Orders by Airplane

At Pigier in Chatelet, the lessons are one right after the other and leave students little time for lunch. Never mind. Catherine takes orders for the sandwiches and in fact makes them into paper planes that land just below, in the bistro of her future in-laws. Over time, the place becomes the HQ of Catherine and her friends where tarot and poker tournaments are organized on weekends. The son of the house coming back on leave integrates the group. The current passes, the weakling gets stronger. 

In the mid-80s, her first professional internship: the Total group welcomes Catherine who discovers the beginnings of computerized accounting with punch cards. "Not easy with a single PC in the whole department to retrieve the exchange rates every morning", she says. Catherine then spends five years in a consulting firm. She connects all the bases of her profession and absorbs impressive schedules. "By giving so much of myself I realized that I only worked out of passion. I understood that for me, investing myself 200% was the only way forward. Later, it became my first criterion when I had to take determinant professional paths", she realizes. But then, the desire to have children arises.

At the same time, the relationship with her manager deteriorates. Catherine asks herself lots of questions. She leaves the consulting office and plunges into the deep end of business. The Aquaboulevard de Paris allows her during ten years to evolve in all positions of the group's accounting department. Very proud of her family, Catherine considers that it is the best defense against adversity. Her husband, a restaurateur, has always supported and encouraged her. He is, in her eyes, the one who allowed her to be where she is now. Faithful in her friendships and commitments, Catherine is the fulfilled mother of Claire and Nicolas. On the career side, she joined the Editions de La Martinière as head of accounting. She will be twelve years there. Known for saying loud and clear when something’s not working out, Catherine hints that it is time to switch to an ERP more suited to the realities of the company. General management endorses her proposal. A call for tenders between Microsoft ERP and SAP is launched. AX is selected, Catherine becomes the ERP project leader. 

A major project in terms of management of change for which the greatest vigilance is required. She remembers: "It was a real challenge for me, I was leaving my position as head accountant for something brand new. The Finance Director convinces me that this project was going to give me the means to achieve what I wanted. As I like challenges, I accepted. And I had the support of my husband…" Three first difficult months on an unknown subject. Self-questioning. Starting from nothing... Three months of suffering, but no question of giving up. Catherine holds on and is passionate about the consulting profession with the luck to exercise it in-house. In the end, the project was a great success, still stable these days.

It is at this moment when the IT department calls on external participants. And the first independent consultant to come by was Jérôme. "With a thorough mastery of ERP and passionate about the profession, he brought real added value to the project", underlines Catherine. "In terms of computing thought process, he is between 5 and 10 years ahead of us. Today, he coaches us at FiveForty°, Alex and I sometimes have a bit of a hard time. Only Jonathan manages to keep up with him", laughs Catherine. If the La Martinière project is firing on all cylinders, for Catherine things are purring. She wants to improve her competences but she is refused further training. Her decision is taken. CIO, CFO, HR all try to retain her. In vain. She leaves after twelve years. A former colleague then speaks to her about Flexmind, founded by Jérôme who welcomes her with open arms... on a complicated file. A baptism by fire if there ever was one, but on which she meets a certain Jonathan, doing an internship at the time. He's not even 24 yet. Working side by side, they quickly understand each other and stand together in the face of a temperamental client who often oversteps the bounds of what is acceptable.

More than solid links are forged between the two future partners. "To cheer up, we met together in the evening, we went out quite a bit. You had to change your mindset to hold on to the shock. And we held on because even after sleepless nights we were on the war footing in the morning at the customer's place, ready to move forward. We often played good cops - bad cops in alternation to defend the team", says Catherine. "I discovered the qualities of Jonathan, an incredible empathy for a person his age, his liveliness and a bluffing situational intelligence", says Catherine. With this difficult experience, Catherine and Jonathan become inseparable. 

When Jonathan decides to take off, it's a big blow for Catherine. "At this point, Flexmind no longer suited me. A new adventure was on the horizon. It still had to be written", she underlines. Convinced by the FiveForty° project, she joins Jonathan. Each one quickly takes on assignments. The new Microsoft Solutions consulting firm takes off. When she reminisces on her journey, Catherine notices that it is made up of challenges and dares. The most recent: COVID. "We went through something completely new, but our ability to talk, to share, to decide, added to the superb proofs of attachment of the employees, gives me the certainty that the team has not finished impressing me." °