Born in France, Michel Canet is a civil engineer from Ecole Speciale des Travaux Publics in Paris. I have then passed a Masters on Construction and Environment in the Centre des Hautes Etudes de la Construction in 1975.
After a few years as design engineer in the a French Subsidiary of the Bouygues Group, Michel expatriated to perform construction activities:
- In Africa - for four years - to construct facilities for the oil industry ;
- In the Middle East - for three years - to construct infrastructures ;
- In South Africa - for eight years - as a manager of a subsidiary of the french construction company: Spie Batignolles. During this period, I have been involved on projects related to water and infrastructure sectors.
He joined Veolia Water Group nine years ago and is presently Executive Vice-President of Major Projects Group within Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, a subsidiary of Veolia Water.
Responsibilities have allowed him to be directly involved in the development of large desalination projects and water reuse projects in Australia, Middle East and Asia.
Moreover, being responsible of the realization of these projects, and be aware of their problems and satisfactions during their engineering and construction phases.
As an additional activity Michel is a Councellor of Foreign Trade for France. As a member of IDA has co-chaired a session in the IDA World Congress 2005 in Singapore.
"I am candidate in the IDA's Director election because in one hand I am part of the largest private water company in the world, committed to provide water and treat water all around the globe and as such I take advantage of a very large exposure which allows me to know the specificities and problematics of many countries and, in the other hand, I wish to allocate some of my time to transfer to IDA Members the know-how acquired in the desalination and reuse activities, in particular vis a vis :
- The assistance of defining the adequate project plan to the need of the country;
- Transfer technology experience acquired in large desalination and reuse projects."
Email:
michel.canet@veoliawater.com 
