A graduate of the HEC School of Management and of the Paris Institute of Political Science (Sciences Po), as well as a former student at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), school for high-flying civil servants, François Pérol began his career in 1990 as an auditor, in the General Inspectorate of Finance. Between 1994 and 2001, he held different responsibilities within the French Treasury before being appointed deputy Chief of Staff to Francis Mer, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry in the French Government in 2002. He remained in this position in 2004 when Nicolas Sarkozy was appointed Ministre d'Etat, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry. He joined Rothschild &