Born in 1947, Serge DEGALLAIX holds a master's degree in economics, is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and a former student of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. A career diplomat, he has been posted in Algiers, Yaoundé, Lomé, Tehran, and at the United Nations in New York. In France, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was in charge of the energy/raw materials office at the Directorate of Economic and Financial Affairs, DGA at the General Directorate of Cultural, Scientific and Technical Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Director at the Ministry of Cooperation from 1985 to 1989, he was Administrator of the Central Banks of the Franc zone and at the French Development Agency. Diplomatic and strategic affairs advisor to the Prime Minister from 2002 to 2005, he has served on several occasions as Ambassador, in Dhaka (1989-1992), Hanoi (1996-2001) and Tunis (2005-2009) and as chargé d'affaires in Iran (1978).
He was Associate Professor of International Economics at the Universities of Clermont-Ferrand and Tours for eight years. Founding President and Honorary President of the Association for the International Diffusion of French Actuarial Science (DIAF). He is an honorary member of the French Institute of Actuaries. Administrator of the Foundation for the Study and Research on International Development FERDI.
Elected representative of the commune of Louans from 2023 to 2014. From 2010 to 2022, administrator of SÉSAME University and president of its strategic committee. In Vietnam, he was a director and chairman of the investment committee from 2010 to 2019 of the Vietnamese life insurance company Prévoir Vietnam as well as of the Tunisian Lloyd.
From 2010 to February 2023, he was the Managing Director of the Prospective and Innovation Foundation, a foundation created by René Monory and chaired by JP Raffarin.
Since 2026, he has been the Managing Director of the Tunisia Foundation for Development.
He is the manager or director of several companies including a consulting company (SDCP), Esprit Béguinage, a social and solidarity company that helps with housing for elderly people with modest means, CIBOLA, a consulting and investment company in the green economy, LEGALTECH EURA-AFRIQUE, a company with a mission in digitalization, as well as family real estate companies.