Hervé Lefèvre graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud in Physics and was awarded a Doctorate in Optics-Photonics from the University of Paris-Orsay (France) in 1979. His doctorate research was performed at Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF) Central Research Laboratory and his thesis subject was pioneering work on fiber-optic gyroscopes. From 1980 to 1982, he was a post-doctoral research associate at Stanford University in California, continuing R&D on fiber-optic gyroscopes. In 1982, he came back to Thales Central Research Lab and became head of the fiber-optic sensor team. In 1987, he joined Photonetics, then a start-up, and became director of R&D. In addition to fiber-optic sensors and gyroscopes, the company developed a very successful line of test instruments for optical fiber communications. As the company grew, he moved to the position of Chief Operating Officer in 1999. At the end of 2000, Photonetics was acquired by the Danish group Nettest while its fiber-gyro activity was spun out to create iXSea. Hervé remained in Nettest and managed its Photonics Division. In 2004, he moved to iXCore, the parent company of iXSea, as vice president for R&D with a specific involvement in iXSea’s activity, and became Chief Scientific Officer of iXBlue at its creation in 2010. Hervéwas also president of the European Optical Society for the 2010-2012 period.