ENAC Alumni is a nonprofit organization, alumni association created in 1987, and registered in Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées. Its founding President was Robert Aladenyse. The main missions of the association are to bring together the alumni of ENAC, to support the alumni community worldwide, and to contribute to the development of École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile. ENAC is the first European Graduate School in the fields of aeronautics and aviation. As of April 2020, it has over 25,000 alumni which make the association the largest in France for aviation programs.
History
The École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile was founded in 1949 in Orly, France. Its initial purpose was to educate the future public workers of the Directorate General for Civil Aviation. At the beginning of the 1970s, the university started the recruitment of students for the aerospace industry, outside of its original pool of future DGAC employees. The number of so-called "civilian" students steadily grew in the 1980s. Robert Aladenyse decided in 1987 to create a nonprofit organization for the aviation engineers alumni. This association was then called IngENAC. In the 2000s, the development of the Master's degree and Mastères Spécialisés programs led IngENAC to expand its membership to these new alumnus. On January 1, 2010, ENAC merged with the SEFA and became the largest aeronautical university in Europe. These major changes in the profile of ENAC and its alumni population were an impetus for a deeper redevelopment of IngENAC into a broader alumni association reflecting the new ambitions of the university and the diversity of its community. In 2012, IngENAC changed name and became known as ENAC Alumni. The newly rebranded association is now the alumni association of all graduates of ENAC, whatever their degree. This includes the Aeronautical operations technicians, the Techniciens supérieur de l'aviation, the Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnels and the Ingénieurs des études et de l'exploitation de l'aviation civile. The new status became effective in March 2012. In February 2019, ENAC Alumni held the first edition of The State of the Air which is a conference featuring a series of round tables and master classes with a panel of aviation leaders. The 2019 edition was hosted by the French DGAC. In addition of several volunteers serving as members of the Board, executives of the association, chairs of the chapters and think tanks, and project managers, the staff of the association is led by Gwénaëlle Le Mouël-Keller, full-time Communications and Network Manager. ENAC Alumni has published ENAC Alumni Magazine since 2014. This publication is the successor of the Transpondeur of IngENAC. ENAC Alumni is a member of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles that represents the colleges of engineering in France.
Missions
The actions and policies of ENAC Alumni intend to achieve the following goals:
To create and maintain friendship among all alumni of the Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile;
To defend the ENAC degrees and promote them abroad;
To promote the brand and programs of ENAC;
To support ENAC in its missions;
To serve the alumni community and provide support and assistance to members in need.
In order to achieve these missions, ENAC Alumni participates in celebrations such as ENAC's graduation ceremonies, provides speakers to ENAC, creates local chapters and think tanks, contributes to the promotion of aviation careers, and holds events such as The State of the Air. ENAC Alumni is also responsible for keeping up to date the registry of the alumni of ENAC.
National and regional chapters
ENAC Alumni has several chapters around the world bringing together alumni locally and serving their community with specific actions. Today, these chapters are groups within the association rather than separate non-for-profit:
The U.S. chapter of ENAC Alumni was founded in December 2018. It has over 100 members across the United States. Its programs include developing the membership, mentoring students and young professionals, promoting diversity and inclusion, and strengthening the relationship with U.S. universities. It has ongoing task forces on the U.S. licenses & certifications and the professional organizations. The chapter has also an emergency information and mutual aid coordination initiative that was launched at the occasion of Hurricane Dorian and was activated again during the COVID-19 crisis.
Aviation think tanks
ENAC Alumni has professional think tanks conducting research projects and holding round tables aiming to advancing aviation and space in various domains:
The Airport Think Tank is chaired by Gaël Le Bris. With over 100 members, it is one of the largest think tank of ENAC Alumni. This think tank is currently conducting a research project on the long-term future of the airport industry: The Future of Airports — a Vision of 2040 and 2070. This project involves an industry panel of about 20 thought aviation leaders worldwide. The deliverable of this project was released in April 2020. The think tank has also a COVID-19 Task Force working on guidance to airports.
Industrial and institutional partners
According to the website of ENAC Alumni, the key partners of the association are the following:
Also, ENAC Alumni supports various student initiatives such as the annual air show Airexpo organized jointly with the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace community. The association is a partner of the Aeronautical literary festival.
Executives and Board members
ENAC Alumni is administered by volunteer members, working in close collaboration with the school administration and third party organizations.
Marc Houalla, ENAC Alumni President since March 2018
