Name: Kevin Bonnie, broker, International Yacht Collection.

CV: Growing up in New York, I learned to sail at an early age and spent most of my free time on the water of Long Island Sound. I took a summer off from university to work on a yacht and never went back.

I found myself on a 104ft yacht in the Caribbean and decided to do some travelling before settling down in the corporate world. I made my way through every role aboard a number of yachts between 50ft and 200ft and still currently hold a 100-ton US Coast Guard master’s licence.

In 2001 I moved to France to pursue my dream of selling mega yachts. After three years of learning the European market and studying French I launched, and am now the managing director of, IYC’s first European office in Monaco.

My most memorable deal: Anna J, a 36.5-metre Palmer Johnson, is a memorable sale because the yacht wasn’t attracting any buyers, due to her heavy interior.

Finally, I convinced an English client to fly to the US to see her. Once he was able to look past the dolphins, parrots and turtles, he saw the potential of this wonderful Palmer Johnson.

The yacht was surveyed, sea trialled and closed in 30 days. In 60 more days she was completely refitted and heading to the Med, where there was a charter waiting.

Both of us truly enjoyed the process. She’s now a very successful charter yacht – she did 85 days of charter this year. It was the perfect deal: job satisfaction for me and one very happy yacht owner!