Gabriel Panayotides has been the Chairman of the Board since February 1998. Mr. Panayotides has participated in the ownership and management of ocean going vessels since 1978. He is also a member of the Greek Committee of Bureau Veritas, an international classification society. He holds a Bachelors degree from the Piraeus University of Economics. Mr. Panayotides is also a member of the Board of Directors of D/S Torm. Mr. Panayotides acted as the Company's Chief Executive Officer from February 2008 to April 2008.
Board of Directors
Biographical information with respect to each of our Directors is set forth below.
Gabriel Panayotides
President, Chairman and Director
Frithjof Platou
Non – Executive Director
Frithjof Platou, a Norwegian citizen, has broad experience in shipping and project finance, ship broking, ship agency and trading and has served on the Boards of several companies in the U.K. and Norway. Since 1984, he has managed his own financial consulting and advisory company, Stoud & Co Limited, specializing in corporate and project finance for the shipping, offshore oil & gas and various other industries. He was head of the shipping and offshore departments at Den Norske Creditbank and Nordic Bank as well as at American Express Bank. Mr. Platou holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Geneva, speaks and writes fluent Norwegian, English, French and German, has a reasonable knowledge of Spanish and a basic understanding of Japanese.
Evangelos Macris
Non – Executive Director
Evangelos Macris is a member of the Bar Association of Athens and is the founding partner of Evangelos S. Macris Law Office, a Piraeus based office specializing in Shipping Law. He holds a degree in Economics and Political Science from the Pantion University in Athens and a Law Degree from the University of Athens, as well as a post graduate degree in Shipping Law from the University of London, University College.
Apostolos Kontoyannis
Non – Executive Director
Apostolos Kontoyannis is the Chairman of Investments and Finance Ltd., a financial consultancy firm he founded in 1987, that specializes in financial and structuring issues relating to the Greek maritime industry, with offices in Piraeus and London. Previously, he was employed by Chase Manhattan Bank N.A. in Frankfurt (Corporate Bank), London (Head of Shipping Finance South Western European Region) and Piraeus (Manager, Ship Finance Group) from 1975 to 1987. Mr. Kontoyannis holds a bachelors degree in Finance and Marketing and an M.B.A. in Finance from Boston University.
Hans J Mende
Non – Executive Director
Hans J. Mende has been a director of the company since April 2008 and was formerly a director of Quintana. Mr. Mende also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. and is a director of Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc., both of which are coal companies. Since 1986, when he co-founded AMCI International, Inc., or AMCI, a mining and trading company, he has served as AMCI's President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to founding AMCI, Mr. Mende was employed by the Thyssen Group, one of the largest German multinational companies with interests in steel making and general heavy industrial production, in various senior executive positions. At the time of his departure from Thyssen Group, Mr. Mende was President of its international trading company.
Trevor Williams
Non – Executive Director
Trevor J. Williams, a Bermuda citizen served as a Director of the Company from November 1988 to April 2008. In September 2008, Mr. Williams was elected to our Board once again. Mr. Williams is a Chartered Accountant and started his shipping career with the Anglo Norness Shipping Group in 1966 and subsequently worked for Mobil Oil Corp and the Mundogas Group of companies as the CFO from 1972 until 1985. Mundogas was a principal owner of LPG vessels trading worldwide. From 1985 until March 31, 2011, Mr. Williams was engaged as President and Director of Consolidated Services Limited, a Bermuda-based firm providing management services to the shipping industry. Mr. Williams is retained by Consolidated Services Ltd as an advisor on shipping matters.
