Who's Who: Maritime Movements for May/June 2025
WORK BOAT WORLD:
Lars Ivar Elvertrø will take over as the new CEO of Norwegian naval architecture firm Moen Marin.
Elvertrø has been part of Moen Marin since 2019. For the past four years, he has held the role of Sales and Marketing Director.
Kai Karstensen will take on a newly created role as Chief Operating Officer. He will have overall responsibility for project and aftermarket in the company.
Kastensen has long and broad experience from the maritime sector, both commercially and operationally. Before joining Moen Marin’s parent company ScaleAQ in 2018, he worked internationally for over 20 years.
US shipbuilder the TOTE Group has appointed Alex Hofeling, currently President of Tote Maritime Alaska, to the new role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). With this transition, Bill Crawford, who served as the Tote Group’s Vice President of Commercial, is being promoted to President of TOTE Maritime Alaska.
Hofeling joined Tote in 2013. As CCO, he will oversee the organisation’s corporate and commercial strategy as well as marketing efforts across all business units. His focus will be on customer engagement, market expansion, and integrated business development.
Taking over the helm as president of TOTE Maritime Alaska, Crawford will oversee all operations for the company based out of the Tacoma, Washington, office. He began his career at Tote in 2003 and brings over 26 years of experience in the shipping and LTL industries.
Hofeling and Crawford will transition to their new roles on August 4, 2025.
UK-based unmanned systems specialist Uncrewed Survey Solutions (USS) has announced three key appointments in support of its ongoing growth strategy.
Mike Casey has joined USS’ advisory board, with Trish Buxton joining in the newly formed role of Business Development Manager, and Liam Eagling as Field Engineer.
Casey joined the advisory board to support the senior management team, shape the organisational strategy, and to help develop the business’ offerings. He is the Founder of Portico Advisers, a consultancy that advises global investors and entrepreneurs.
Casey has an MA in international relations and international economics
Buxton is responsible for driving business growth by expanding its reach and identifying new opportunities, together with contributing to the development of new products to match market needs. She was previously Regional Sales Manager at Teledyne Geospatial, specialising in geomatics. Prior to this, she worked within the offshore survey industry as a data processor and cartographer for Racal Survey/Thales Geosolutions onshore and offshore.
Buxton has a degree in physical geography with mapping science.
Eagling previously worked for USS on placement whilst studying for his renewable energy engineering degree as a mature student.
Fugro has appointed Niels Schallenberg as Group Director Europe and Africa. In this role, he will join Fugro’s executive leadership team and will be responsible for driving the company’s strategic growth across the Europe and Africa region.
Schallenberg held senior leadership and strategy positions at Deloitte, Grontmij (now Sweco), Haskoning, and most recently Arcadis. He holds an MSc in industrial engineering and management science from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Kim Nalle Stenman has been appointed Lamor’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of Lamor’s group leadership team, having assumed the role on June 9, 2025.
Stenman has over 20 years of experience in executive roles within international business environments. He has served as CFO in several companies such as the Marinetek Group, Savosolar, and Boskalis Terramare, as well as in leadership roles in building the Asian operations of what is now the Valmet Group.
Stenman's career has focused on strategic financial leadership and the development of international operations.
Propulsion specialist Steerprop has appointed Marit Holmlund-Sund as its new Director of Brand, Marketing and Communications. Holmlund-Sund, who joined Steerprop in March, will be responsible for growing awareness of the company’s propulsion systems throughout the maritime industry.
Holmlund-Sund will be part of the management team of Steerprop. She has an extensive background in maritime marketing. She was also Head of Brand and Marketing for Finnish adventure boating company Axopar, and was most recently Head of International Relations for Novia University of Applied Sciences Finland.
Austal Australia has appointed finance executive Richard Gibb as a Non-Executive Director.
Gibb has spent over 35 years in international finance and investment banking, and currently sits on the Board of ANZ Group Holdings where he chairs the risk committee. Most recently, he served as the CEO of Credit Suisse Australia for five years to 2024.
Prior to that, he worked in a variety of positions at Deutsche Bank including Co-Head of Corporate Finance, Asia Pacific in Hong Kong; Co-Head of Global Financial Institutions in New York; and Chief Operating Officer, Global Banking in London.
Gibb has also held positions at Merrill Lynch and Bankers Trust in the United States and the Asia Pacific.
Bar Technologies has appointed Yildiz Saraç Williams as its new Technical Director, effective June 12, 2025.
Williams is a chartered engineer and naval architect with extensive consultancy experience. She brings more than 25 years of experience from Lloyd's Register, BMT and Global Maritime where she led various marine consultancy projects across commercial shipping.
She is also a fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.
SHIP WORLD:
ESL Shipping has appointed Per Grind as Business Unit Director, Handies. He will assume his new role on August 4, 2025.
Grind has almost 20 years of international experience in supply chains and logistics. Over the years, he has worked in companies such as Maersk, APL Logistics and Panalpina in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
His latest position has been leading the Maersk commercial organisation in Sweden.
Josh Cheshier has been named Vice President of Operations for Crowley Maritime Corporation’s Crowley Fuels business unit, which provides energy distribution and supply chain solutions throughout Alaska.
Cheshire has more than two decades of expertise in the energy sector and has held various industry leadership roles overseeing operations across Alaska and eastern Canada. His expertise spans upstream development and operations services as well as equipment management.
Cheshier holds a master’s degree in science from Mississippi State University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Central Washington University.
FISHING BOAT WORLD:
Baldvin Thorsteinsson has assumed the role of CEO of Icelandic fishing company Samherji, succeeding his father, Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, who has stepped down after 42 years as CEO, having led the company since its founding in 1983.
In conjunction with his new role, Baldvin has stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Samherji. Jón Sigurdsson, former CEO of Össur (now Embla Medical), has been elected to the board and will serve as the new Chairman.
Baldvin holds a BSc degree in industrial engineering from the University of Iceland and joined Samherji after graduating in 2007. Prior to that, he had worked in various roles within the company and its subsidiaries from a young age.
Baldvin served as CEO of Icelandic Drilling from 2013 to 2016, then returned to Samherji as Managing Director of Business Development, serving in that role from 2016 to 2019.
He then moved to the Netherlands, where he led the establishment of Alda Seafood. He served as the company's Managing Director until 2022, when he moved to Norway to manage Alda Seafood’s office in Oslo.
Baldvin has served on the boards of numerous companies both in Iceland and abroad. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eimskip from 2019 to 2022, having joined the board in 2018. He also served on the board of Olíuverzlun Íslands (Olís) from 2011 to 2018, including one year as Chairman.
Currently, he is a board member of Samherji Fish Farming, Nergård in Norway, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alda Seafood Holding in the Netherlands.
