Florence Parly

Florence Parly (born May 8, 1963) is a French politician, who is serving as Minister of the Armed Forces in the Second Philippe Government, under President Emmanuel Macron.

Early career
Parly served as junior budget minister in the Socialist government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin between 2000 and 2002.

Parly worked at Air France as deputy general director, before moving to become director-general of SNCF Voyageurs until 2017. She also served on the boards of French companies Altran, Ingenico and Zodiac Aerospace.

Minister of the Armed Forces
Parly was named Minister of the Armed Forces on 21 June 2017 after Sylvie Goulard was forced to resign due to investigation of her party. Following the nomination, she resigned from all her board positions; and her husband Martin Vial withdrew from his position on the board of Thales Group.

Shortly after taking office, Parly ordered an investigation into allegations brought forward by the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé according to which the acting head of the French Air Force allegedly borrowed a Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet at weekends to fly from his base in Bordeaux to his home in Provence.