News Release

Thibaut Le Besnerais has been named global product director for Manitowoc’s Potain tower crane line. In this role, Le Besnerais will utilize his in-depth market knowledge to create and oversee product strategy for Manitowoc’s range of tower cranes built under the Potain brand.

In addition Rémi Deporte, currently global product director for mechanisms at Potain, will expand his responsibilities to include Manitowoc’s line of Potain self-erecting cranes. In this new role, Deporte will report to Le Besnerais.

Le Besnerais, in turn, will report to senior vice president of marketing and product management, Ingo Schiller. Le Besnerais will work closely with the regional executive vice presidents as well as with the company’s engineering, marketing, sales and operations teams to coordinate and facilitate new product launches and product updates.

Le Besnerais is a highly experienced Manitowoc executive and, according to Schiller, his extensive working history at the company makes him an excellent fit for the role.

“Thibaut’s history of leadership roles with Manitowoc has given him a comprehensive understanding of our products and customers, as well as the tower crane market as a whole,” he said. “His experience will help us fulfill the strategic vision we have for our tower crane product lines.”

Le Besnerais has more than 15 years of experience at Manitowoc. He first joined the company as commercial director for France, and has since assumed several other roles, including running Manitowoc Crane Care for the EMEA region. His latest role, which he assumed in 2009, was vice president for Manitowoc’s range of special application cranes (which are also built under the Potain brand). He was also responsible for sales of used cranes in EMEA.

Both Le Besnerais and Deporte will continue to be based at Manitowoc’s Ecully, France location.

About The Manitowoc Company, Inc.

The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (“Manitowoc”) was founded in 1902 and has over a 117-year tradition of providing high-quality products and support services that are tailored to customers’ needs. Its 2019 net sales were approximately $1.83 billion. Manitowoc is one of the world's leading providers of engineered lifting solutions. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Manitowoc designs, manufactures, markets and supports comprehensive product lines of mobile telescopic cranes, tower cranes, lattice-boom crawler cranes, boom trucks and industrial cranes under the Grove, Potain, Manitowoc, National Crane, Shuttlelift and Manitowoc Crane Care brand names.