Katayoune Panahi

A qualified Chief Engineer of Bridges, Water and Forests, Katayoune Panahi began her career in 1996 at the French Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport. From 1998 to 2002, she served in the infrastructure office of the département of Yvelines, where she helped transfer planning and development assets from national to local level for Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, a new town on the outskirts of Paris. In 2002, she moved to the planning and development office for the département of Hauts-de-Seine, where she handled studies and major highway works.

In 2006 she joined the Secretariat-General of France’s Ministry for the Environment, Energy, Sustainable Development and Regional Development, where she was responsible for structural change to the unit’s services following a merger of the ministries for energy, infrastructure, and the environment.

In December 2008, during the financial crisis, she moved to the office of the minister overseeing rollout of France’s economic recovery plan. There she served as an advisor on transport, civilian and defence infrastructures, and took the lead on financing transport infrastructure operations and upgrades to rolling stock at SNCF and RATP, the mass transit authority for Paris.

In 2010 Ms Panahi became CEO of Defacto (later “Paris La Défense”), the newly created state-run agency tasked with enhancing the appeal and international reputation of the La Défense district west of Paris—Europe’s leading business complex. She helped organize its fast-growing operations and expand its resources. Later, Ms Panahi oversaw Defacto’s merger with Epadesa, the agency responsible for the district’s development, completing decentralization of the unit and giving it a sustainable business model. This allowed the unit to pursue a bold strategy of transforming La Défense through innovative real estate deals.

In October 2013, she was named CEO of Services for the Hauts-de-Seine departmental council, with 5,000 employees and an annual budget of €1.8 billion. There she spearheaded a strategy to increase the département’s appeal through core investments, such as the Seine Musicale public-private partnership; deployment of a very high-speed fibre network; development on the banks of the Seine River; the T2, T6 and T10 light rail projects; athletic facilities for the 2024 Olympics; and the future Grand Siècle Museum. Ms Panahi also launched an ambitious policy to benefit local youth and make culture accessible to all, and kick-started efforts to upgrade public services to better meet the needs of users, especially the most vulnerable. These included digitalizing aid application processes and setting up resources for community access to social services in Hauts-de-Seine.

On 1 February 2021, Ms Panahi joined SNCF Group’s executive committee as Director of Real Estate. She is also non-executive chairman of the real estate division’s 3 subsidiaries—ICF Habitat, Société nationale des Espaces ferroviaires, and S2FIT.