HTC VIVE'S VP OF SALES AND MARKETING IN EUROPE ON LEGO TECHNIC, FOLDING PHONES AND WHY HE'S PROUD TO BE A FRENCH AUSSIE

My role is a bit of everything.

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My role is a bit of everything.

One of the great things about HTC is that we are pretty open and flat-structured. My day-to-day role is head of the EMEA region with a focus on sales and marketing, but I'm an engineer by trade so I'm involved in product development as well. I also love engaging with the media and speaking at events. So it's quite a large remit and every day is different.

As a kid I was obsessed with Lego Technic.

I always loved physics and building little things. Then I discovered computing thanks to my dad. He was an engineer, which I thought was a very cool name for a job so I thought I would be an engineer too. He worked with the original Apple Macintosh SE, which he brought home a couple of times. They called it portable but he couldn't even carry it! He also came home with a cellphone in the early '90s, and once my sister and I got an Amstrad CPC 6128 for Christmas. We used to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons.

The HTC Vive Focus 3 VR headset is literally soaring... in space.

At the back end of 2023, we launched VR headsets on the International Space Station. The Vive Focus 3 has been used by Danish astronauts for an experiment into how VR can improve their mental health. It's a very noble cause.

I moved to Australia on a whim.

In 2010 my wife and I gave up everything we had in Paris, packed, bought return tickets to Sydney... and never used the return. From the minute I set foot on Aussie ground, our life was changing for the better and before I knew it an employer gave me a chance. That was HTC, who were the up-and-coming smartphone brand. We got work visas, permanent residency, first child, citizenship, second child... I was given the chance to move to tech account management, product marketing, head of sales and then country manager.