Laurent Allard is Head of Sovereign Cloud, VMware EMEA. Based in Lille, France, Laurent is an expert in creating clouds that comply with national data residency and are in line with data sovereignty requirements. With a forensic knowledge of jurisdictional controls, Laurent assists customers in ensuring that their data is subject only to the authority of the nation state or international federation where their data is collected and resides, helping them to navigate frequently changing data privacy laws. With over 35 years IT experience, Laurent has previously held various positions at the head of large technology groups, as CEO and vice-president of OVH, co-founder of AXA Tech, Senior advisor at Partech Partners, Chairman Open Cloud Foundation, Group CTO at CGI, and finally Group CIO and CTO at Logica and AXA.