Claire Lebarz

An engineer by training, Claire Lebarz has been building AI and data products for 15 years. She became interested very early on in applying mathematics to societal issues.

During her years in academia, economic empowerment was at the heart of her research. She studied the impact of increasing income and wealth inequalities, with the ambition of moving from analyzing household balance sheets to improving them. She spent the next ten years in San Francisco, developing marketplaces that enable people to better use their assets: their cars (at Turo), their homes (at Airbnb). At Airbnb, the teams also focused heavily on enabling people to make a living from their passion through experiences.

She has now returned to France to be closer to her family and contribute to another disruptive marketplace, Malt, which helps people make the best decisions about their most precious asset: their human capital, their talent and their time. Disruption and innovation often come with a downside, even with the best corporate mission. That's why she loves data-related roles, which make it possible to observe first-hand what's happening and influence the organization.

The ethical use of data and AI is also a major challenge, one that needs more talent to rise to it.