Marc Trahand
ConMet eMobility
Vice President and General Manager
Vancouver, Washington, USA
ConMet eMobility
Vice President and General Manager
Vancouver, Washington, USA
Marc Trahand joined ConMet in 2021 as Vice President and General Manager of the company’s new eMobility business unit. He brings to ConMet a depth of experience as an entrepreneur executive that can be attributed to both large corporations and startups throughout his career.
He began his career with giants such as General Electric, Ford Motor Company, and Nokia, where he gained leadership skills and was exposed to many facets of business, from engineering to marketing. During this time, he supplemented his engineering degrees by earning an M.B.A. from The Wharton School.
"It's a great school," Marc says about the startup world. "You're more empowered, you get to work on multiple facets of the business and, most importantly, you're in charge of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it."
In 2006, Marc became more interested in small companies and joined a startup in the mobile phone industry. Here, Marc learned invaluable skills about entrepreneurship – working with smaller budgets, problem-solving, and fundraising, to name a few. He went on to lead three startups through multiple rounds of venture capital, private equity funding and a public stock offering.
When presented with the opportunity to head up ConMet’s new eMobility business unit, Marc was ready for the challenge. He had spent the previous six years as COO and Executive Vice President for Marketing of a successful electric vehicle charging startup, which is now publicly traded thanks to Marc’s contributions to the company. His industry expertise and leadership experience made him a perfect fit for the job, and the stability and reputation of Amsted made for an attractive offer. But it was the intangibles that really excited Marc about joining ConMet.
Though Marc describes ConMet eMobility as a bit of a startup itself, it has the unique advantage of existing resources. Instead of building the infrastructure from the ground up, the eMobility team can leverage ConMet’s manufacturing capabilities, supply chain, buildings, and even its existing brand equity.
Marc holds a B.Eng. in EE Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Imperial College of London, an M.S. in EE Engineering from CentraleSupelec and an M.B.A. in Business from The Wharton School.
"We are lucky to have the patience and support from the leadership here at ConMet, all the way up to the leadership at Amsted," Marc says. "They really believe in this technology and want to make the investment toward a cleaner future."
"Coming out of startups, a big company can be daunting," Marc explains. "But the culture at ConMet is a large part of what sold me, as well as the employee ownership in the company. There's a team environment, people support each other and people succeed. That level of caring about your work is harder to find at big companies."