Press Briefing: New Sailboat Models 2021

Gianguido Girotti is Groupe Beneteau's Deputy CEO and Chief Executive Officer of its Boat division. 

Previously, he was Deputy CEO in charge of brand & product strategy for the Group's Boat division. From 2017 to 2019, he was General Manager of the BENETEAU brand. 

A naval architecture graduate from the University of Southampton (UK), Gianguido Girotti joined the Beneteau brand as Marketing Director for sailboats in May 2015, after first working with naval architect German Frers and then Cantiere del Pardo (Grand Soleil and Dufour). He was appointed Marketing Director for both sail and powerboats for the Beneteau brand in April 2017. 

Paul Blanc is in charge of developing Boat clubs and new businesses within the Boating Solutions division, headed by Bruno Thivoyon since the September 1, 2023.

Paul Blanc was JEANNEAU Brand Director since April 1st, 2020.

Graduated from French business school ESSCA, Paul Blanc moved to China in 2001 to study Mandarin. After a career start in Beijing in the automotive sector, he decided to combine his passion for boating with his job and joined the Jeanneau and Prestige teams in 2010 as Sales Director for Asia Pacific. Initially based in Shanghai, he established in 2011 the Jeanneau Prestige regional office in Hong Kong and in 2018 was appointed Managing Director of Groupe Beneteau Asia Pacific office in Hong Kong where all brand teams are gathered.

The management of all the Brands and Communication of the Groupe Beneteau was entrusted to Yann Masselot in July 2022.

Yann Masselot joined the Beneteau boatyard in 1992 and worked in sales in the UK then France.

In 2000, he was appointed to head up commercial operations for LAGOON and enabling the brand to establish itself as the world leader for catamaran cruisers from 2003. He had been appointed CEO of Construction Navale Bordeaux between 2018 and 2020.

He had taken over the management of the BENETEAU brand in October 2020. 

Yann Masselot is a graduate of the European Institute of Business in Paris and holds an MBA from Audencia Business School in Nantes.

Thibaut de Montvalon is EXCESS Brand Director since January 1st, 2020.

In 2012, he joined Groupe Beneteau’s Asia Pacific office in Shanghai, as Regional Sales Manager for the brands Beneteau, Lagoon and Monte Carlo Yachts. In 2016, he was appointed Asia Pacific Director for these brands. After sailing for 6 months in the South Pacific with his family on board a Lagoon 380 catamaran, he joined Construction Navale Bordeaux as EMEA Catamarans Sales Director in January 2019.

Graduated from the French Institut Nautique de Bretagne (INB) and EDC business school, Thibaut has set since more than 20 years to combine his passion for boating with his professional life. He started his career in the yacht charter industry, with Sunsail and The Moorings, based in Portsmouth (UK) and then Tampa (FL, USA) where he was Purchasing and Logistics Director until 2008. He then joined Peters & May, specialized in yacht transportation, where he founded and ran Peters & May France in 2008 and Peters & May Asia in 2010 based in Hong Kong.