Sopra Steria names French defence veteran Laura Chaubard to lead sovereignty strategy
Chaubard will oversee the Defence, Security and Space unit, which represents 13 per cent of the group’s total revenue
France-HQ IT digital services and solutions provider Sopra Steria has appointed Laura Chaubard to lead its Defence, Security and Space unit.
She will assume the role on 1 September and join the group’s executive committee.
The division, which accounted for 13 per cent of Sopra Steria’s top line in 2025, provides critical systems to armed forces, governments, security services, space organisations and infrastructure operators.
The company said the appointment will boost its ambitions across defence, security and space as European countries increase spending and focus on technological sovereignty.
Chaubard joins Sopra Steria after more than two decades in the French public sector, bringing experience spanning defence procurement, AI and digital innovation.
She most recently served as director general of École Polytechnique, a higher education institution specialising in science and engineering, becoming the first woman to lead it in 2022.
Prior to that, Chaubard spent six years at France’s defence procurement agency, the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA), working on data and AI for intelligence services.
She later led the agency’s strategic SMEs office, which supported around 600 French businesses considered significant to the defence sector, before being in charge of capability planning for the country’s 2018-2022 Military Programming Law.
Between 2017 and 2019, Chaubard also served as an adviser on innovation and digital affairs to then-minister of the armed forces Florence Parly.
During her tenure, she helped create the Defence Innovation Agency, the Definvest investment fund and the Directorate General for Digital Affairs, as well as the Ministry of the Armed Forces’ first AI roadmap.
“Ambitions are judged by the resources you put behind them,” said Rajesh Krishnamurthy, CEO of Sopra Steria.
“At the heart of the French State, Chaubard has built defence innovation schemes that are now benchmarks in the field.
“As Europe looks to determine who will design the critical systems underpinning its defence, security and access to space, [her] appointment should help us take that step.”
Chaubard added: “For twenty years, I served defence and innovation within the State.
“I am joining Sopra Steria with an undiminished conviction: sovereignty cannot be decreed, it must be built - with mastered technologies, committed teams of engineers and industrial partners able to honour their commitments over time.”
The appointment comes as Sopra Steria looks to make defence, security and space one of its main growth engines.
The vertical covers areas including command and intelligence systems, cybersecurity, sovereign data processing and space technologies.
It also includes CS Group, a critical defence and security systems integrator it took over in 2023.
In May, the group completed the acquisitions of Starion and Nexova to bolster its space and cybersecurity capabilities.
The moves form part of Sopra Steria’s strategy to expand its presence in sovereign technologies.
In March, the organisation, in a consortium with Computacenter, secured a framework agreement to deploy sovereign AI for the Caisse des Dépôts group.
A month earlier, it announced the integration and configuration of OVHcloud’s On-Prem Cloud Platform (OPCP) to deploy a complete cloud platform directly on customers’ premises and formed a strategic alliance with SAP around digital sovereignty at the Munich Security Conference.
In November, it teamed up with A1 Digital, Airbus, Dassault Systèmes, Deutsche Telekom, evroc, OpenNebula Systems, Orange, OVHcloud, Post Luxembourg, Schwarz Digits and Telecom Italia to found the European Sovereign Tech Industry Alliance (ESTIA).
In July last year, Dominique Lapère, COO of Sopra Steria, told CRN that more and more customers were asking for alternatives to US technologies regarding AI and hyperscalers.
Chaubard’s appointment also comes amid a wider leadership revamp at the organisation.
Krishnamurthy became CEO of Sopra Steria in February, replacing Cyril Malargé, who stepped down after 23 years at the group.
The firm also promoted Craig Wilson to UK CEO, a role he assumed on 1 July.