"Montpellier Agglomération area is an exceptional place in the south of France, whether you are an investor or just a visitor. Its dynamic attitude, intense cultural life, fine Mediterranean lifestyle, protected natural environment and business infrastructure are all here waiting for you.
Welcome!"
Georges Frêche
President, Montpellier Agglomération Community
President, Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Council

Gilbert Pastor, Vice-President in charge of Economic Development and Employment
M. Gilbert Pastor was fist elected at the town council of Castries (6,000 inhabitants) when he was 23. Elected vice-mayor from 1989 to 1995, he has been the village's mayor since 2001 and has just been re-elected in March 2008. Vice President of Montpellier Agglomeration, President Delegate to Economic Development and Employment, he has accumulated an extensive knowledge of his land, including people and companies residing on the territory.
As a professional, Gilbert holds a PhD in Life Sciences and currently manages a research lab at sanofi aventis in Montpellier, devoted to identifying newly synthesized molecules in the drug discovery process.

Karine Caner, Director of Economic Development and Employment
Mrs Karine CANER has a PhD in Economic Sciences. Formerly in charge of economic development in Pyrénées Orientales (south of France province, Spanish border), she has been appointed Director of Economic Development and Employment of Montpellier Agglomeration since 2004. She is in charge of companies' set up, business and science parks management, innovation, economic promotion and networking.

Valerie de Saint Vaulry, International Development Manager
Mrs Valerie de Saint Vaulry was a fresh graduate from top-rated HEC School of Management (Paris, France) when she took in charge the creation and development of the North-American subsidiary of a French start up which designed and manufactured retail software solutions for opticians and optometrists. Based in Chicago for 3 years, she flew back to Paris when appointed to International Marketing and Sales, a position in which she managed and developed a portfolio of up to 15 countries. She was then recruited as a consultant in business strategy and territorial development, where she learnt how to support local authorities to carry out their economic and urban planning. When she eventually took over her current position at Montpellier Agglomeration in 2007, she had experienced what it was like to be an entrepreneur developing a business in a foreign country with neither support nor introductions. She has now reconciled her sense of entrepreneurship, her knowledge of public economy and her international experience as she now works at developing international cooperation to facilitate crossed business set up.
Tireless traveler, she has wandered in South East Asia and throughout Europe, volunteered in Cameroon, studied in Budapest (Hungary) and remains endlessly curious of cultures and social organizations.