His father was a mechanic, his mother a housekeeper in the Orne. Michel Guisembert became miller. Before taking on major responsibilities that led him to the chairmanship of the French Olympics Committee, the world's largest business competition. The national finals, held from November 29 to December 1 in Caen, are expected to attract 70,000 visitors.
1951: birth in Mortagne-au-Perche (Orne). Son of a mechanic and a maid, he spent a CAP general mechanics at the orphanage of Giel, then joined the Companions of duty.
1973 - 1997: he enters Rassant (lifting equipment), in Chartres. He becomes executive manager.
1989 - 2013 : National elected to the Companions of Duty, then Secretary General and National President.
2003 - 2011: general director of a reintegration association in the Paris region.
Since 2012: President of the French Organizing Committee of the Olympiades des métiers.
700 candidates competing for three days, 70,000 people expected, 70,000 m² dedicated to the competition. A budget of 9 million euros. The numbers of the national finals of the Olympiades des métiers are dizzying.
At the end of the competition, which will take place in Caen from November 29 to December 1, 2018, will be constituted the team of France. A party will compete in Kazan, Russia, next summer. Created in 1950, the Worldskills (the international name of the Olympiads) is the largest trades competition in the world.
Graduate "bac less 5"
A few days before the national finals, in his office of a large Parisian building, Michel Guisembert, the president of the French committee, displays the serenity of the experienced man.
Born in the Orne, graduated "bac less 5", the apprentice mechanic has early sharpened the tools with which he has built a career out of the ordinary, in his image, with competence and humanity.
Son of a mechanic from Mortagne-au-Perche and a housekeeper, he had, as a child, "a lot of pleasure" to go and see his dad working in his studio at night. The father dreams of better for his son: the family has few means, Michel Guisembert shares in general mechanics at the Salesian priests of Giel. "It sounded good, general mechanics , " he says.
For weeks, he wears his hands to push the file. "I wanted to touch an engine. I interviewed my shop chef. He replied, "Never! General mechanics is turning and milling. But what you do is very good. This compliment has been an extraordinary springboard for me. He will not be milling, he will be a good miller.
The priest's phrase still resonates in him today. " Nothing has changed. We all need a guide at some point in his life. Today's kids are what we've done: they need to feel like stars and hear that they do great things. That's what the Olympiades des métiers offer them. "
A job to bounce
Competence and humanity have offered Michel Guisembert opportunities and great responsibilities. In his professional life and in his commitments to the service of young people or the lost.
After an engineering degree, passed at age 52, he went to rub the world of those who remained on the side of the road, becoming director general of a reintegration association in the Paris region: 1,500 people, who had lost everything, first and foremost any prospect of the future. "Salary, housing, health, family, friends ... You know how long it takes to be nothing when you have everything? Seven months. "
He forges a little more the conviction that one is nothing without a job. "When you do not have a job, you do not have the ability to bounce back from the hazards of life. This is his fight. He leads by organizing the Olympiad trades. His way of being "passing a piece of history".