Jerome explains that his father began working with the company at 22-years-old. As the Istres military base was close to his hometown in France, Francisco and other family members took advantage of the need for manual laborers. Francisco’s father was a political refugee, who came to France to escape Franco’s authoritarian regime in Spain and the family worked hard to begin a new life in their adopted land.
“My dad went to get a technical degree at the age of 16 as a boilermaker plotter (traceur chaudronnier). He also started working on his parents’ house when he was 16 with his late brother. and by 17, he was working full-time at a boat company. In one lifetime he went from nothing to sending three kids to college and onto successful, academic lives.”
In fact, it seems Francisco Prunera-Usach, who turns 69-years- old this year, is unable to stop working: In 2010, Prunera-Usach retired from Dassault Aviation only to take the reins as supervisor of Dassault Aircraft Service in Wilmington, Delaware two years later. Since his second retirement, Prunera-Usach has stayed busy revamping his home in France and helping his son Jerome renovate his new home in Little Rock, while tending to his newest grandchild, Victor. With his brood now spread out over the United States and Europe, he plans a vacation abroad with the entire family every other year.
Prunera-Usach’s life is predicated on proving loyalty to family, company and project, and he says he has tried to sow that same sense of pride while mentoring others in the Dassault family. Francisco says he jumped at the chance to broaden his career path and tap into new proficiencies. He says he eagerly accepted the opportunity to work in the United States, and fondly recalls how supportive his wife Martine and their children were when he accepted the relocation.
“I loved the idea of working in the U.S.,” Prunera-Usach recalls. I loved the open spaces and the National Parks. I said, ‘We’ll go!’” Prunera-Usach made his first tour of the U.S. in 1976, on a sales trip to the [commercial] airliners and McDonnell Douglas. When he was approached to take on new training responsibilities in the late 90s, he knew his time in the U.S. was destined to become more permanent.
Yet for all his preparation and gusto, Prunera-Usach remembers the professional culture shock he experienced when collaborating and mentoring with his new American colleagues.
“The American workers were more “results-oriented” rather than “reflection-oriented. In France we think about how we begin and we ‘feel’ the work. Even the guy on the bottom will try to understand the whole process,” Prunera-Usach says. “Here I learned that I needed to explain the ‘why’ for the worker to explore the progression.”
LONGEVITY THROUGH SATISFACTION
Prunera-Usach says that this hybrid of cultural approaches is one of the reasons Dassault Falcon remains a strong force in business aviation. His time with the company has offered him the opportunity to display Dassault’s robust expertise and capability. It is the reason why Francisco Prunera-Usach has the upmost confidence in the viability of the Dassault Falcon brand.
“We always have one aircraft in the drawer, so to speak,” Prunera- Usach says. “ We can have highs and lows, but you will see that there is always a way in front of you. When there is a common joy in the work, there is always a future.”
Jerome says, as a young boy, he only knew that his father’s work seemed exciting. He reminisces about the pins his dad would bring him from his travels with Dassault and says many of his brightest memories included the annual Christmas circus and vacations with other families from Dassault. It was not until Jerome moved to the United States and began high school that he started to understand his father’s professional trajectory in flight safety.
“My father wore many hats…and was a part of the first transfer of expats to Little Rock. They were pioneers in what was to happen later on in the company, Jerome Prunera-Usach says. “ I also tried many different disciplines, but when I interned at Dassault, something clicked, and I wanted to push forward, to be hired, to always feel the way I felt in that first internship.
Jerome says the “feel” of the Dassault company is unique and is the driving force in the creation of their Dassault family. Dassault is open to creating opportunities for young people and offering room for exploring future career goals, he says.
“I was passionate about computer science. It is where I started, but it is only through reworking that plan that I landed where I am now,” Jerome says. “My greatest inspiration is my dad. He taught me to be a good, fair and honest. He is a kind of person that always pushes forward and doesn’t say no. He welcomes and encourages ideas from others, guiding you to your own thought- process. I truly have my father to thank for my drive to always push the boundaries and my critical thinking.”
The elder Prunera-Usach says he considers himself a lucky man having lived out his professional calling in a company that truly cares about its employees and their families. He says he has not “watched his life go by,” in the company but has happily lived out his dreams in this family.
“When you go to work—for everyone it is the same. You do not want to feel like you need to serve out eight more hours of time in this facility. You want to feel that you are doing good, and thatyou are shaping people’s minds to do good.,” Francisco says. “The family extends. We have the private family, in the home, but the bigger family extends outside the home.” For the Prunera-Usachs, the two are inextricably one.
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