The people behind ZESST.
ZESST brings together aerospace and naval engineers with leaders who have scaled premium businesses across Europe, the Americas and Asia – from FMCG and luxury retail to cleantech and international finance.
That combination is what allows us to turn hydrofoil vessels into commercial reality with the standard we believe maritime deserves.
The executive team, four complementary disciplines.
Fabrice spent nearly three decades at Nestlé, where he held Market CEO roles in Norway and Iceland, then Austria, then the Netherlands – leading large European operations through successive cycles of transformation and growth.
In 2022, he joined Ecopol, an international producer of biodegradable and water-soluble films. He drove the company’s international expansion and, as President of Ecopol America, led its North American scale-up until July 2025.
In August 2025, he joined ZESST to bring its hydrofoil clean propulsion technology to market. He now leads capital strategy and investor relations, drives strategic partnerships and international market development, and owns long-term platform positioning and the growth roadmap.
Sébastien earned his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering at EPFL in 2022. During his studies, he co-founded the Swiss Solar Boat Association in 2019, a 60-engineer EPFL project that built a solar-powered racing hydrofoil prototype from scratch and raced at the Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge.
He then joined NTPT – the reference in thin-ply carbon composites for racing yachts and high-performance marine programmes – as Project & Business Manager for the marine division.
He joined ZESST during its launch phase and co-founded ZESST SA to bring the technology to market. He now owns platform architecture and technical supervision, drives industrial coordination and production planning, and oversees system integration and ramp-up.
Nicolas holds a Master’s from HEC Lausanne and executive programmes at IMD. He has spent more than twenty years in Asia, at the intersection of luxury, retail and international business development.
After running a Swiss luxury jewelry group’s operations from Kobe to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, he spent nearly nine years at DFS Group (LVMH) — culminating as Managing Director of JAL-DFS at Narita and Haneda, overseeing 270 staff and 150+ luxury brands. He later opened Lagardère Travel Retail’s Japanese presence, then founded Opus Nova Strategies in 2024.
In September 2025, he joined ZESST as CCO, shaping commercial strategy, partnerships and brand positioning in the codes of Swiss luxury craftsmanship.
Four disciplines, one team.
Each vessel we build draws from four traditions that rarely operate under the same roof – integrated into a single development process from day one.
Complex system engineering inherited from Almatech’s 15+ years of space programs. Rigour in testing, validation, and traceability.
Hulls, plateform and foil design by world class expert – 40 years, 500 designs, 10,000 boats. Performance meets seaworthiness.
Decades of experience building and running premium businesses across Europe, the Americas and Asia – from large-scale FMCG operations to cleantech scale-up and luxury retail.
25 years of finance expertise, from corporate structuring to the capital rigour required to bring complex industrial products to market.
Born at EPFL Innovation Park
ZESST is a spin-off of Almatech SA, a Swiss advanced technology company founded at EPFL Innovation Park in 2009.
Almatech develops complex systems for space and naval applications – the engineering foundations from which ZESST was born, now paired with a leadership team recruited for its track record in international business.
Want to build the future of maritime?
We’re looking for engineers who want to work on complex, meaningful products – hydrofoils, electric and hydrogen propulsion systems, flight control.
Swiss precision, aerospace discipline, hands-on culture.
