Gabe Newell: Owner, Oceanco

Shortly before the 2025 Monaco Yacht Show, the Al Barwani family sold Dutch builder Oceanco to Gabe Newell, the American video-game developer behind Valve and a computer scientist with ventures in neuroscience, education and marine research. He became an owner much as others had before him: with two ambitious projects already under way at the yard (and now launched), the 111m Leviathan and Draak, a 92.8m conversion. Newell brings a crew-centric philosophy – aboard Leviathan, crew dine at the owner’s table – believing that happier, more productive crew make better yachts. Having discovered how much he loves cruising with family and friends, he now lives aboard almost year-round, and he’s purchased yet another yacht, the first Damen explorer, aptly dubbed Game Changer.

M2 Atelier: Design Studio

A personal as well as professional partnership, M2 Atelier was founded by Marijana Radović and Marco Bonelli. Radović, trained in Belgrade and at the Polytechnic University of Milan, worked for Lazzarini Pickering in Rome before running her own studio between Belgrade and Athens. Bonelli, a graduate of the University of Genoa and Columbia University, has worked alongside Philippe Starck, Ricardo Bofill and Gaetano Pesce. Partnering in 2011, they opened studios in Milan and New York under the motto “Less is enough”. Their portfolio spans boutiques, furniture, residences and aircraft interiors; in yachting, they are one of the most buzzworthy design firms, having worked with Vitters, Codecasa and Overmarine and now currently reimagining Azimut’s Grande series and the 38m Grande Trideck. This is the ultimate in sustainable minimalism, with a focus on pure lines and unexpected materials.

Laurens Last: Owner, Heesen

When Last, a Dutch entrepreneur who has sailed the world aboard his own yacht, heard that Heesen was for sale, he moved fast. Within five weeks, in April 2025, he had bought the Oss shipyard founded by Frans Heesen in 1978. He admired its engineering but felt the yachts lacked a certain allure. Sales offices in Monaco and Palm Beach followed, shaped by the new strategy built around what he calls “human health engineering”: longevity-driven design spanning the quality of air, water and light, and light medical treatments in the spa. “Our owners can buy everything, but they cannot buy time and health,” he says. The aim is nothing less than the healthiest yachts afloat.

Hayvenhurst: Sustainable Furniture

Launched this January by Jackie Jackson – of The Jackson 5 – and Robert Milder, Hayvenhurst crafts note-perfect furniture pieces from reclaimed materials. Demand is already feverish: superyacht owners increasingly arrive at the shipyard with sustainability on their wish list. Milder, a Dutch graphic designer turned self-styled “sustainable nerd”, leads the design from the company’s factory in the Netherlands. Their first piece, a chair made from recovered plastic, set the tone – circular design that reads as refined rather than performative. “We design comfortable, sustainable furniture for the high-end industry,” he says, describing a collection defined by mindful elegance. Every question sustainability posed, the team notes, sparked a new design. They are now at work on a 110m concept yacht, music studio included.

Stassi Anastassov: CEO, Ferretti Group

Born in Bulgaria to a concert violinist and an opera singer, Anastassov grew up discussing performances rather than portfolios – he even sang in the children’s choir for the opera Aida. His peripatetic, multilingual upbringing carried him from Uppsala University to a 30-year career with Procter & Gamble across Paris, Brussels and Moscow, and later to Duracell as CEO. Now he has traded Geneva for Milan and the Ferretti offices beside the Duomo. A self-described citizen of the world, he is making sure to meet everyone who has played a role in the history of the group – Norberto Ferretti, who founded the Ferretti Group, Wally’s nonconformist founder Luca Bassani, Pershing’s founder Tilli Antonelli, Riva’s designers Micheli and Beretta – to grasp the essence of each brand. “I am only the custodian,” he says, “and I do this because I love these brands.”

Gianguido Girotti: CEO, Nautor Swan & Bluegame

Born into a family of boat lovers – his grandfather was a naval architect – Girotti studied naval architecture at the University of Southampton and began his career in Germán Frers’s studio. “I think I was destined to work in yachting, and I simply cannot imagine any other life,” he says. Now heading up Finnish sailing marque Nautor Swan and Italy’s Bluegame, both within the Sanlorenzo Group, he arrives from Groupe Beneteau, where he oversaw nine brands. At Nautor Swan, he succeeds Giovanni Pomati, who steps into a senior-advisory role focused on the ClubSwan ecosystem. Chairman Massimo Perotti chose him for his command of both sail and motor yachting, and Girotti calls the appointment an honour, promising evolution guided by restraint: “Every step forward will be guided by a deep respect for the values that have defined the Swan brand for more than 60 years. It is essential that our owners continue to recognise those values as the brand evolves.”

Illustrations by Atelier Pike