He is Vice-Chairman of the Conseil général de l'armement[6] (General Council of Armament) chaired by the Minister of Defence.

1984 : Head of materials and processes research programmes 1987 : Deputy director of Quality 1989 : Vice President for Quality (+ Chairman of Quality board at GIFAS) 1993 : Head of Snecma Design Department 1994 : Deputy Director of Engineering 1995 : Director of CFM56 programmes 1996 : Vice President of CFM International 1996 : Vice President for Engineering at Snecma 1999 : Head of the Rocket Engine Division (Société européenne de propulsion) 2002 : CEO of Snecma Moteurs 2004 : Executive Vice President of the Snecma Group (Aerospace propulsion Branch) 2007 : Chairman of the board of directors of Safran 2007 : Chairman of the French Aerospace Industries Association GIFAS 2010 : Vice Chairman of the Conseil général de l'armement[7] April 2011 : CEO and Chairman of the Board of Safran[8] 5 July 2012 : reelected Chairman of the GIFAS[9] On 9 June 2011, a few days before the Paris Air Show, Jean-Paul Herteman was interviewed (in French) by the French radio broadcast Europe 1.

[10] In the 9 minute interview, Jean-Paul Herteman described his views about feminisation at Safran, its international expansion (US, Italy, China) and its new LEAP engine design.

In this interview, Jean-Paul Herteman gives a description of the new board of directors[11] resulting from the structure change of the company.

This structure is now smaller (15 instead of 27 before), with 5 women, Francis Mer as vice President, the French American Chairman of Caltech Jean-Lou Chameau, and Giovanni Bisignani, former Head of IATA and of Alitalia.