Aurelien Poncin

About Aurelien Poncin

Aurélien Poncin is one of the most prominent French executives in the leisure boating industry and currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CATANA GROUP. Coming from the family that built the company, he stepped into a larger leadership role after the death of his father, Olivier Poncin, the founder and long-time chief executive of the group. The board appointed Aurélien Poncin as CEO in May 2023, and he took over the role in June 2023. His career within the Catana ecosystem goes back to 2006, when he began taking on responsibilities across the group in various operational roles. Available sources show that he worked at Poncin Yachts and later held marketing and development responsibilities at Chantier Catana, while also building an entrepreneurial track record through ventures such as AP YACHT CONCEPTION and Euro Makers. This combination of industrial, commercial, and entrepreneurial experience has given him a practical understanding of the boating market, customer expectations, and manufacturing execution. At the helm of CATANA GROUP, Aurélien Poncin represents both continuity and transition. He leads a company focused on catamarans and multihull leisure boats, while supporting its industrial scaling, international reach, and product strategy. His appointment was part of a carefully prepared governance succession, reflecting a broader effort to strengthen management depth and ensure long-term stability. The company had already named him Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 2022 before elevating him to executive chairmanship in 2023. Notable milestones in his trajectory include his role in shaping the group’s strategic direction, his contribution to the continuity of family governance, and his involvement in expansion initiatives such as the majority investment in the Portuguese shipyard Composite Solutions. His long-standing operational exposure and deep sector knowledge have positioned him as a hands-on leader, closely associated with product innovation, execution discipline, and the strengthening of a major French nautical group.