Mehdi Al Abduwani – National Ferries Company, Oman

Mehdi Al Abduwani is Chairman of the Board of the National Ferries Company of Oman and Director General of Development Planning in the Ministry of National Economy. He obtained a B.A. (Economics) from Yarmouk University in Jordan in 1989 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Planning Techniques from the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands in 1993. He has also completed a number of professional training courses including ones with the World Bank and the IMF. Mr. Al Abduwani serves on a number of Boards of Omani companies.

Fares A. Al-Balwi – MACNA, Saudi Arabia

Fares Al-Balwi is Chief Executive Officer Al Blagha Holding Group and The Maritime Co. for Navigation (MACNA), both based in Riyadh. He serves on the Boards of International Ports Services Co. Ltd. in Saudi Arabia and Alexandria International Container Terminal in Egypt. Al Blagha Holding Group is a multi-faced trading and contracting organization involved in container terminal operations both in Saudi Arabia and internationally, shipping, cargo and freight forwarding services, electric and electro-mechanical contracting etc. Al Blagha Holding Group through its subsidiary, The Maritime Company for Navigation, also owns a fleet of seven passenger and RoRo ships operating in the Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Sudan and Yemen as well as one local Saudi route between the island Farasan and Jizan.  From 2001 to 2005 Fares worked with the Saudi American Bank (Samba). He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Electrical Engineering from King Fahad University for Petroleum & Minerals and a Master of Science degree in Finance from City University London.

HAKAN ATEŞ – Denizbank, Turkey

After graduating from the Faculty of Business Administration at Middle East Technical University in 1980, Mr. Ateş began his banking career as an internal auditor at İş Bank in 1981. From 1985 onwards, he held several positions in the operations department and served as the Branch Manager at various branches of Interbank A.Ş. for seven years. He also established Cash Management system at Interbank. He was appointed as Executive Vice President in charge of the Central Operations of Interbank in 1993 before joining Bank Ekspres in 1994 as CFO and COO, leading the bank’s restructuring project with advisory services from Bank of America. In 1996 he established Garanti Bank Moscow and served there for one year as CEO. Founding DenizBank in 1997, he has been CEO of the bank since then. He also serves as a Board Member of DenizBank and President of DenizBank Financial Services Group.

Stuart Ballantyne – Sea Transport Solutions, Australia

Stuart Ballantyne is the Managing Director of Sea Transport Corporation, a company he founded in 1976. The company has sold ship designs into 43 countries and it also owns and operates vessels. Stuart spent seven years at sea as a cadet and then deck officer on passenger-cargo ships. He studied naval architecture in Glasgow and is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He received a Royal Humane Society Award for Bravery and has won six international awards for services to the marine industry. Stuart is also an author and has published three books: How To Do It and Get It, by One Who Has Done It, Got it and Can’t Get Rid of It, Bluff Your Way to Sea, and Secret Seamens Business.

John Bertell – Hogia, Finland

John W. Bertell, with 15 years of experience from the ferry and shipping industry, has been with Hogia Ferry Systems since 2001 and now holds the position as Sales Manager. The Hogia Group is involved in IT solutions for the transport industry both on land transports, port operations and seagoing transports. Since 1987 Hogia has provided the ferry industry with reservations and selling systems. John has held various positions in Hogia, both in project management and implementation and has had a good insight in both the day-to-day business processes and the management strategies within many of the ferry operators on the global ferry market. John has been one of the key persons behind the extra-ordinary growth of the company during the last few years when the amount of employees engaged in systems and services for ferries as well as the revenue on this sector has more than doubled.

GÜRKAN ÇANGA – DENIZTAKSI, TEKNOMAR, TURKEY

Gürkan Çanga was born in Istanbul where he received his business education at the University of Marmara. His professional life has been devoted mainly to finance and financial affairs with positions at Tercüman Group, Technology Holding and Kiler Holding. Since 2006 he has served as General Manager with Deniztaksi, the unique “Water Taxi” operation providing a new level of marine transportation for the residents of Istanbul.

Steve Chamberlin – Revenue Technology Services, USA

Steve Chamberlin is part of the dibonRTS team which has been providing pricing, revenue management (passenger and freight) and analytics solutions to the transportation industry for over 25 years. His responsibilities span strategic development, service delivery and  overall growth of RTS including business development. Steve’s passion is to provide leadership for cultivating new clients, delivering outstanding services and ensuring they achieve their optimal profit optimization potential from the RTS solutions. His contributions have resulted in international recognition for excellence in Client Services, Relationship Management, and Innovation.

Sean Collins – Thames Clippers, UK

Sean Collins is Managing Director of Thames Clippers, the river ferry operation in London, which he co-founded in 1999. Sean has spent his career working on the River Thames. He was apprenticed to the Company of Watermen and Lightermen in 1984 at the age of16. He was Captain with Thamesline/River Bus which pioneered fast ferry services on the River Thames. In 1995 Sean bought his first vessel, a workboat, and established Collins Waterage which continues trading to date. He saw the opportunity to build a professionally run, high-speed passenger ferry service and launched Thames Clippers in 1999. Sean has built the operation to a fleet of 13 vessels carrying in excess of 2 million passengers a year. Sean’s other great passion is rowing, a sport in which he has competed since the age of 12. At a senior level he has represented Great Britain at many international regattas and for 5 years was a member of the Great Britain National Rowing Squad. Sean was appointed Waterman to Her Majesty the Queen in 2008.

Robert Dane – Solar Sailor, Australia

Robert Dane is CEO of Solar Sailor Holdings Limited. He was born in Sydney and grew up sailing and rowing on Sydney Harbour. In 1997 Robert designed and built a successful solar and sail powered prototype ‘solarsailor’ which won the 1997 Advanced Technology Boat Race in Canberra. In 2000 he formed a company which launched a commercial tourism ‘solarsailor’ ferry on Sydney harbour and won the 2001 Engineering Design Award of the Year. Solar Sailor is now commercialising patented ‘solar sail’ and hybrid marine power technology globally. The patented ‘solarsail’ technology is a single device that can harvest wind and solar energy. The company has contracts from ferry operators in Hong Kong and the company’s American subsidiary has a US Navy contract for unmanned ocean vehicles.

Ersin Demir – Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Ersin Demir is a 24 year old student from Istanbul Technical University. He has already obtained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University and an MSc from Umeå Institute of Design. He is currently enrolled in the Industrial Design Program and expects to complete an MSc in June 2010..

PIM DE LANGE – Stena Line, The Netherlands

Pim de Lange is Area Director North Sea of Stena Line with over 40 years experience in the shipping industry. Since 1989 he has held a number of senior management positions at Stena Line and was appointed Managing Director of Stena Line Holland in 1996 and Area Director North Sea in 2000.  In 1997 he introduced the revolutionary HSS Stena Discovery on the route Hoek van Holland – Harwich and then withdrew it from service in 2007. In recent years he has expanded the Stena Line activities on the North Sea in an extremely competitive market. He is currently awaiting delivery of two new Ro-Pax vessels which will be the largest in the world. Pim is a member of the Interferry Board of Directors and in 2003 he served as President of Interferry and hosted the annual conference in Rotterdam.

Tom Docherty – UK

Tom Docherty has held a number of senior positions in the marine industry including the domestic ferry business, global towage operations and the ports industry. His career commenced as a marine engineer officer with Esso Petroleum rising to management positions in fleet engineering and operations. Whilst with Esso Petroleum Tom also managed the marine terminal at the UK’s largest oil refinery at Fawley.  The only diversion from the marine industry saw Tom as an operations auditor for Exxon Corporation working on a variety of projects from wild cat wells in the Yemeni desert to petroleum distribution issues in Tanzania to major refinery construction projects. In the ferry sector as Chief Executive with Red Funnel Group, Tom participated in the management buyout process and ultimate share sale into the infrastructure market. Tom’s interest in the marine industry continues with his participation as a consultant offering a broad range of services from general management issues to feasibility studies, or providing advice on company sales and restructuring.  

MUTLUAY DOĞAN – PETROL OFISI, TURKEY

Mr.Doğan graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University. After obtaining his master’s degreee from the same university, he received a Ph.D. from Hacettepe University in the field of  Business Administration. He joined Petrol Ofisi in March 1991 and assumed various positions within the company. His current position at Petrol Ofisi is Commercial and Industrial Sales Director which includes Aviation and Marine Sales, Wholesale Operations, Gas and Export Sales.

Andrea Fiorentino - Visa Europe, Turkey

Andrea Fiorentino has been working in Marketing at Visa Europe since 2003 and since 2007 has been responsible for the Marketing Development of Visa payWave and mobile payment projects in Turkey, Spain and Poland. Andrea has been in the payment industry for over 12 years and has an in-depth knowledge of card payments across all the European markets. His role today is to ensure that the Visa Europe contactless strategy is being deployed across key markets to prepare the way for further innovations, such as mobile, which will bring about many changes and opportunities in the payment landscape for merchants and consumers. Prior to joining Visa, Andrea was Global Director for Personalisation Development at Oberthur where he held a variety of development and marketing roles dealing with large global customers.

John Garner — P&O Ferries, UK

John Garner has thirty five years experience both at sea and ashore. He served at sea in all ranks from Cadet to Senior Master and gained ten years command experience as Master of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High Speed Craft. John was was Senior Master to the Stena HSS project team and Fleet Operations Manager responsible for the Stena UK fleet. He served for six years with the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency as Deputy Director of Operations and Director of Standards.
John joined P&O Ferries as Fleet Director in 2004 and is responsible for the 26 Ro-Ro Passenger, High Speed Craft and Ro-Ro Cargo Vessels as well as the newbuilding programme for the new Dover – Calais ferries ordered from STX in Finland. John is a Fellow of the Nautical Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers, Scientists and Technology, and a Chartered Marine Technologist.

Alexander Gevrek – Ukrferry, Ukraine

Alexander Gevrek is the Operations CEO of Ukrferry. In 1998 he earned a Masters degree in Management of Sea Transport from Odessa National Marine University and joined Ukrferry’s team. Ukrferry operates Ro-Ro, Ro-Pax and Rail ferries in the Black sea region and has developed a number of ro-pax/railferry services between Black Sea countries. Alexander has held various positions in Ukrferry including day to day operations, representing the company’s interests in Bulgaria and Turkey and involvement with the improvement of new services. He has also taken part in intergovernmental commissions related to EU TRACECA corridors and co-operation in the transport field.

BEN HARRIS – Shipowners P&I Club, UK

Ben Harris graduated in 2001 with an honours degree in Law and the Judges award for International Trade.  He joined the Claims Department of The Shipowners P&I Club in September 2001 handling a variety of different cases in different jurisdictions around the world.  In 2003 Ben was seconded to the Club’s Australian correspondents for six months and on his return to London, continued to handle the majority of claims for the Club’s Membership in Australasia.  Ben’s other areas of responsibility include Turkey and some of the most prominent ferry operators globally.  In 2008 Ben qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales and was promoted to Deputy Claims Manager.  

Richard Jansen – DVB Bank, USA

Since joining DVB Bank in May 2000, Mr. Jansen has served on both the risk management as well origination side of DVB’s Shipping division, with stints in Rotterdam, Curacao and lately New York. Since 2005, he is the Global Head of the Cruise & Ferry Team, what is believed to be, the world’s only unit dedicated to cruise, ferry and yacht financing. Before DVB, Mr. Jansen held a position as sponsorship coordinator and marketing manager for Indy-car race team ‘Conquest Racing’ in Indianapolis, Indiana. Richard holds a Master-degree in International Business with a major in Finance and Accounting from the University of Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Nur Öztin Kurak - Visa Europe, Turkey

Nur Öztin Kurak joined Visa Turkey in 2000 as Assistant General Manager responsible for New Technologies. The scope of her responsibilities varied from new products to member relations along with coordination of the PR activities. She was appointed as Turkey Country Director in October 2008. Prior to joining Visa, Nur worked in the Boyner Group as the Group Business Solutions Manager responsible for developing and implementing information system strategies. She has given extensive consultancy in Retail Banking in both banks and technology companies in her previous positions. Nur Öztin Kurak graduated with an MSc. from the Computer Engineering department of METU.

OSKAR LEVANDER – Wartsila, Finland

Oskar Levander graduated with honours from Helsinki University of Technology in 2000, with a Master of Science in Naval Architecture. He has since been working with Wärtsilä Corporation and is currently Head of Conceptual Design in Wärtsilä Ship Design. Prior to this he has held positions as Director R&D, in charge of the Operational Performance program in the Ship Power R&D department, general manager of Conceptual Design, project manager and technical sales support engineer. He has been working mostly with the development of new ship designs and propulsion solutions for various ship types. He has developed many ship concepts intended to run on LNG and has actively promoted a switch to this more environmentally sound fuel. He is as well focusing a lot of attention on methods for making ships more energy efficient.

Alphan Manas – Turkish Futurists Association, Turkey

Alphan Manas is Chairman of Brightwell Holdings. He graduated with a degree in Textile and Apparel Engineering from Aegean University in 1983 and received his Master's degree in Production Management from State University of New York (SUNY) in 1987. After working in the apparel business in New York and Turkey, he co-founded Exim, followed by Planet and Teknoser, then gathered all three under the flagship of a holding company, Teknoloji Holding, in 1998. He parted ways with his partner in 2006 and established Brightwell Holdings BV in the Netherlands and with offices in the U.S. and the U.K. His most successful venture was IDDAA, the licensed sports betting project in Turkey which he sold for $US 400 million in 2005. Alphan Manas has been deeply involved in several infrastructure projects in Turkey including the Source Bar Coding of Pharmaceuticals, the Electronic Highway Toll Collection System, the 1997 Census Project, Automatic Meter Reading system and the roll out of “Sports Betting and Horse Racing” wagering via stationary agents, GSM, ITV, Internet and IVR platforms. He is also a self-taught futurist, a prolific inventor, industrial designer and lately spends a considerable part of his time conceiving of and devising inventions on various scales which entail the use of innovative technology.

Enishan Özcan – Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Enishan Özcan is a 24 year old student at Istanbul Technical University. He obtained a Mechanical Engineering BSc in 2007 and Automotive Engineering MSc in 2009. He worked for Yonca-Onuk JV Shipyard as construction vice chief from July 2007 to April 2008 and more recently with Alcelik TUMOSAN A.S. as an R&D Engineer. He is currently enrolled in the Automotive Engineering program and expects to complete a PhD by June, 2013.

MÜNIR CANSIN ÖZDEN – Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Münir Cansın Özden is a 25 year old student from Istanbul Technical University. He worked for Yonca-Onuk JV Shipyard, a world leader in design and building of high technology composite patrol boats, as a R&D Engineer from August 2007 to December 2007. His current research interests are submarine design and air independent propulsion systems. Münir is enrolled in the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering program and expects to complete his BSc degree in December 2009.

dr. ahmet paksoy - ido, turkey

Ahmet Paksoy has been General Manager of IDO since May 2004. He has focused on bringing world standards for waterborne transportation to IDO by making safety and customer satisfaction top priorities. Dr. Paksoy is credited with amalgamating City Line Ferry services with IDO and making IDO the world leader in terms of number of passengers carried, fleet size and ports of call serviced. Before joining IDO Dr. Paksoy became a well known and respected maritime professional during a career at Istanbul University over 12 years. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Naval Architectural and Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a PhD from Istanbul University. He also completed the Port, Shipping and Transport Management program at the International Maritime Transport Academy in the Netherlands. Dr. Paksoy has served on the Interferry Board of Directors since 2007 and he is currently President of the Association. He is married, and has two children.

Lennart Pundt – Hamburg University of Technology, Germany

Lennart Pundt is a 30 year old student from Hamburg University of Technology. He obtained a Dipl.-Ing in Naval Architecture in September 2008 and his main focus was on Ship Design and Ship Propulsion. Lennart is currently enrolled as a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Ship Design and Ship Safety where he is working on a thesis concerning optimization of trial trips and speed measurement. He expects to complete his doctoral degree in 2011.

Johan Roos – Stena Rederi AB, Sweden

Johan Roos is the Director of Sustainability with Stena Rederi AB. He holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In the year 2000, Johan left DNV to join Stena Line, the ferry operator, to develop environmental management systems internally. Since 2006, he has been in charge of sustainability issues for all of Stena's shipping activities. Johan is an active member within The Swedish Shipowners Association, The UK Chamber of Shipping, The European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA), Intertanko and the World Economic Forum. He is also a regular member of the Interferry delegation at IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee meetings.

Keith Sherwood – Carus Ab Ltd, Finland

Having started as a reservations agent for a UK regional airline in the late 70’s, Keith Sherwood has spent over 30 years in the travel and transportation sector. His first involvement in the Ferry industry came during the early nineties when, as the Sales & Marketing Director of Revenue Technology Services, he conducted Revenue Management workshops, consultancy projects and pre-implementation studies for numerous operators including, Brittany Ferries, DFDS, Color Line and Silja Line. In 1998 he joined Travellog which was then taken over by Anite who, at the time, also owned Carus. When Carus staged a MBO in 2008 Keith continued his role as Sales Manager and is responsible for the companies continued growth and expansion around the world. Carus is a leading provider of booking, ticketing, back office and port automation solutions designed specifically for the ferry industry.

Luigi Silipo – E-DEA, ITALY

Johan Snellman – STX Europe

Johan Snellman, born 1954, is a graduate in Naval Architecture from the Technical University in Helsinki. In 1981 he started as a project engineer at the Rauma-Repola shipyard in Rauma, which over the years also has worked under the names Rauma Yards, Finnyards, Aker Finnyards and Aker Yards. In the years 1988-91 he worked as R&D manager at the yard and since 1992 in the sales department, presently as Vice President, STX Europe Cruise & Ferries. During the years he has also worked as project manager for several vessels, including M/S ULYSSES, one of the largest ferries in the world.

Vassilis Spitadakis – FORTHcrs SA, Greece

Vassilis Spitadakis is Managing Director of FORTHcrs SA and R&D Manager of FORTHnet SA. He received an MSc degree (February 1994) in telecommunications, management and computer data networks. He contributed to the development of FORTHnet - the leading convergent network operator in Greece.  Since 1996, Vassilis has managed the FORTHnet R&D department, mainly responsible for the coordination of market-driven research projects. He has been responsible as a co-ordinator and as partner within European projects in the area of electronic services for transportation and tourism.  Since 2001, he has been Chairman and Managing Director of FORTHcrs – a subsidiary company of FORTHnet –  providing on-line reservation services for transportation and tourism in Greece and abroad, specialised in ferry ticketing and distribution systems and services.

Fritz Stabinger – IUMI, Switzerland

Fritz Stabinger has been Secretary General of IUMI since 2002. After his studies in economics, Fritz started his professional career at Credit Suisse in Zürich and moved from there to a trading house dealing mainly in cotton and green coffee. As a coffee buyer and blender he worked at Wall Street, New York, in Costa Rica and Brazil before joining Swiss Re Zürich’s marine department, in 1976. He passed his exams as Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
His main responsibility at Swiss Re was marine business in Latin America and Europe. Fritz decided to take early retirement as head of Swiss Re Zürich’s European marine business and member of the Group Advisory Board in May, 2005. He now works exclusively for IUMI.

Kadir Topbas – Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey

Mr. Kadir Topbas has been the Mayor of Istanbul since the 28 March 2004. He graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Theology in 1972 and Mimar Sinan University, Department of Architecture in 1974. He earned his Ph.D from Istanbul University, Department of Art History and Archaeology. He worked as an architect for many years. Between 1994-1998, Mr. Topbas was an adviser to Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Mayor of Istanbul at the time and now the Prime Minister of Turkey. He also served as the deputy director of Istanbul Cultural Heritage Protection and Monuments Committee of the Ministry of Culture. In 2007 he was elected as the Co-President of United Cities and Local Governments. He is also the member of the Board of Directors of the History and Environment Foundation. Mr.Topbas expresses his feelings towards Istanbul with a simple but meaningful sentence: “Istanbul is my life”. He is married and has three children.

Andreas Ullrich – Germanischer Lloyd, Germany

Andreas Ullrich is Shiptype Manager Passenger Vessels at the international classification society Germanischer Lloyd. Andreas studied naval architecture in Rostock, Germany. He has been with Germanischer Lloyd since 1991 working in the field of ship safety, focussing on passenger ships, high speed crafts and yachts. Andreas has over 18 years experience in the field of fire protection, means of escape and life saving appliances. He is also working as a Consultant for the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Town Development, representing Germany at IMO in working groups of the Sub-Committee on Fire Protection and the Marine Safety Committee with a main focus on passenger ship safety.

Wilco van der Linden – WÄrtsilÄ SHIP DESIGN, The Netherlands

Wilco van der Linden is sales director of the Wärtsilä Ship Design segment of Wärtsilä Corporation, Finland. He graduated as a naval architect from Haarlem Polytechnic in the Netherlands in 1978 and held various positions in design, project engineering and sales in the Dutch ship building industry. From 1995 to 2003 he was the commercial director of Van der Giessen-de Noord shipyard, builder of many well-known ropax and cruise ferries. Wilco has been a member of the DNV Ferry Committee since 2004. In 2003 he worked closely with Stena Line’s Pim de Lange in hosting the 28th Interferry Conference in Rotterdam.

John Waterhouse – Elliott Bay Design Group, USA

John Waterhouse has more than 25 years of experience in naval architecture and marine engineering. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley in 1979 and a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from MIT in 1984. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. In 1987, John and two other partners purchased the assets of Nickum & Spaulding Associates, Inc. and formed Elliott Bay Design Group. Under John's visionary leadership, EBDG grew in both size and stature to become a premier naval architecture and marine engineering firm with a world-wide reputation for excellence. John is actively involved in a number of advisory groups working to improve the US maritime industry including the Regulatory Committee of the Passenger Vessel Association, the US Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's Passenger Vessel Access Advisory Committee, the National Research Council Transportation Research Board Committee on Ferry Transportation and the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association.

Oliver Weiss – Ince & Co., UK

Oliver Weiss graduated with a law degree from Magdalene College, Cambridge, undertook articles with a leading maritime law firm and was admitted as a solicitor in 1976. Before joining Ince & Co in 1979 he worked as an in-house counsel for an Italian freight forwarder which he describes as “interesting”. Since he became a partner in 1984 he has developed a litigation practice which encompasses all aspects of shipping. He undertook many total loss investigations commencing with the SALEM in 1979. This work was prevalent in that last big shipping downturn in the early 1980s culminating in a successful defence of “MAREL” (1994) on behalf of hull underwriters. He now acts for a number of Greek and French owners (where his French language skills help) as well as acting for some of the largest box ship operators. He has had experience of a number of matters involving the ferry industry. These have concerned marine casualties, newbuilding disputes as well as competition problems between ferry operators.