Deroubaix a graduate of France’s Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussees, a civil engineering school.
He began his career as a civil engineer in various departments of the French Transportation Ministry, and was project manager for the Normandy Bridge across the Seine. In 1997, he moved to the upstream segment, where he was vice president, new business & new ventures at Total Gas & Power, then vice president, strategic planning and financial control at Total Exploration & Production. He was appointed vice president, e-Business and e-Procurement in 2000, and in 2002 was elected chairman of the board of trade-ranger, an e-procurement marketplace serving the oil and gas and chemical industry, in Houston.
