing equity management based on quantitative models in San Francisco) where he multiplied by 5 the sales of the company in 3 years, and CEO of AXA Life Invest (turn-around of life insurance company after the 2008, financial crisis).

François has also managed directly several asset classes and large investment portfolio, including a 120 billion € portfolio in Europe, with a 15 billion € allocation in Private Equity. François was also the first Chief Risk Officer of AXA where he acquired deep understanding of the insurance sector and dynamics.
His extensive knowledge, network are a key component to detect, select and support portfolio companies. In addition, he has a deep interest in sustainable finance and sits on the Board of Baobab, a microcredit company operating in Africa and Asia.

François has a MS from Stanford University and a Master from ENSAE. He holds a Ph.D. from CHEA and is a certified actuary.

Jérémie Gallon, Senior Managing Director, leads the Europe and Eurasia
practice. Prior to joining McLarty, Jérémie led AmCham France for three years,
which he turned into a proactive and involved “do-tank,” putting AmCham
France at the heart of a number of economic policy matters and helping drive
public debate. Jérémie was posted to Washington from 2015 to 2017 by the
European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s foreign service arm, as
Senior Political Advisor to the EU Ambassador. Previously, he worked for the
World Bank in the Balkans and started his career as a lawyer at Davis Polk &
Wardwell’s Paris office. He worked on numerous transactions in the defense
and energy sectors as a legal counsel to the French state. Jérémie is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and was an
adjunct professor at Sciences Po. He has also been a regular contributor to
leading media outlets, such as the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Politico, Le
Monde, Le Figaro, L’Express, and Esprit. Jérémie is the author of several
books, including Diary of a Young Diplomat in Trump’s America (Gallimard,
2018), Georges Pompidou: A Timeless Figure (Gallimard, 2025), and Henry
Kissinger: An Intimate Portrait of the Master of Realpolitik (Profile Books,
2025). The original French edition of this book (Henry Kissinger, L'Européen,
Gallimard 2021) won the 2022 Prix Eugène-Colas awarded by the Académie
Française. In 2024, Jérémie also co-authored with former French Foreign
Minister Hubert Védrine a series of portrays of diplomats in a book entitled
Grands Diplomates (Perrin, 2024). Jérémie is a graduate of Harvard Law
School, HEC Paris, and La Sorbonne. He is also a former student of Tsinghua
University School of Economics and Management in Beijing. Jérémie is a
Young European Leader of the Aspen Institute.

An eclectic pianist, passionate chamber musician, dedicated teacher, and sought-after accompanist of some of today’s greatest voices, François Lambret has collaborated with many of the leading artists of his generation. Born in Paris and a Berliner at heart, he completed his studies with distinction at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) and the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), earning an Artist Diploma and unanimous first prizes in piano and chamber music.

A student of Jean-François Heisser, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christian Ivaldi, and Fabio Bidini, Lambret has continually deepened his musical exploration alongside renowned interpreters. A devoted chamber partner, supported by members of the prestigious Berg, Ysaÿe, and Artemis quartets, he has won numerous international prizes both as a soloist and with his ensembles.

Winner of the 1st Prize at the Trondheim Competition, the Audience Prize in Melbourne, and the Dorothy MacKenzie Award in New York, his career has taken him on extensive tours worldwide. As a soloist and member of the Paul Klee Trio, he also pursues a wide range of projects with singers, dancers, and electroacoustic composers.

In recent years, his concerts have brought him to some of the world’s leading venues: the Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Pleyel and Cité de la Musique in Paris, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Toppan Hall in Tokyo. His 2018 tour with composer Sven Helbig was a particular success, including a sold-out performance at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. His performances are regularly broadcast by international radio stations such as France Musique, NHK, NPO, and Deutsche Welle. His recording of Alexandre Guilmant’s works for harmonium and piano received critical acclaim (Diapason).

A frequent guest at European festivals, Lambret has recently performed with leading artists including Bertrand Chamayou, Francesco Tristano, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Nicholas Angelich, Camille Thomas, and Rosanne Philippens. Commissioned by Deutsche Grammophon to accompany its roster of vocal stars, he has collaborated with Elīna Garanča, Benjamin Bernheim, and Julie Fuchs.

His passion for dance, nurtured through his regular appearances at the “Violon sur le Sable” festival in Royan, has also led to collaborations with principal dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, including Dorothée Gilbert, Karl Paquette, Ludmila Pagliero, and Laura Hecquet.

Guillaume Paoletti, born in 1968 in the United States, began his musical studies at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional of Boulogne before being admitted to the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM), where he graduated with unanimous First Prizes in both cello and chamber music. He furthered his training in the United States, first at Yale University under Aldo Parisot, and later with János Starker in Bloomington. A former member of the European Community Youth Orchestra (1989–1993), he performed under the direction of Bernard Haitink, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

In 1999, he was awarded the Certificat d’Aptitude as a cello professor and has been Assistant Professor at the Paris Conservatoire since 1996. As a member of the Bartholdy Trio from 1992 to 1997, he gave over 150 concerts, won four international First Prizes (including the ARD Competition in Munich), and worked with masters such as Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, and Menahem Pressler. Since 1998, he has served as Principal Cellist of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. He was also a member of the Arpeggione Quartet (2001–2002) and cellist of the Hoboken Trio (2003–2006) with pianist Jérôme Granjon and violinist Saskia Lethiec.

As a soloist, he has frequently performed works such as Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Brahms’ Double Concerto, and Saint-Saëns’ concertos, in cities including St. Petersburg, Berlin, Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées under John Nelson), and at the Colmar Festival. His discography, in addition to numerous recordings with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, includes two Schubert albums (featuring the celebrated Trout Quintet), a recording of Fauré’s Élégie as soloist with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and a Smetana/Dvořák album with the Hoboken Trio.