Fariborz Farhoudi has spent most of his career with SPIE, where he is now 51 years old and the director of Digital Transformation for the Group. He joined SPIE in 2001 when the company acquired his previous employer. He saw that SPIE had an entrepreneurial culture that empowered employees, and he was promoted quickly through excellent in-house training. As the director of Digital Transformation, he now supports the implementation of SPIE's digital strategy through eleven projects ranging from an online training platform to an app for electric vehicle charging stations. Although born in Iran, he does not feel his background has held him back at SPIE, which has an open attitude towards multiculturalism.

1. After spending most of his career with SPIE, Fariborz Farhoudi, aged 51,
is director of the Digital Transformation for the Group.
INTERVIEWS
WITHOURSO’SPIEPEOPLE
“The entrepreneurial
spirit at SPIE gives
us wings!”
How did you join SPIE?
Fariborz Farhoudi: In 2001, I was sales manager for a branch of Matra Nortel
Communications. Wanting to develop its business in information and
communications systems, SPIE acquired our company and creates SPIE
Communications. I very soon saw a change in mindset. SPIE already had the very
entrepreneurial culture which today is very much its trademark. The Group is good at
empowering its employees. Thanks to some excellent in-house training programmes,
I was promoted very quickly. I was appointed Business Unit Manager, then Head
of Key Account department, regional director for Western France, and finally director
of Innovation and Digital Transformation.
What does your current role consist of?
F. F.: Having played a part in defining SPIE’s digital strategy, I am now supporting
its concrete implementation through a series of eleven projects. These range from
the creation of a platform giving access to all the content of our training programmes,
including e-learning modules, to an app designed to managed electric vehicle
charging stations.
You studied and have pursued your career in France, but you were born in Iran.
Has this held you back in any way?
F. F.: Not at all. At SPIE, men and women are hired first and foremost for their skills
and their motivation. The Group has a very open attitude to multiculturalism,
and sees it as an asset.