Pierre-Emmanuel Pavageau, who took over as head of marine at ICOM France - PST in early 2021, was present at the Cannes Yachting Festival for his first boat show in this position. We took the opportunity to talk to him about his career path and his roadmap for the company.
What was your career path before becoming the director of ICOM France?
I started in the marine electronics industry at NKE as a salesman, which means that I know the ICOM team well because we often had a joint stand. Then I took over the Chantier Naval de La Vilaine in La Roche-Bernard. In parallel, I sailed a lot. I participated in the Transat AG2R en Figaro in 2006 as an amateur. I then sold the shipyard and managed a barge rental company. I had planned a family trip on a sailboat. Indeed, I fell into it very young, I celebrated my 7th birthday in the Canaries with my parents and I wanted to do it again with my children. Unfortunately, the coronavirus arrived and we preferred to postpone the trip. That's when I spoke with Thierry Barthes who proposed me to take over the commercial management of ICOM France for the Navy.
How do you feel about your return to the marine electronics industry and to ICOM France?
It's quite easy because many of the people I talk to are friends. I already know the resellers like TEEM, Rom Arrangé or Pochon. It's easier for everyone. I'm also happy to be back in the BtoB business after the shipyard, which is more direct for boaters.
What's interesting about ICOM France is the variety. There are 60 of us and it's not just the Navy. We also work for the UN or Carrefour for radios. We are able to exchange ideas with the Japanese to develop our products, as was the case for the new MR 1010R2 radar. We have succeeded in adapting a product for Europe that is attractive in terms of price.
We are also involved sailors. We sail on different types of boats in racing and pleasure boating. This gives us the ability to develop our products.
What is your development roadmap?
There is already a phenomenal amount of work that has been done. We come onto boats with the VHF ICOM, but today with the rest of PST (Koden, Maretron, Actisense, Thrane, Promarine and Wamblee), we are able to equip a boat with electronics from A to Z, with sensors, interfaces, cables... As well for pleasure boats as for military or professional boats. The objective is to try to make more and more complete boats!
