The team

© Natacha Nisic

A historian and emeritus research director at the CNRS, he is the chair of the GIP’s general assembly. He has taught in France and the United States, and has served as a scientific adviser to numerous museums: the Caen Memorial, the Maison d’Izieu, the Shoah Memorial, the Oradour Memorial Centre, the Buchenwald Memorial and the Gdańsk Museum of the Second World War. His work focuses on the Occupation and Nazism, the memory of traumatic events and the epistemology of contemporary history. He chaired the first preparatory mission from February 2019.

© GIP MMT

A magistrate, she is the Director-General of the GIP. She held judicial posts at the Rouen Court of Appeal as an investigating judge, a judge responsible for the enforcement of sentences, and subsequently as Deputy Public Prosecutor and Advocate General. She has held a variety of international posts (Liaison Magistrate in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). She has also served as an adviser to two Ministers of Justice. She established and headed the agency for the management and recovery of seized and confiscated assets and served as Interministerial Delegate for Victim Support (2017–2020), during which time she chaired the Memorial Committee (2018) and set up the first preparatory task force (2019).

Nathalie OKITO

Administrative and Financial Director

Coming soon

Claire SECAIL

Scientific Adviser

A media historian, she is a CNRS research fellow (CERLIS, UMR 8070). She is co-editor of the history journal Le Temps des médias. She has published Le crime à l’écran. Le fait divers criminel à la télévision française, 1950–2010 (Nouveau Monde Édition, 2010), based on her thesis in contemporary history (INA Prize 2007, Gabriel Tarde Prize 2008). She co-edited, with Pierre Lefébure, Le Défi Charlie. Les médias à l’épreuve des attentats (Lemieux éditeur, 2016); and, with Gilles Ferragu and Maëlle Bazin, the issue entitled ‘L’attentat, du tyrannicide au terrorisme’ of *Le Temps des médias* (no. 32, 2019).

Pauline PICCO

Scientific Adviser

An associate professor and holder of a PhD in contemporary history, Pauline Picco has researched European far-right networks since 1945 and is the author of the book *Liaisons dangereuses. The Far Right in France and Italy (1960–1984)*. A specialist in political violence, in 2019 she co-edited, alongside Charlotte Moge and Guido Panvini, an issue of the journal *Laboratoire italien* (ENS) entitled “Without resorting to violence: Italian society in the face of terrorism and the mafia” and served as an analyst at the Paris Court of Appeal (2020–2025). Since March 2025, she has been a Research Associate at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University.

Gaspard PINEL

Chief of Staff

Following a work-study placement at the Arab World Institute and a year spent at the Ministry of Culture working in Rima Abdul Malak’s office, he joined the GIP-MMT as Chief of Staff. His role is to assist the Director-General in all her duties. With a degree in international relations and a background in literature, he intends to draw on his varied experience within cultural institutions to promote the MMT’s influence, both in France and abroad. He currently serves as acting Head of Communications.

Yann LE BOUDER

Project Officer

A graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in History from Paris 1, followed by a Master’s degree in the History of Heritage and Architecture from Paris Cité, his final dissertation, ‘War memorials on Réunion Island: between art and memory’, explores the social and cultural issues surrounding the creation of a commemorative monument. Having been actively involved in voluntary work during his two-year Master’s programme as communications manager, he joined the preparatory team, initially as an intern with the management team, before becoming a project officer within the MMT.

Lancelot ARZEL

Head of the Educational Division

A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, a qualified history teacher and holder of a PhD in contemporary history, Lancelot Arzel is in charge of the Educational Division within the Gip-MMT. For the past fifteen years, he has pursued a career as a teacher in secondary schools and at university, whilst conducting research into colonial violence and its legacies. In 2023, he was appointed a member of the Franco-Cameroonian Commission tasked with investigating France’s role during the Cameroon War (1945–1971), whose report led to the official recognition of this conflict in the summer of 2025. Committed to addressing socially sensitive issues, he aims to contribute to the development of educational tools and programmes within the MMT, so that school pupils and their teachers can understand the reality of terrorism, its consequences for our contemporary societies and the voices of the victims.

Elodie Cuerq

Head of Communications

A graduate in political science and public law, Elodie Cuerq joined the MMT team in early 2026 as Head of Communications. Convinced that institutional communication is a key tool for promoting public action and strengthening the link between institutions and citizens, she has worked within several public bodies, including a parliamentary assembly, a ministerial office, an independent administrative authority and several central government departments.

Julia Devilliers

Head of Sponsorship and Partnerships

Trained as a history and geography teacher, she began her career in education before turning to entrepreneurship. She founded two public relations and events agencies operating across China, the United Arab Emirates and France. With over fifteen years’ international experience, she has developed expertise in fundraising, institutional representation and the development of strategic partnerships in demanding intercultural environments. Now Head of Sponsorship and Partnerships, she designs and oversees the funding and collaboration strategy, both in France and internationally, to promote the MMT’s influence and ensure its long-term sustainability.

Clotilde BIZOT – ESPIARD

Project Manager

A graduate of the École du Louvre and holder of a qualification in project management from Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Clotilde Bizot-Espiard specialises in the design and implementation of complex cultural and museum projects. She initially worked on various types of cultural projects within institutions in the Paris region (in communications, cultural outreach, cultural programming and exhibitions), before joining the project to redesign the Verdun Memorial in 2015 as part of the centenary commemorations of the First World War. She initially helped oversee the collections project for the new museography of the permanent exhibition, then set up the cultural development and communications department, where she was notably in charge of temporary exhibitions. Now a project manager within the MMT’s preliminary planning team, she is involved in developing the permanent exhibition and coordinates its implementation.

Emma LAVERDURE

Exhibition Officer

Having completed a Bachelor’s degree in History and a research-based Master’s in the History of Heritage and Museums at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Emma continued her studies by enrolling on the Master’s in Museography and Exhibition Design at the University of Artois. For two years, she specialised in the design of exhibition projects and, in March 2025, co-curated the exhibition Guerre en jeux at the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne. At the same time, she joined the team at the Institut Pasteur Museum in 2024 as a trainee museographer, contributing to the development of the future permanent exhibition. Building on this experience, she now holds the post of exhibition coordinator for the MMT’s preliminary planning phase, where she is involved in designing the permanent exhibition for the future museum.

Claire LARTIGUE

Collections Officer

After completing a Bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Toulouse II–Jean Jaurès, she undertook a foundation course at the École du Louvre, followed by a Master’s 1 in Museology with a specialisation in heritage and museum administration and management. During her second-year Master’s degree in collection management and preventive conservation at the École du Louvre, she undertook her end-of-course placement within the collections department of the GIP-MMT and wrote a dissertation on the heritage status of court seals. Following a role as an exhibition designer at a project management consultancy, she is now the collections manager, responsible for the physical, administrative and logistical management of the collections, as well as the management of temporary exhibitions and the promotion of the collections.

Data Protection Officer

Coming soon.

Julie COSTIL

IT Specialist

IT Research Engineer at the École Normale Supérieure since 2008, currently on leave of absence. Julie is in charge of the IT department at GIP MMT. She has several years’ experience within the Capgemini Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Science, specialising in Systems, Network Administration and IT, from Pierre and Marie Curie University.

Other bodies of the GIP-MMT

• The General Assembly
• The Scientific and Cultural Council
• The Guidance Observatory