Leadership Award

This award will recognize excellence among businesses and individuals driving positive
trends and engaged in fostering French-American business relations.

Guidelines

Leadership Award Guidelines can be found here.

2018 Nominees

Jury 2018

Chairs

Louis Scott de Martinville - Microsoft

Alain Durand - Teague

Jury Members

Rick Freeman - Technofan

Carlton Vann - City of Seattle

Virginie Peltier El-Naggar

Megan Morfitt - Premera Blue Cross

Elisabeth Araujo, President, L'Oréal Beauty Devices:

Elisabeth Araujo is a French-American from Paris, France who received her business management degree at EDHEC Business School in Lille, France and lives with her husband Pascal and their three children in Seattle, Washington. As President of L’Oréal Beauty Devices, Elisabeth is responsible for the vision, strategy and innovation for all beauty devices at L’Oréal. In addition to her divisional role, Elisabeth leads the global strategy and worldwide growth for Clarisonic, the first-ever beauty device offering from L’Oréal, which has sold more than 15 million devices to date. Clarisonic was invented in the Pacific Northwest and when the brand was acquired by L’Oréal in 2011, the decision was made to keep the brand in the Seattle area due to the strong technology base here. As the #1 Beauty Device brand in the world, Clarisonic is committed to creating cutting edge technology in safe, easy to use, and efficacious devices and formulations, to transform your skin and your self-confidence. Prior to her current role, Elisabeth has enjoyed a long and distinguished career at L’Oréal since 1997. Earlier roles were in the Active Cosmetics Division including Vichy International (product manager) and La Roche-Posay (international marketing manager, brand manager in Spain). In 2008, Elisabeth became the General Manager of Sanoflore, an organic cosmetics pioneer. In 2010, she was appointed General Manager of La Roche-Posay and transformed the brand into a major worldwide skincare leader.

Elodie Le Nezet, Interim Head of School, North Seattle French School:

Elodie Le Nezet is the Interim Head of School at the North Seattle French School (NSFS), a preschool and elementary school in Seattle offering immersion French and bilingual education. As the first Interim Head of School, Elodie draws from the core values of NSFS as well as from her previous experiences as a teacher and school administrator to execute the school’s mission to cultivate a community of globally-minded, independent thinkers through bilingual education. The five core values of NSFS include diversity; global perspective; an engaged community of families and children; an integrated curriculum; and social and emotional development. Since joining NSFS, Elodie has developed and modified several key administrative processes, including streamlining the design of report cards to help parents better understand the expected skills and learning objectives that students are to gain throughout the year, implementing a formal teacher evaluation process, and working to strengthen community engagement through a bimonthly morning gathering where parents can connect and learn about new and ongoing school initiatives. She has also implemented several pedagogical interventions, including a Singapore math curriculum and a new co-teaching model that pairs French and English teachers in a single classroom to ensure a truly bilingual education. As an active member and supporter of the French American Chamber of Commerce, NSFS is part of the Education Committee along with other French school and organizations in the PNW area. Since its creation five years ago, NSFS has made it a priority to engage with the local francophone and Francophile communities in Seattle. NSFS students have contributed chorus performances and community members have staffed an NSFS information table at the annual French Fest and the school continually aims to further expand its cultural programming.

Laurent Bourscheidt, Founder + Creative Director, L+B Design:

Laurent Bourscheidt is the founder of L+B Design, an award-winning international creative consultancy. Launched in 2014, L+B Design delivers creative solutions to a range of clients, including the Alliance Française of Seattle and the French-led teach firm MetaHelm, as well as other consulting organizations in the PNW. L+B Design is dedicated to supporting growth and business transformation through digital-driven strategies, compelling creative stories, and architecture branding experiences supporting their client’s goals. L+B Designs connects individuals and like-minded organizations to foster new relationships and business interactions. L+B Designs aims to help businesses, organizations, or entities communicate better about their brand and activities in order to deliver memorable experiences and create emotional and meaningful bonds with their customers, clients, or partners and members. The company goal is to support and contribute to a thriving business environment that can maximize opportunities to succeed in the PNW and beyond, while also propagating and maintaining the reputation of a French touch and creativity in a wide range of industries.

nucamp, Ludo Fourrage, Founder:

Nucamp is a startup operating in Tacoma, Washington. It was founded by Ludovic Fourrage - a French citizen and green card holder living in Bellevue, Washington. Nucamp operates in the education sector, offering coding bootcamps for underserved communities. Its mission is to help adult professionals get a new career in the coding space, and give them access to a more fulfilling job and overall compensation. Nucamp is employing ten part-time independent contractors in the state of Washington, with plans for expansion further into Washington State. Nucamp helps the Pacific Northwest community by providing qualified developers to fuel its IT industry. Nucamp is also reducing the digital divide between the elite and the underserved, by offering a unique solution to all communities that cannot afford to attend a traditional bootcamp and could not find the motivation to attend on their own online.

Nicolas Quillé, General Manager, Head Winemaker and Corporate Officer, Vinmotion:

Nicolas Quillé was born in Lyon, France from a family in the wine business for three generations. Nicolas has a Master degree in Enology from the University of Dijon, a Master degree in sparkling winemaking from the University of Reims and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Washington. Prior to coming to the US in 1997 to begin his expat career, he worked in Burgundy and the Rhône Valley as a winemaker. For the past five years, Nicolas has spearheaded Banfi’s Northwest portfolio as General Manager and Winemaker for Pacific Rim Winemakers, a company owned by the Mariani family of Banfi Vintners. Under his leadership, Pacific Rim produces 300,000 cases of wine mainly under the brands Pacific Rim, Rainstorm, and Silver Totem. Nicolas also supervises Vinmotion wines, a growing custom winemaking business which is bottling an additional 400,000 cases for various clients. Pacific Rim is now widely recognized as an industry innovator and the leading voice of Riesling in the category. Vinmotion Custom Wine Services has an exclusive focus on the Pacific Northwest with locations in the heart of Columbia Valley, Washington and in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. In addition to leading Vinmotion, Nicolas volunteers with the Alliance Française of Portland to offer quarterly educational seminars on French wines to the public, and volunteers his time as the Vice President of the International Riesling Foundation, as a board member of WineWise, the Washington State winery sustainability group, and as a member of the Washington State Wine Export Committee. He has also hosted a FACC regional meeting of French and French-Canadian vintners (from Oregon) and continues to encourage cooperation and exchange in that community. Nicolas is currently working on a research paper on aromatic white wine fining, the final stage in becoming a member of the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine based in London, England.

Sandrine Collomb, President-Elect, American Association of Teachers of French, Chapter of Washington and Alaska:

Sandrine Collomb, Ph.D. is the President-elect of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) Chapter of Washington and Alaska. Founded in 1927, AATF is the largest national association of French teachers in the world with nearly 10,000 members. Sandrine teaches at Interlake High School which has the greatest diversity in the Bellevue School District high schools, with students from 115 different birth countries, the highest rate of students who speak a language other than English at home (42%), and the greatest number of spoken languages (58). In her first year at Interlake (Fall 2005), Sandrine implemented and designed courses for French heritage speakers that offer the opportunity for students to study the French language, Francophone cultures and literatures. Since Sandrine established the bilingual program, it has increased in size and scope, now also offered in two other languages: Chinese and Spanish. It is the only program offered in a public school for French Heritage speakers in Washington State, making it affordable (free) for the whole community. Beyond her influence in the classroom, Sandrine has worked collaboratively with Alliance Française de Seattle, Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association, the French Immersion School of Washington, the French American School of Puget Sound, the University of Washington, and the University of Cincinnati. As president-elect of the AATF, Sandrine’s actions bring important changes in three areas: communication, building community, and strengthening French-American relationships by supporting teachers and French programs across the state.

Marie-Eve Gilla, Managing Partner, Forgeron Cellars:

Marie-Eve Gilla is the Managing Partner and Winemaker at Forgeron Cellars, a boutique winery specializing in the craft of fine wines located in Walla Walla, Washington. With a passion to uncover the best vineyard sites for her favorite varietals grown in the AVA’s of the Columbia Valley, Marie-Eve draws on her training in Burgundy to gently guide the winemaking process to deliver wines that express the beauty, complexity, and age-worthiness the region has to offer. Recognizing the importance of mentoring and empowering new winemakers - especially women, Marie-Eve shares her knowledge with female interns fulfilling their education by teaching the importance of systems and organizations, cleanliness and efficiency. Marie-Eve guides vineyard managers to grow the best Chardonnay grapes possible and has had a hand in elevating white wine making in Washington. In addition to increasing Forgeron’s exposure in the PNW with its two tasting rooms, one located inside the winemaking facility in Walla Walla and the other in Woodinville, Marie-Eve has had a considerable impact on job creation through mentoring, teaching, and setting new wine makers free to build their own success.