Aug22136 47. Most Innovative Energy Infrastructure CEO 2025: Jean Lemaire Paragon Mobility is a company revolutionising EV charging with modular, plug-and-play "pods" that combine ultra-fast charging, battery storage, and renewable energy to offer scalable, sustainable infrastructure for fleets, logistics, motorsports, and more - designed for rapid deployment and minimal civil works. We find out more from recent European CEO of the Year award winner, Jean Lemaire. A technological and economic reality that works, saves customers money, energy, the environment, and changes lives, Paragon Mobility (Paragon) is a pioneer in green energy with aims to transform the mobility infrastructure with its innovative EV charging solutions. Interacting with different types of customers, from industrial/maintenance customers to logistics/transportation and even hospitality/luxury-ski resorts, the firm recently extended its range with a transportable solution, the so-called Nano Pod T, tailored to meet the growing demands of electrifying construction sites. CEO Jean Lemaire initiated the vision in 2018, founded the company and was quickly joined by 3 other partners. In 2021 Paragon Mobility received first external investment from Cycle Group out of Luxembourg. The team has since then grown from four people to 15 in the areas of business, project development, engineering, sales and marketing. With a fascinating career, Jean has always been driven by the will to have an impact and be a strong achiever. He tells us more about his journey. “I chose early on in the early 2000s to work on sustainable and renewable energy and clean tech development - a time when not much existed in those fields,” he begins. “Early on I acquired valuable expertise and experience in the space, and I never went back. The early years in renewable energy were the years of pioneering work, difficult because we were challenging the status quo and the establishment. Now we have proven that these technologies could compete with, or be superior to, established energy technologies.” Jean quickly became motivated by exercising managerial duties and seeing the bigger picture. In the first company he worked for, a large international energy Fortune 500 player, he was appointed programme manager for a €200m wind energy programme at the age of 27. At the age of just 30 he became COO of the US subsidiary of a mid-size international independent energy producer, and at 36, he became CEO of a European renewable energy platform owned by one of the largest global energy investment funds. The opportunities to lead other high-impact organisations continued to come. “In startups, you have very minimal time to build theories about management,” Jean explains, speaking of his leadership style. “You have to lead by example. This is where experience matters and makes a difference. Being direct in your relationships with your team, making sure people understand what’s at stake, where the company is headed, communicating proactively, and ensuring everybody communicates properly as well… All this is essential to lead and succeed.” A big believer in flat organisations, where people feel they can contribute and make a difference, Jean understands that people joining the company need to feel the organisation has a serious and ambitious set of objectives. “There is no success if you don’t place the bar at a certain level,” he states. “Nothing that matters gets built without ambition. It is valid at a personal level but also for company growth.” Through Paragon’s expertise and track record, it has acquired an interesting position in the industry. As a startup, it is old enough to see players come and go, and see strategies and business models fail or succeed. Combining EV chargers with batteries in easy-to-deploy, semi-custom packages may look to some to be a niche business, but from day one Jean knew that this niche would soon become mainstream. As testament to this, Paragon now sees new commercial opportunities opening up almost on a daily basis, with many realising that it is solving a very general problem in EV charging. “As an overall trend, I believe electrification is “eating” the world like software did 30 years ago,” elaborates Jean. “This is a very obvious and unstoppable trend. Data centres, AI, robots, drones etc, all rely and depend upon electricity as an energy vector - not fossil fuels or oil. This has to do with the sheer efficiency, practicality and security brought by electricity as an energy vector. It also has a lot to do with progress in clean electricity generation and battery storage technology over the last two decades.” Recently, Jean gained notable success in the European CEO of the Year Awards 2025 and was bestowed with the title of Most Innovative Energy Infrastructure CEO 2025. Now, he intends to continue marching forward with his ambitious plans to grow Paragon internationally, following the opening of a Swiss subsidiary earlier in the year. He also aims to grow the ever-expanding range of products, plus further immerse the company into the motorsport industry. “We want to continue to push exciting developments in motorsport,” Jean enthuses. “In 2024, we welcomed racing legend Sebastien Buemi – a former F1-driver and Formula E world champion - onboard as investor and brand ambassador. We are working with Sebastien to shape the future of energy management, applying the best techniques and performance culture learnt and developed in motorsport to our product and solution offering, to the benefit of our customers.” Contact: Jean Lemaire Company: Paragon Mobility Web Address: www.paragonmobility.com AIM-Jun25087
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