The French Luxury expedition cruise line Ponant has named Herve Gastinel, the former head of building materials and pleasure craft companies, as its next CEO.
Gastinel will replace outgoing CEO Jean Emmanuel Sauvee, effective March 29, the company said in a press release.
In the release, Francois Pinault, founder and manager of Ponant parent Artemis, described Gastinel as a "true sailing enthusiast, who has all the skills to transform this wonderful company and facilitate the resumption of operations."
"After a difficult year, the next months will be decisive in accelerating Ponant's development for the coming financial years," Pinault added.
The company described Gastinel as "a true enthusiast of the sea and ships, having grown up near the sea with his mother, a philosophy teacher, and father, who was a shipbuilding engineer."
A former officer-cadet and watch captain, he currently owns a yacht well-known on the regatta circuit and is an experienced deep-sea sailor, the release said.
Prior to joining Ponant, Gastinel served as CEO at Beneteau group, a world leader in pleasure craft, between 2015 and 2019.
For 15 years before that he was CEO of the building materials company Terreal, which has 25 manufacturing sites around the world.