Meet our team

Jonas Schneider

CEO ASSISTANT

French, American and Swiss, with degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, he is soon to be a graduate of EDHEC Business School. He will accompany us in our growth in the United States.

With over 10 years of sailing experience and love for the nautical world, Jonas is convinced of Falco's solution and is eager to take part in the connected transition of marinas.

Maxime Bihannic

sales manager

Maxime graduated as a materials engineer and worked as a business manager in a digital services company before joining Falco. Attracted by the challenge of being a sales manager in a growing company, Maxime is dedicated to business development activities while participating in the definition of Falco's evolving offer.

Elsa Nicol

CO-FOUNDER, CEO

Since 2019, Falco's foundation, Elsa has been leading the company's strategy with a clear mission: to facilitate the necessary technological evolution of marinas while preserving their cultural identity and enhancing the boating experience in a sustainable way.

Engineer graduated from INSA ,Elsa has trained in management and entrepreneurship at the University of California-Berkley, the London Business School and the EM Lyon Business School. For over 10 years, Elsa lead the development of high-tech products in the maritime, aerospace and defense sectors in the USA, UK and Scandinavia.

Keoma Laguna

CO-FOUNDER, CTO

Ph.D. in computer sciences graduated from Paris 6 University, specialised in wireless networks, Keoma has been involved in the setting up of several data collection systems in three continents. Curious and motivated, he helps marinas address new issues through his knowledge in the deploiment of high-reliability wireless networks.

Thomas Watteyne

CO-FOUNDER, SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR

Internationally renown expert in low-power wireless mesh technologies, Thomas supports Wattson Elements as a scientific advisor.

Thomas has deploied more than 1 000 sensors in three continents. He is head of a research team at Inria Paris research center and gives his contribution as network architect at Analog Devices, the market leader.

Thomas leads the standardisation effort of this technology – IETF 6TiSCH working group – in order to allow this branch of IoT to develop securly and in an optimised way in different sectors of the industry.

Olivier Laporte

CO-FOUNDER, CUSTOMER SUPPORT MANAGER

Merchant Navy Captain and Environmental Engineer, Olivier has been involved for over 20 years in sustainable development of the marin environment.

Chief Expeditioner and Project Manager for several major stakeholders of the scientific (CNRS, CEA, Conservatoire du Littoral) and technical (Ecotank, Monaco Marine) community, Olivier provides Wattson Elements with his expertise, his network and his enthousiasme.

Specialised in harbor environmental managment, Olivier is convinced that the Falco solution will allow ports to combine digital and ecological transition and to become more efficient and resilient.

Anna Bednárik

OFFICE MANAGER

Trained translator, Anna worked several years as research team assistant at the Inria research center, where Falco was born.

Since October 2020, she has joined Falco to help with accountancy, human resources, communication, follow-up of the operations etc. where her organisational skills and her taste for the details are important assets.

Jim Lamarche

PARTNER - GENERAL MANAGER NORTH AMERICA

Jim combines a unique entrepreneurial background as the co-founder and CEO of an AI startup as well being a small business owner and commercial tuna captain. Prior to branching out on his own, he spent 16 years at Cisco Systems in Sales, Business Development, Corp Finance, and Channel Management. Along with his love for the water, he is passionate about creating unique solutions and building value for his customers.

Benoît Besnard

PARTNER - CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER

Fine arts graduate, with more than twenty years of experience in the web, Benoit worked in the marketing (Publicis Etoile), in the consulting - in agency (Capgemini) and as an independant -, and he has been associated to the start-up creation.

The huge variety of missions he has been involved in makes him a global digital expert. He is specialised in User Expérience (UX), User Interface (UI), customer journey, customer relation, digital marketing, social media and e-business.

Quentin Bey

CTO

Engineer in mathematical and mechanical modeling graduated from Matmeca, Quentin brings Falco expertise in information systems engineering.
With over ten years of experience in the development of information systems for electric car-sharing (from the customer subscription to the invoicing and the supervision of the electric terminals and cars...), he provides Falco with his knowledge in the the development of complex and robust systems deployed worldwide.

Trifun Savic

R&D ENGINEER / Ph.D. CANDIDATE

R&D Engineer and Ph.D candidate at Sorbonne University, Trifun is working mainly on the design and development of connected objects and devices designed for marinas.

Interested in applied research and driven by new challanges, Trifun has undertaken doctoral studies as part of a partnership between Falco and Inria Paris.

Paola Galvan Tornel

VP of Sales

Telecoms engineer graduated from ECE and Sorbonne, Paola has over 10 years of experience in business development in the field of telecoms and new technologies.

After five years managing teams in engineering consulting, she has been leading teams and projects on digital challenges, notably at Google.

Manon Gasnier

UX/UI DESIGNER

Manon studied digital project management and worked as junior project manager in an agency. She works on the digital interface conception for Falco.

Lila Gazeau

FRONT-END ENGENEER

IT Engineer, graduated from IMAC Paris, Lila joins Falco after a first successful professional experience.

Millenial, Lila shares with Falco her culture of the web and her outlook on usages. Glad to integrate a multidisciplinary team, she is looking forward to discovering the boating industry.

Albin Billochon

DIRECTOR of OPERATIONS & SUPPORT

Albin has over 25 years of experience in the marine sector. He worked as a sailing instructor, boat preparer and after-sales service manager. He brings Falco his industry knowledge and his background in customer relationship.