Winoa Group: history, strategy & governance

Ramesh Krishnan

Ramesh Krishnan has 28 years of professional service, and there-of 20 years of successful CEO roles, in corporate and Private Equity Assets. He served in additional governance roles internationally . Ramesh has built his career on European Manufacturing Assets (with global operations) in special situations and rapid transformations. He has a strong track record of global M&As to his list. His career stints include listed firms and hidden champions. Ramesh is an Engineer by trade (Dipl.Ing., TU Karlsruhe, Germany), gaining executive education in LBS (London) and Insead(Fontainebleau), is 51 years old and lives in Munich Germany, cherishes Astronomy and Guitar as hobbies, and focuses on Industry 4.0 & AI for future investments. 

Louis Bienfait

Louis Bienfait is member of Advisory Board “Elastikos”.

Louis joined the Winoa Group as Chief Financial Officer in February 2019.

After starting in audit during 3 years, Louis Bienfait worked 9 years in management consulting.

With subsequently more than 20 years experience as CFO, Louis has international expertise in the fields of engineering, distribution, coatings, chemicals, manufacturing and services industries (Akzo Nobel, Stahl, Fabory, … )

Louis has a strong track record as deal maker both on buy and sell side M&A; and corporate finance (debt restructuring, recapitalization).

Louis holds a master degree of economics and a bachelor degree of fiscal law from the University of Amsterdam.

Thierry Fradin

Thierry Fradin joined the Winoa Group in November 2018 as Sales & Marketing Director. A graduate of ESSEC, Thierry Fradin also has significant experience in the industry. He worked for 20 years at Kerneos, the world leader in calcium aluminates, successively as director of the Asia-Pacific zone, director of the refractory BU and recently as vice-president of sales and marketing of the group. 

Christophe Bertoncelli

Christophe Bertoncelli has been Vice President in charge of Winoa’s industrial operations since January 2014.

He started his professional career in materials engineering at IRSID (now Arcelor Mittal) before occupying various senior positions at Thomson Tubes & Displays, including assignments in the USA & Poland.

Christophe graduated in Industrial Engineering from Arts & Métiers Paris Tech. and also holds a Master’s degree from the Ecole des Mines, Paris.

Mickaël Denizot

Michaël Denizot joined Winoa in March 2015 as Chief Procurement Officer. Michaël brings 20 years of experience in the electronics and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning) industries.

He started his career as a Commodity Manager and has taken on increasing responsibilities in Purchasing, Supply Chain and Design to Cost Program Management. In his last assignment, Michaël led the purchasing rganization at Carrier EMEA, part of the United Technologies Corporation. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in International Procurement Management from Strasbourg University.

Olivier Tuech

Olivier Tuech has worked for more that 20 years in the Winoa group, starting as Production Manager in France, before moving to several assignments in North America and then Asia, where he has been Asia Zone CEO for 10 years. Olivier holds an engineering degree in Materials Science from the ISIM university (now Poly’tech Montpellier). 

Bill Cousineau

Bill joined the Winoa Group in July 2021 as Chief Executive Officer of Americas Region.

He acquired an extensive experience within the refractory industry during the 32-year successful career at Vesuvius. From construction business, to manufacturing to sales management, he held several GM, VP and Business Unit Director responsibilities across Vesuvius global company mainly in Canada, Asia Pacific and in the US.

More recently he was Vice President-NAFTA Advanced Refractories based in Pittsburgh – USA.

Falko Schmidt

Falko Graduated in telecommunications engineering (Osnabrück – Germany & Edinburgh – Scotland), he has acquired 20 years of experience in very diverse industries, from telecom to maritime as well as automotive mainly in Europe and Asia in program directions as well as business management. Before joining, he was Regional CEO for APAC with main focus on China market within R&M; Group. He previously worked for Harman/Neusoft and Vodafone. 

Michel Quéré

Michel has over 30 years of experience in IT management and innovation, in the metallurgy sector (Pechiney which became Alcan then Rio Tinto) and the logistics sector as the CIO for Groupe Charles André. Michel has managed all aspects of IT, including infrastructure, applications, third party management, ERP deployment and innovation projects.