Thomas is the Managing Partner of Airbus Ventures, based in Silicon Valley. With two decades of experience in the aerospace industry, and trained as a mechanical engineer, Thomas has worked in manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, and finance roles throughout Europe and China, and was based in Shanghai for three years. In 2016, Thomas was named as a French-American Foundation Young Leader for the United States. He also served as Chief of Staff to Airbus CFO. Thomas holds a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from McGill University/Ecole des Mines.
Q&A:
What are some of the origins of your deep passion for cross-continental, global collaboration?
Despite my own web of German, Polish, and French lineage, the international dimension of my family’s heritage wasn’t as present as one might think in our lives. It wasn’t until I went onto finish my engineering degree at McGill University, in Canada, trailing after my evolving passions in Astronomy and Science, that I developed a newfound appreciation and respect for the culture of motherland Europe, while living far away on the other side of the pond. While at McGill, I also unexpectedly fell in love with icebergs, studying the icy masses as viable sources of potable water and modeled their thermodynamics during the towing process to higher latitude; I even flew to observe them live in Newfoundland. This stint was especially formative, as I forged my earliest beliefs that global challenges, like climate change, require hard work and vast amounts of courage. No contribution is too small. We are all one shared humanity operating within the immensity of the universe. After I finished my degree, I went back to Europe and joined EADS (now, Airbus SE) at its creation in early 2000, eager to apply the practical knowledge I had garnered in the classroom and help elevate objects (and connect people and places across the map) through the newest modes of flight. And, of course, pursuing the craft of aviation, at an organization with a rooted, rich, and multilayered web of international collaboration, felt right.
What inspired you to pivot to venture capital?
After spending nearly ten years on the shop-floor, learning day-in and day-out how to transform aeronautics design into the realities of the A320, A350, and A380, I worked to remedy supply chain challenges for Airbus across India, China, and Russia, even spending three years in Shanghai, covering local manufacturing of Airbus products, where I brushed up on my language skills. In 2013, I returned to Toulouse to work directly with the Airbus CFO as Chief of Staff, and completed what I've come to think of as my “real-life-MBA,” an informative download of real-world experience, through which I developed an appetite to help lead technological transformation on the international stage. Venture Capital, as a pathfinder for seeking out startups on the cusp of that disruption, became a clear way forward.