A diverse range of backgrounds, skills, strengths and qualifications creates the driving force that is the b-i leadership team.
christophe martin
pierre aebischer
juan manuel garrote
jean-marc latour
christophe martin - managing partner and CEO
Christophe co-founded b-i in 1995 and stands today at the head of its management team.
When the company was a part of the marchFIRST group, Christophe had operational responsibility over Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as being head of European Business Development. Under his guidance, the region achieved exceptional growth. Between 1998 and 2000, the Swiss market reached 70% revenue growth per year, as well as 15% yearly contribution.
Before b-i, Christophe had already built a successful, entirely self-financed business: in 1986 he was co-founder and Business Development Director of NatSoft SA, an IT services consultancy that grew to become the largest client/server application development company in western Switzerland. In 1996, when the company had reached a size of over 100 employees, it was sold to Cambridge Technology Partners.
Prior to that, Christophe had been working at DuPont's Paris offices, where he coordinated the move of the French data and communications center, set up the French help desk and deployed the first 400 PC's throughout the company.
Christophe is originally from Strasbourg, France, and holds a degree in business management from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland).
He has won the prestigious 'Strategis' prize awarded the Swiss magazine 'Bilan' for exceptional management capabilities on two separate occasions.
pierre aebischer - managing partner, branding & marketing
Pierre is a co-founder of b-i and currently leads the company's branding & marketing division.
His entire professional career has been centered on brands and marketing. Prior to
b-i, Pierre worked at Philip Morris and DuPont, two companies world-renowned for their strong focus on brand management. At Philip Morris, he led the successful development of major brands on international markets and launched some of the company's first ventures into digital media.
In 1995, realising that traditional advertising agencies were often helpless when it came to dealing with new media, Pierre decided to start his own interactive marketing agency, which soon became an integral division of b-i.
Pierre grew up in Canada and Germany. He is fluent in French, English and German.
He holds a degree in business management from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) where he also worked as research assistant in International Marketing.
juan manuel garrote - partner, technology infrastructure
Juan Manuel joined b-i in 1996 and leads the company's Technology Infrastructure division.
Juan Manuel started his career working in human resources and operations management roles in the area of software distribution in Suisse Romande. He then went on to head a small software company specializing in asset management software for large organizations. During his time with b-i, Juan Manuel has lead business development activities and managed IT operations departments of more than 50 people, with responsibilities ranging from IT Support to systems integration.
Juan Manuel holds a degree in Sociology from the Université de Genève.
jean-marc latour - partner, business services
Jean-Marc joined b-i in 1997 and leads the company's business services division.
Jean-Marc’s career has included stints at multinational companies in Europe, including 7 years at Elvia (now Allianz Group), where he led a 30-person engineering team. Prior to Elvia, Jean-Marc also served in IT roles at Caterpillar.
Jean-Marc holds an engineering degree from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Grenoble (France).
