Biography

Yves Depallens was born on 22 January 1971 in Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva, into a family with deep ties to the region. His origins are rooted in the history of the municipality itself: the hamlet of Pallens, from which the family name derives, reflects this longstanding connection.

His father, Francis, a master mason, and his mother, Yvette, a trained teacher, raised three children: Philippe, the eldest, Yves, and Anne, the youngest. Growing up in a family environment shaped by hard work, close relationships and local traditions, Yves developed a strong sense of belonging to Montreux from an early age.

His parents were actively involved in community organisations, particularly La Montreusienne, a folklore society dedicated to preserving local heritage. This spirit of community involvement was naturally passed on to their three children, each developing their own interests. Yves and his brother Philippe joined Montreux Gymnastique, discovering a sporting environment that would play a defining role in their youth. Their sister Anne pursued music, another expression of the rich community and cultural life that characterises Montreux.

At around the age of six, Yves took his first steps in artistic gymnastics under the guidance of Luigi Demartini. Training sessions, gymnastics apparatus and his first competitions gradually instilled in him a passion for hard work, perseverance and team spirit.

In 1980, he took part in his first individual competition in Lavey-les-Bains. The following year, Montreux hosted celebrations marking the centenary of the International Gymnastics Federation. Yves watched demonstrations by some of the world's finest gymnasts and, through the eyes of a passionate young boy, discovered the international dimension of his sport.

Without yet realising it, he had encountered two worlds that would accompany him throughout much of his life: gymnastics and an openness to the wider world.

These early years laid the foundations for a journey in which his Montreux roots, his passion for sport and his commitment to collective endeavours would remain closely intertwined.

During his teenage years, gymnastics played a central role in Yves Depallens' life. Through training sessions, individual competitions and team gymnastics, he discovered the demands of competitive sport, as well as the strength of teamwork and the satisfaction of pursuing shared goals.

In 1985, at the Arthur Gander Memorial in Montreux, he watched the performances of Li Ning, the Chinese Olympic gymnastics champion. Witnessing gymnastics at this level left a lasting impression on him. Little did he imagine that their paths would cross again more than thirty years later, under extraordinary circumstances.

Alongside his sporting commitments, Yves pursued his commercial education. In August 1986, he began an apprenticeship with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in Montreux. He discovered the banking profession, customer relations and the demands of a major organisation, while continuing his gymnastics training and competitions.

The year 1987 marked two important milestones in his sporting career. In May, Yves earned his first cantonal distinction in artistic gymnastics, rewarding several years of training and perseverance. A few months later, in September, he competed with Montreux Gymnastique at the Swiss Team Gymnastics Championships in Glarus. His team won the Swiss title in the floor exercise, Category B, a historic first for a gymnastics club from French-speaking Switzerland in this discipline.

In 1989, Yves obtained his Swiss Federal Vocational Education and Training Diploma (CFC) in Commerce. He continued working at UBS, where he developed his first professional skills.

Curious about the possibilities offered by computing, he developed an early interest in emerging technologies and their potential to transform working practices. This curiosity led him to join Logitech in 1992, at a time when the company was expanding rapidly internationally. As a Software Localization Specialist, he contributed to adapting software to the languages and specific requirements of European markets.

That same year, he earned his first national distinction in artistic gymnastics at the Federal Gymnastics Championships in Dietlikon. This achievement marked the culmination of his individual gymnastics career, although he continued competing in team gymnastics with Montreux for several more years.

In 1995, at the age of 24, Yves made an important decision: to leave Logitech and return to higher education. He enrolled at the École supérieure de cadres pour l'économie et l'administration (ESCEA) in Lausanne, seeking to broaden his expertise in business management, marketing and commercial development.

After graduating in Business Economics in 1998, he also received the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Award in recognition of his entrepreneurial spirit. He then spent several months in Oxford to improve his English and broaden his international outlook.

In June 1999, he joined Cap Gemini Switzerland in Geneva as a Business Consultant. This new experience enabled him to combine his knowledge of business, technology and project management.

As the new millennium approached, Yves had already gained experience across several professional and sporting environments. The discipline developed through gymnastics, the rigour of banking, his exposure to technology and the knowledge acquired during his studies now formed a complementary set of skills.

He did not yet know that his passion for gymnastics would soon lead to an encounter that would decisively shape the direction of his career.

The year 2000 marked an important turning point in Yves Depallens' life. As his professional career was about to take on a new dimension, he also reached a significant milestone in his personal life when he married Sandra.

Two years later, in 2002, their first child, Yannick, was born. In 2005, their daughter Célia joined the family. For Yves, these births opened an entirely new chapter: fatherhood, with all its joys, responsibilities and lessons.

Over the years, family life developed alongside a demanding professional career involving frequent travel, international responsibilities and numerous commitments in sport, community organisations and politics. Balancing these different aspects of life meant managing time carefully, setting priorities and remaining attentive to what truly mattered.

Yet being a father is about more than fulfilling responsibilities. It also means supporting children as they grow, encouraging them to discover their own interests, standing by them in their choices and passing on values, while accepting that they will gradually find their own paths.

As the years passed, the children grew into young adults. Yannick, born in 2002, has pursued university studies in political science. Célia, born in 2005, has chosen nursing as her professional path, pursuing her training in Lausanne. Two different paths, reflecting their determination to build their futures according to their own aspirations.

Yves watches their progress with pride. Beyond their studies and professional choices, what matters most to him is their personal fulfilment and the way they find their place in life.

Looking back, he recognises how much fatherhood has also helped him grow. Raising children means learning to listen, to trust, to guide without imposing, to accept differences and to evolve oneself over the years.

Because passing on knowledge and values is never a one-way process. While Yves has sought to share his values, experience and outlook on life with Yannick and Célia, his children have taught him a great deal in return.

This family dimension holds a fundamental place in his story. Behind the professional projects, responsibilities and public commitments lie years of shared experiences, personal growth and mutual learning.

Building a family, supporting children as they grow and nurturing relationships that continue to evolve: another form of commitment, and one of the most profound in life.

In the late 1990s, Yves Depallens was pursuing a career in business consulting at Cap Gemini Switzerland in Geneva. Alongside his professional activities, he remained actively involved in gymnastics, particularly through the organisation of the Arthur Gander Memorial in Montreux, where he gradually took on increasing responsibilities.

In 1999, together with Laurent Demartini, he developed the concept of a new artistic gymnastics competition format, designed to create more engaging head-to-head encounters between athletes while preserving the technical standards of the sport.

The project came to life in 2000 with Le Duel — FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup, held in Montreux. Yves served as Chairman of the Steering Committee, overseeing the event's development and marketing. Within a matter of months, an idea became an international sporting event, bringing together athletes, federations, partners and organisers around an innovative concept.

But this experience would also lead to a defining encounter.

In the run-up to the Sydney Olympic Games, Victor Bergonzoli, one of the founders of InMotion Technologies, contacted Yves to test a sports image-overlay technology known as SimulCam. Until then, it had been used primarily in winter sports, but it also offered potential applications in artistic gymnastics.

Yves agreed to host this experiment during Le Duel. Their discussions continued, and Victor introduced him to his company's ambitions: developing video analysis solutions not only for broadcasters, but also for coaches, athletes and sports federations.

Invited to Fribourg, Yves discovered a young technology company emerging from the EPFL ecosystem. There, he met Jean-Marie Ayer and Bart Norré, among others. The project brought together three fields already familiar to him: sport, emerging technologies and business development.

On 14 August 2000, he joined InMotion Technologies, which would later become Dartfish. This marked the beginning of a professional journey that would last nearly nineteen years.

During his first year, Yves focused on analysing potential markets for video analysis applications designed to support training and improve sporting performance. He met coaches, federations, clubs and educational institutions to understand their needs, working practices and the opportunities offered by these emerging technologies.

From late 2001 onwards, he began developing the French market. Initially working alone in the field, he built relationships, established his first professional networks and sought to demonstrate how video analysis could deliver tangible value to sports professionals.

This approach, focused on practical applications rather than technical features alone, became one of the guiding principles of his business development strategy.

In December 2004, after several years of market development, Yves established Dartfish France, creating a local structure to support the company's commercial expansion. This local presence enabled the business to develop a more structured organisation and gradually build a dedicated sales and operations team. Over time, the French market generated annual revenue of approximately CHF 1.5 million, supported by a team of seven employees.

Meanwhile, Dartfish expanded its activities across several Southern European countries. Yves progressively extended his sales and marketing responsibilities throughout the region, particularly in Italy, Spain and Portugal. He developed partnerships, adapted strategies to local market conditions and coordinated international teams and networks.

This experience enabled him to combine strategic vision, business development and cross-cultural management. It also reinforced a fundamental conviction: technology can achieve lasting market success only when it addresses genuine needs and becomes part of its users' everyday practices.

In 2014, Yves assumed responsibility for sales and marketing across Europe. He now led a multicultural organisation of approximately thirty employees, with responsibilities spanning commercial strategy, team management and financial performance.

What began with an encounter at a gymnastics competition had evolved into an international career in technology, business development and leadership.

This journey illustrates a recurring theme throughout his career: the ability to bring together passions, skills and encounters to turn an idea into a project, and a project into a sustainable business.

Despite a professional career that regularly took him across Europe, Yves Depallens maintained a deep attachment to Montreux. The town where he grew up, discovered gymnastics and developed his first projects remained at the heart of his personal commitments.

In 2011, he was elected to the Montreux Communal Council, the municipality's legislative body. This political commitment offered him a new way to contribute to the life of his community, engaging with local issues, public decision-making and the future of the region.

During his time on the Communal Council, he served as a parliamentary group leader and took an active role in several election campaigns. In 2015 and 2016, he applied his experience in marketing, communication and team coordination to electoral initiatives, particularly the campaign built around the theme “Être Montreusien, c'est…” (“Being from Montreux means…”).

This experience introduced him to another form of collective endeavour, where personal convictions must engage with differing opinions, institutional realities and the search for practical solutions.

Alongside his political activities, sport remained a central focus of his community involvement.

In 2016, Montreux hosted the European Taekwondo Championships. Yves served as Vice-President of the Organising Committee, contributing to the planning and delivery of this international championship. This event enabled him to draw on his experience of the sporting ecosystem, event management and project coordination.

But it was in 2017 that a new project would bring together several dimensions of his personal story.

That year, Montreux Gymnastique celebrated its 150th anniversary. For Yves, who had discovered artistic gymnastics through the club as a child, this celebration represented far more than a commemoration.

Together with Baptiste Saudan, Sylvain Gaeng, Maurizio Tempesta and a team of dedicated enthusiasts, he co-founded Montreux Acrobaties, an event designed to introduce the wider public to the diversity of acrobatic disciplines.

The project quickly grew beyond the scope of a traditional gymnastics club celebration. The ambition was to transform Montreux into a vibrant setting for discovery, demonstrations and encounters between disciplines, generations and sporting cultures.

Under his leadership, the inaugural edition brought together 41 disciplines across eight thematic categories. Approximately thirty organising committee members and 300 volunteers helped deliver an event of exceptional scale.

That same year, a project to honour Li Ning, the Chinese Olympic champion whom Yves had admired at the Arthur Gander Memorial in 1985, gave this journey particular symbolic significance. More than thirty years after first watching Li Ning perform, the memories of a passionate teenager converged with the ambitions of an event organiser.

Montreux Acrobaties also represented a considerable human and organisational challenge. Conceiving an event, bringing partners together, mobilising volunteers and coordinating teams required energy, perseverance and a constant ability to find solutions.

Beyond the event itself, Yves rediscovered what had motivated him since his earliest involvement in local associations: the pleasure of bringing people together around an idea and contributing to the vitality of Montreux.

From local politics to major sporting events, his commitments have been guided by the same conviction: collective projects reach their full potential when people with different skills and backgrounds decide to build something together.

For Yves, commitment also means passing on experience: sharing his knowledge with the community, encouraging initiatives and helping to create opportunities for people to connect beyond their individual paths.

After many years dedicated to Dartfish's international development, Yves Depallens gradually felt the need to explore new professional horizons.

In 2017, he had already taken on a new role within the company as Head of New Business. This position enabled him to focus on identifying new opportunities, developing strategic partnerships and exploring new business models.

In February 2019, after nearly nineteen years during which he had progressed from developing new markets to leading European sales and marketing operations, Yves left Dartfish. This marked the end of a major chapter in his career, but also the beginning of a new period of exploration.

He subsequently developed the concept of YDées Marketing, an initiative aimed at applying his expertise in business development, marketing and strategic positioning to new ventures.

This initiative led him to collaborate with Jean-François Morand on the development of YDEAS, an independent business entity that was integrated into the BS-Team group, benefiting from its technological expertise and support.

Although this environment differed from the world of sport, the challenges were familiar: understanding organisations' needs, identifying opportunities offered by technology and developing commercial propositions that addressed real business problems.

Between 2019 and 2022, Yves worked on business development and the positioning of digital solutions, particularly in the fields of digital platforms, automation and connected devices. He rediscovered the satisfaction of bringing technical and commercial expertise together to turn technological possibilities into solutions tailored to clients' needs.

Alongside his professional activities, his commitments in Montreux continued.

As a member of the Board of the Montreux Comedy Festival Foundation, he contributed to discussions on strengthening the festival's ties with the local community. He also participated in the early initiatives that led to the creation of La Revue Vaudoise, first staged in 2018.

In 2021, four years after its creation, Montreux Acrobaties returned for a second edition. Despite the challenges involved in organising an event of this scale, Yves continued his commitment alongside the teams and volunteers who brought it to life.

That same year, he was re-elected to the Montreux Communal Council and also stood for election to the Municipal Executive. Although he was not elected to the executive body, his candidacy reflected his determination to contribute actively to the future of Montreux. His term on the Communal Council ended in 2022, after eleven years of service.

In the autumn of 2022, a new professional opportunity emerged. Yves joined EGOTRACE, a brand of FairTrace SA based in Clarens, as Head of Marketing and Communications.

The company was developing a digital traceability platform. Yves explored the challenges of a sector in which technology must meet growing expectations regarding transparency, governance and the recognition of professional expertise.

He contributed to defining the platform's market positioning, structuring its value proposition and developing its marketing and communications strategy. The tagline “Traceability in the Service of Your Expertise” expressed the ambition to connect technological capabilities with the practical concerns of businesses.

This experience came to an end in May 2023.

Throughout these years, Yves gained experience across several environments: sports technology, digital business solutions, traceability, cultural event management and local politics.

Although seemingly different, these experiences reflected a consistent approach: understanding an environment, identifying its challenges and bringing together the expertise needed to create new opportunities.

After devoting a significant part of his career to a single ecosystem, Yves discovered other industries and new ways of applying his skills.

This period of transition, adaptation and learning prepared him for the next stage of his professional journey.

In September 2023, Yves Depallens began a new chapter in his professional career by joining AXA Switzerland in the Vaud Riviera region.

After more than twenty years working primarily in technology, business development and management, he entered a sector where trust, attentive listening and a thorough understanding of clients' needs are essential.

This new experience represented both a change of environment and an opportunity to broaden his expertise. Yves rediscovered several dimensions that had always characterised his career: business development, client relationships and finding solutions tailored to specific situations.

He began his insurance career in Vevey before moving to AXA's Montreux agency in January 2025, strengthening his professional ties with the region where he had grown up.

In his day-to-day work, he advised private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises on their insurance needs. His role combined personalised advice, risk assessment, business development and the retention of an established client portfolio.

In 2025, he obtained the Swiss AFA certification as a non-life insurance intermediary. That same year, his client portfolio achieved a 93% renewal rate, reflecting the importance he placed on maintaining long-term client relationships.

This experience enabled him to deepen his understanding of the regional business community and develop new expertise in a highly regulated sector. It also reinforced his conviction that, beyond products and technologies, the quality of human relationships remains a fundamental driver of business development .

Alongside his professional activities, Yves continued reflecting on the future of Montreux.

After eleven years on the Communal Council, he wished to remain involved in local public debate. Drawing on his political, community and professional experience, he set out to develop a new collective initiative.

In 2026, he founded Tellement Montreux, an independent local political movement, and became its founding President.

The movement brought together people eager to contribute to their community beyond traditional party affiliations. It was built around six core values: courage, conviction, humility, honesty, inspiration and impartiality.

Its motto, “The Movement of Those Who Live in Montreux” , expressed the ambition to place residents, their everyday concerns and the municipality's future at the heart of its approach.

Ahead of the March 2026 municipal elections, Yves assembled a team, contributed to developing a political programme and coordinated the campaign's various dimensions: strategy, communication, organisation and public relations.

The proposals focused in particular on sound municipal financial management, taxation, parking, economic attractiveness, services for older residents and maintaining Montreux's vitality throughout the year.

Although Tellement Montreux did not win a seat on the Communal Council and Yves was not elected to the Municipal Executive, the campaign brought together a team around a shared vision for Montreux and offered residents an alternative approach to local political engagement.

In August 2026, his professional journey with AXA came to an end, following nearly three years dedicated to insurance advice and the development of a regional client portfolio.

At 55, Yves entered a new stage of his life, bringing together experience from several fields: technology, international sport, commercial leadership, marketing, insurance and public engagement.

Different experiences, united by a common purpose: understanding challenges, building relationships of trust, developing projects and bringing people together around shared objectives.

Far from considering his professional journey complete, Yves sees this new chapter as an opportunity to put his experience, international perspective and leadership skills to work in new environments.

More than fifty years after his birth in Montreux, Yves Depallens looks back on a journey shaped by encounters, discoveries, challenges and commitments.

From his early years at Montreux Gymnastique to leadership responsibilities within an international technology company, from creating sporting events to participating in local politics, his story has unfolded at the intersection of several worlds.

Some decisions were carefully considered. Others emerged from unexpected encounters, opportunities seized or passions that gradually opened up new possibilities.

Looking back, Yves recognises how profoundly these experiences have shaped his outlook on the world, his approach to working with others and the way he faces challenges.

He has learned that the most stimulating projects often emerge when people with different skills come together; that even the most promising ideas become reality only through collective commitment; and that successes, just like difficulties, provide valuable opportunities to learn and grow.

His journey has also taught him the importance of remaining curious, being willing to question his own assumptions and retaining the ability to explore new horizons, whatever stage of life he may be at.

Beyond his professional experiences, Yves places fundamental importance on his family. Watching Yannick and Célia grow up, supporting them in their choices and discovering the adults they are becoming represent an essential part of his life. These relationships are built on sharing values and experience, but also on learning from one another.

Montreux, meanwhile, remains a constant point of reference. It is where his roots lie, where many of his memories were formed and where numerous commitments have marked his journey.

Yet this attachment to his origins has never prevented him from looking beyond borders. On the contrary, he has always believed that an international outlook and strong local roots can enrich one another.

In 2026, at the age of 55, Yves enters a new stage of his professional life. Having contributed to market development, led international teams, supported businesses and driven collective projects, he now wishes to put this experience to work in new leadership roles.

His core areas of expertise include business development, commercial leadership and strategic marketing , supported by extensive experience in international management, technology and the sporting ecosystem.

But beyond any particular position or industry, what continues to motivate him above all is the opportunity to build, develop, bring people together and contribute to a project with genuine purpose .

Yves knows that careers and lives do not always follow a straight line. They are made up of achievements, changes of direction, periods of certainty and moments when reinvention becomes necessary.

What matters to him is not only the journey already travelled, but also how one chooses to move forward.

His roots are in Montreux. His experience has taken shape far beyond its borders. And his eyes remain firmly set on the future.

After all, a story is not defined solely by what has already been achieved. It continues through everything that remains to be imagined, shared and built.