Paul grew up in Auckland, New Zealand where he at high school first developed his love for all things French. His main passion at that time, however, was to become an airline pilot, something he achieved when becoming the second youngest pilot (21) hired by Air New Zealand in the past about 30 years. Travel was in his DNA and he surprised most who knew him, when at 27 he resigned from the national airline and went to the Middle East. He was rapidly promoted to a B-737 captain, flying for Gulf Air and was later selected for the Bahrain Royal Flight, ferrying the Emir and family all over the Middle East, Asia, North Africa and Europe.

Paul’s gypsy genes soon resurfaced, and he became a ‘contract pilot’ serving fixed-term contracts at, British Airways, Vacation Air-Canada, Hapag-Lloyd Germany, Sahara India, Corse Air-France, EuroBelgian Airlines and finally Virgin Express. At Virgin, Paul was not only President of the French subsidiary but also Director of Corporate Affairs for Virgin Europe, working closely with Virgin Founder and Chairman, Sir Richard Branson.

Paul later co-founded a prestige events management company, Absolutely Monte Carlo, while living in Cap d’Ail, on the French Riviera.

After 22 years abroad he was offered a senior management position back where it all began, at Air New Zealand. This role was as head of strategic & internal communications, and special projects – a wide brief that included PR activities covering Air New Zealand Fashion Week, the prestigious Annual Wine Awards, the 2003 America’s Cup, as well as PR and sponsorship in the arts – particularly modern dance.

Head-hunted for a senior airline role in the United States in 2006 and later to head-up go!, the inter-island Hawaii airline, for a couple of years, Paul quickly established himself in the islands where he has lived for 15 years.

As the proud and passionate ambassador of polo in Hawaii, Paul is also a member of the US Polo Association, and in 2020 added United States citizenship to his New Zealand and French collections.

Today Paul works part-time as Director of Marketing, Communications & PR for Pacific Air Cargo, where he also heads up PAC Gives Back, the company’s philanthropy arm, and he also runs his own boutique marketing & PR operation, Manahau LLC.