One definition of a Powerlist leaders is the their ability to attract star talent. François Dossa, head of Alliance Ventures, with its deputy head, Matthieu de Chanville, formerly a senior executive at consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, has shown just that.
At the start of the year they hired Christian Noske who joined the $1bn corporate venturing fund then recently formed by automotive alliance Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.
Noske has been appointed managing director of Alliance Ventures, which will get 40% of its capitalisation from each of Renault and Nissan, while Mitsubishi will supply the other 20%.
Alliance Ventures hired Noske from BMW i Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit of the eponymous Germany-based car maker, where he was a partner.
Noske was a GCV Rising Stars winner in 2016 and 2017 following a promotion in 2015 to investment principal at BMW i Ventures and a further promotion to partner. His deals at the unit included investments in carpooling service Scoop and automotive media platform Rever.
Alliance’s first deals include US-based solid-state battery technology developer Ionic Materials, which in February raised $65m in a series C round.
Dossa has had a long history of leadership and is the holder of France’s prestigious award, the Légion d’Honneur. He was chief executive of Nissan Brazil from 2012 until last year. Under his stewardship, he said Nissan do Brazil experienced significant growth in market share, introduced eight new models, including the critically acclaimed Kicks model, and opened a new manufacturing plant in Resende, Rio.
Prior to joining Nissan, Dossa held various leadership positions over 24 years in the investment banking industry, split between Europe and Latin America. He served for 11 years as CEO of Société Générale Brazil where he was responsible for the development of its investment and retail bank activities in the Brazilian and Latin American markets. Before moving to Brazil, he served for two years as director at Société Générale in Paris.