Who’s Who: Maritime Movements for November/December 2024
WORK BOAT WORLD:
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has appointed current Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Eisaku Ito as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective April 1, 2025. Ito succeeds Seiji Izumisawa, who will take on the role of Chairman of the Board after six years as MHI's top executive.
Ito served as MHI's Executive Vice President, CTO, and Head of the Technology Strategy Office since April 2020 and has spent over 30 years working for the company.
Interocean Marine Services, a UK-based specialist provider of marine services to the global energy industry, has appointed Robert Dalziel as its new Managing Director for the Middle East and Asia Pacific (APAC).
Joining the company in December 2024, Dalziel brings nearly 30 years of engineering and business development expertise within the energy sector. He is the former Managing Director of and CEO of the Rigmar Group, Interocean’s recently merged sister company.
Hans-Tore Jenssen has been appointed as the new General Manager of Vard Electro. He started his new role in the company on January 1, 2025.
Jenssen has been working at Vard Electro since 2017. He started as System Integrator before he became a Project Manager. From June 2021 he took on the position as Vice President for Electrical Installation Operations and was promoted to Senior Vice President Electrical Installation Operations with effect from on January 1, 2024.
Jens Økland has been appointed as acting Executive Vice President for Renewables (REN) in Equinor with immediate effect. Current EVP Pål Eitrheim has accepted a new leadership position outside the company.
Økland has more than 30 years of experience in Equinor, most recently as Vice President for Strategy and Commercial Solutions in Renewables. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Executive Vice President for the Marketing, Midstream and Processing (MMP) business area.
Australian volunteer rescue organisation Marine Rescue NSW has appointed three newly elected regional directors: Peter Steigrad (Greater Sydney), John Samulski (Illawarra), and Caron Parfitt (Monaro).
Steigrad has been a member of Marine Rescue NSW for over 15 years, during which he also served leadership roles at Marine Rescue Middle Harbour. He served as Unit Commander from 2018 to 2024 following a two-year term as Deputy Unit Commander from 2016 to 2018.
Steigrad is a Marine Rescue NSW Master, holds an AMSA Certificate of Competence M<24M and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
Samulski has been a member of Marine Rescue NSW since 2019. He was elected as Marine Rescue Ulladulla Unit Commander in 2022 and has also held the role of Deputy Unit Commander. He also had 35 years prior service with the Royal Australian Air Force.
Parfitt has been an active member of Marine Rescue NSW for over 11 years, serving as Marine Rescue Bermagui Deputy Unit Commander from 2016 to 2018 and as Unit Commander from 2018 to 2024. As a Marine Rescue NSW Coxswain and Watch Officer, she possesses a comprehensive understanding of Marine Rescue NSW operations, both on the water and in the radio room.
Parfitt holds a Masters of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Statistics. Over her 40-year career, she gained extensive experience across information technology, marketing, customer service, strategy and project management. This includes a decade as an independent management consultant, where she frequently advised company boards on strategy and operational improvements.
C-Job Naval Architects has designated Kasia Romantowska to the role of Managing Director of C-Job Gdańsk, overseeing sales and engineering teams located in Poland.
Prior to joining C-Job, Romantowska’s experience in the industry includes most recently as the location director for Damen operations in Gdańsk. Her previous career experience includes various leadership roles at Ulstein Poland and Remontowa Marine Design and Consulting.
Romantowska earned both a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture and an MBA in Portfolio, Programme and Project Management from Technical University Gdańsk.
Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Board of Directors has elected Kari Wilkinson to serve as President of the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division, effective January 1, 2025. She will succeed Jennifer Boykin, who retired from her position after 37 years with the company.
Wilkinson has served as president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division since 2021, where she has overseen the US Navy’s amphibious assault and surface combatant ship programs, and the division’s 11,000 shipbuilders.
SHIP WORLD:
The World Shipping Council (WSC) Board of Directors has elected Soren Toft, CEO of MSC, as the new Chair of the World Shipping Council Board. Randy Chen, Vice Chairman of Wan Hai Lines, has been elected Vice Chair.
Toft and Chen will serve a two-year term, effective immediately. The new Chair and Vice Chair succeed Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, and Jeremy Nixon, CEO of ONE, who have served as co-Chairs of the WSC Board for two terms, starting November 2020.
The Board of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have unanimously appointed Thomas A. Kazakos as its next Secretary General. Kazakos will replace Guy Platten who will be stepping down in June 2025.
Kazakos has been the Director General of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, the representative National-Member Association of Cyprus at ICS, since 1995. He studied at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and a Master‘s Degree in European and International Trade Law.
Kazakos began his professional career at the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation prior to joining the Cyprus Shipping Chamber. Internationally, he has represented Cyprus on the board of ICS and the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) in addition to being an Administrative Board member of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
Seaspan will implement a number of leadership changes effective January 1, 2025.
Jordan Pechie has been appointed President of Seaspan Marine Transportation, succeeding Derek Ollmann, who assumes a new role as Chief Executive Officer of Transportation with The Washington Companies, following the planned retirement of Frank Butzelaar, the former Chief Operating Officer.
Pechie is a Master Mariner with more than 19 years of experience in the maritime industry, and a wealth of knowledge from around the world. Having joined Seaspan in 2020, he has been an integral part of the senior leadership team at Seaspan Marine since April 2023.
Pechie previously served as Senior Vice President of Marine Transportation at Seaspan Marine. Prior to that, he led HaiSea Marine.
At the newly formed Seaspan Energy, Harly Penner has been appointed President of Seaspan Energy following the planned retirement of Ian McIver.
Penner has a marine engineering background and over 25 years of experience in the maritime industry. As Senior Vice President, Seaspan Energy, he was responsible for the commercial development and startup of the LNG bunkering business as well as the execution of Seaspan’s alternative fuels program. Prior to that, he led Seaspan Ferries Corporation and was responsible for a shift to alternate fuels and electrification.
The San Diego Board of Port Commissioners has selected Scott Chadwick to serve as the Port of San Diego’s next President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Chadwick is currently the city manager of the City of Carlsbad. He brings with him 20 years of city government experience, including over six years in Carlsbad and approximately 14 years at the City of San Diego in various roles including chief operating officer, human resources director, and labor relations director.
Chadwick had also served in the US Army for eight years as an intelligence analyst. He graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.
Guenther Siemens, who has been with BBC Chartering in varying positions for more than 25 years, takes over the role of the Managing Director of Briese Chartering effective January 1, 2025. He succeeds Ilona Lazareva, who is leaving the position at her own request but will remain with Briese Chartering as a chartering broker.
The position of Siemens as Chief Operations Officer at BBC Chartering will be taken over by Christoph Deters, who recently had the position of a Team Lead in the Operations Department.
FISHING BOAT WORLD:
Alexander Moiseev has been appointed to the post of President of Russia's Fishery Shipowners Association (FSA).
Moiseev has extensive experience in government bodies and large state-owned companies, including in the fields of fishing and shipbuilding. From 2000 to 2003, he served as First Deputy, and then Chairman of the State Fisheries Committee of the Russian Federation. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Deputy General Director of the Medium- and Small-Ton Shipbuilding Concern.
Moiseev also worked in the Office of the Government of the Russian Federation, as Deputy Governor of the Novgorod and Irkutsk Regions, and as Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Urals Federal District. Before his appointment as President of the FSA, he worked in the defense industry.
