The French cruise company Ponant Explorations will be managed by Benoît-Etienne Domenget in future. He will take over the CEO position from Hervé Gastinel on November 3.
The current CEO is leaving the company to pursue new professional challenges, according to an official statement. With 25 years of experience in the hospitality, luxury, travel and tourism sectors, Domenget will continue to drive the Group’s international development.
Ponant owner François-Henri Pinault thanked outgoing CEO Gastinel “very much for his tireless commitment to the Group”. Under his leadership, the fleet had grown from 12 to 20 ships. The Ponant Explorations Group had also diversified its activities, in particular by entering river cruises and new formats such as the Spirit of Ponant.
The Ponant Explorations Group combines the brands Ponant Explorations, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Aqua Expeditions and Ponant Yachting. The group is owned by Artémis, the holding company of the Pinault family.
A graduate of HEC Paris, the new CEO Domenget began his career at the Accor Group, where he held various operational positions before being appointed Senior Vice President Development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He later headed Accor’s Swiss subsidiary and managed the low-cost hotel business in the DACH region, where he was responsible for more than one hundred properties. He then joined Michel Reybier Hospitality, a group that owns prestigious hotels, wineries and wellness offerings, before being appointed CEO of Sommet Education (Glion, Les Roches, École Ducasse, Indian School of Hospitality and Invictus Education) in 2017.
Artémis was founded in 1992 by François Pinault and is the investment company of the Pinault family. It is the majority shareholder of the luxury group Kering and also owns Christie’s, prestigious wineries under Artémis Domaines, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a leader in the entertainment and sports sectors, the weekly magazine Le Point, the Stade Rennais soccer club and other assets in the arts, tourism, sports and technology sectors.
