ELENA CERNEA

Board Advisor // Innovation & Strategy
FR | EU

Strategy / Innovation / Breakthrough Ideas

Elena Cernea is a focused executive with experience allying investment banking, management consulting and medtech ventures. Her experience covers both public and private sector, in Europe, Latin America, USA and Asia. Her sector experience ranges from pharma, biotech medtech, airspace & defense, banking, energy and different public entities (public transports, entity in charge of the investments of the French Wealth Fund – the CDC, etc.) Her main focus during her different assignments and roles was to find sustainable ways to improve and develop the different businesses, i.e. innovation, new business models, diversity and inclusion. She co-founded a venture in medical devices which was awarded one of the 10 Grand Prix of the National Contest for Innovation iLab in France in 2019 (minimally invasive treatments in cancerology and cardiology). Elena is working regularly with government and private actors supporting innovation, in France and around the world. She was for instance Jury of the National Contest for Innovation in France, grading hundreds of business plans and accompanying afterwards the winners in the development of their ventures. Clients (selection): Essilor, Unilever, Thales, Roche, Sanofi, Ipsen, Teva, Renault, Valeo, different ministries and regional administration in France, SNCF (the national railway company in France), BNPP / Cetelem, BPI France. Elena holds an MBA from INSEAD as well as a master’s degree in Industrial Strategy from La Sorbonne University. She speaks four languages.