Stéphane Holt

When I joined DEMURGER SA, the french leading specialist in metal sawing products, I was first appointed Eastern European countries Sales Manager. Following the take-over by DIAM Group (DEMURGER becoming ULTRADIAM), I extended my "play zone" to German speaking countries and Benelux, before taking charge of the entire Europe. Although customers where mainly large importers exclusive for our brands on their market, we also developped direct sales to end-users like large steel plants (manufacturing tubes, pipes, sheets, ...) or aluminium foundries for example. ACHIEVEMENTS: The development of distribution in new countries like Russia while our company was struggling to deliver our customers.

My first real job... When I joined TONNA, the company had been taken over by a group of directors, at the time when CANAL + was getting rid of its non-strategic investments. The plan was to increase the sales abroad while keeping a leading position on the french market. The export sales development was seen as a way-out of financial troubles... The products, manufactured by TONNA itself, were to be distributed by importers (for the SMATV and door access control equipements) or CATV operators as well as system integrators (for the Twisted-Pair and Pay-TV solutions). As a 1st experience, it was very exciting as I created the tools to communicate with potential partners (catalogues, technical data sheets)...

Part of military service. I was in charge of sales development in automotive and IT sectors for french companies willing to get involved on the lithuanian market. Looking for local partners, importers, distributors was my daily task...