Alain Etchegoyen (November 6, 1951, Lille – April 9 2007, Le Mans), was a philosopher and novelist. He was the last Plan Commissionner before that Commission was abrogated. He wrote some twenty books, essays and novels.
A former student of the École Normale Supérieure, he was a professor in classes prépas at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and in a professional lycée in Hauts-de-Seine.
Etchegoyen started his career (1979–1982) in CNRS, then went to the Industry and Research Ministry (1982–1984), before working in the Plan Commission (1984–1985).
In 1985, Etchegoyen founded the Association de l'édition du Corpus des textes philosophiques de langue française. In the middle of the 1980s he created a consulting company, with Michelin among its customers. At the end of the 1980s he led the takeover of the faience maker Géo Martel. In the middle of the 90s he becomes administrator of Usinor-Sacilor (now part of Arcelor).
In his book Votre devoir est de vous taire (2005), written after the abrogation of the Plan Commission which he was leading, Etchegoyen had written a few pages about Ségolène Royal. He was writing among other things about his difficult relationship with the socialist presidential candidate, when she was an advisor to Minister of Education Claude Allègre.
He found his experience working with Ségolène Royal disappointing. He drew a portrait of Royal as a character "obsessed with image issues", and outlined how difficult it was to work with her, "I have always had trouble having an in depth discussion with Ségolène Royal, who only thought of scoring points."