星散海运 SBLK

Mr. Arne Blystad has served on our Board of Directors since July 2018. He is an independent investor located in Oslo, Norway. The Blystad Group, which is 100% owned and controlled by Mr. Arne Blystad and his immediate family, has a long history in international shipping. Mr. Blystad began, after high school, his career as a shipbroker in London and New York. He later started various ventures within the shipping and offshore drilling space. This has involved both private and public listed companies, where he has held various board and management positions over the years. The Blystad Group has investments in various shipping segments such as dry bulk, chemical tankers, container feeder and semi sub heavy-lift, real-estate and securities.

Mr. Nicos Rescos has served as our Chief Operating Officer since July 2014. He also serves as Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Director of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. since May 2010. Mr. Rescos has been actively involved in the shipping industry for the past 27 years having held several senior commercial management positions throughout his career developing strong expertise in the dry bulk, container and product tanker markets. He has been responsible for developing and executing more than 200 vessel acquisitions and dispositions as well as having structured several joint ventures in the dry bulk and tanker sectors. He received a BSc in Management Sciences from The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and an MSc in Shipping Trade and Finance from the City University Business School.

Mr. Simos Spyrou serves as our Co-Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Spyrou joined us as Deputy Chief Financial Officer in 2011 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in September 2011. From 1997 to 2011, Mr. Spyrou worked at the Hellenic Exchanges (HELEX) Group, the public company which operates the Greek equities and derivatives exchange, the clearing house and the central securities depository. From 2005 to 2011, Mr. Spyrou held the position of Director of Strategic Planning, Communication and Investor Relations at the Hellenic Exchanges Group and he also served as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee of its board of directors. From 1997 to 2002, Mr. Spyrou was responsible for financial analysis at the research and technology arm of the Hellenic Exchanges Group. Mr. Spyrou attended the University of Oxford, receiving a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MSc in Engineering, Economics & Management, specializing in finance. Following the completion of his studies at Oxford, he obtained a post graduate degree in Banking and Finance, from Athens University of Economics & Business.

Mr. Hamish Norton serves as our President. Until December 31, 2012, Mr. Norton was Managing Director and Global Head of the Maritime Group at Jefferies & Company Inc. Mr. Norton is known for creating Nordic American Tanker Shipping and Knightsbridge Tankers, the first two high dividend yield shipping companies. He advised Arlington Tankers in the merger with General Maritime and has been an advisor to U.S. Shipping Partners. He also advised New Mountain Capital on its investment in Intermarine. In the 1990s, he advised Frontline on the acquisition of London and Overseas Freighters and arranged the sale of Pacific Basin Bulk Shipping. Prior to joining Jefferies, in 2007, Mr. Norton ran the shipping practice at Bear Stearns since 2000. From 1984-1999 he worked at Lazard Freres & Co.; from 1995 onward as general partner and head of shipping. Mr. Norton is a director of Neptune Lines and the Safariland Group. Mr. Norton received an AB in Physics from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Physics from University of Chicago.

Mr. Koert Erhardt has served as a director of our Board of Directors since our inception. He is also the Chairman of our Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee. He has served as the Managing Director of Augustea Bunge Maritime Ltd. of Malta. From 1998 to September 2004, Mr. Erhardt served as General Manager of Coeclerici Armatori S.p.A. and Coeclerici Logistics S.p.A., affiliates of the Coeclerici Group, where he created a shipping pool that commercially managed over 130 vessels with a carrying volume of 72 million tons and developed the use of the Freight Forward Agreement trading, which acts as a financial hedging mechanism for the pool. Prior to these positions, Mr. Erhardt served in various management positions in the shipping industry. Mr. Erhardt received his Diploma in Maritime Economics and Logistics from Hogere Havenen Vervoersschool (now Erasmus University), Rotterdam, and successfully completed the International Executive Program at INSEAD, Fontainebleau.

Mr. Petros Pappas has served since July 2014 as our CEO and as a director on our Board of Directors. Mr. Pappas served from our inception up to July 2014 as our non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and director. He served as a member of our Board of Directors since its inception. Throughout his career as a principal and manager in the shipping industry, Mr. Pappas has been involved in hundreds of vessel acquisitions and disposals. In 1989, he founded Oceanbulk Maritime S.A., a dry cargo shipping company that has operated managed vessels aggregating as much as 1.6 million deadweight tons of cargo capacity. He also founded Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. affiliated companies, which are involved in the ownership and management sectors of the shipping industry. Mr. Pappas serves on the board of directors of the UK Defense Club, a leading insurance provider of legal defense services in the shipping industry worldwide and GARD P.&I. Ltd., a leading mutual insurance association, and is a member of the Union of Greek Ship Owners (UGS). Mr. Pappas received his B.A. in Economics and his MBA from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Mr. Pappas was awarded the 2014 Lloyd's List Greek Awards Shipping Personality of the Year.

Zenon Kleopas is our Executive Vice President - Green Energy & Technology of Star Bulk. He was actively involved in the acquisition of Star Bulk's fleet in 2007 and 2008. He has extensive experience in ship operations and supervising ship management through his continuous employment in shipping companies in the U.K. and Greece since 1980. Mr. Kleopas has worked for various shipping companies namely Victoria Steamship Co Ltd (London), Marship Corporation, Astron Maritime SA, Combine Marine Inc. and Oceanbulk Maritime SA. Before joining Star Bulk, Mr. Kleopas was the general manager of Combine Marine Inc. and the managing director of Oceanbulk Maritime SA. Mr. Kleopas received a B.Sc. degree in 1978 and a M.Sc. degree in 1980 from Glasgow University, in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering. He is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (UK), the Marine Technical Managers' Association of Greece and the Hellenic Technical Committee of classification societies Bureau Veritas and RINA.

Eleni Vrettou serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Attica Bank since September 2022 and has more than 20 years international experience in banking, specializing in the areas of investment, corporate and commercial banking. Prior to her present position, she held the role of Chief Strategy and Investor Relations Officer for Lamda Development. From April 2019 to April 2022 Ms. Vrettou served as the Executive General Manager, Chief of Corporate and Investment Banking at Piraeus Bank Group and she has also acted as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Piraeus Factors S.A, Piraeus Leasing and Piraeus Leases, as well as a Director for ETVA Industrial Development Zones. Previously, she had worked for 14 years at HSBC Bank Plc (HSBC) in Greece and the United Kingdom. In her most recent role at HSBC, Ms. Vrettou was a Managing Director and Head of Wholesale Banking Greece, while prior to that, she had served as the Head of Multinationals and Business Development for HSBC in CEE, CIS, Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa regions. Prior to her employment with HSBC, she had worked for Greek and foreign financial institutions in Athens and New York in the fields of credit and risk management and investment banking (M&A). Ms. Vrettou holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Milena Pappas has served on the Board since August 2024. She is a Commercial Director of the Company and under that capacity she is responsible for S&P, for Commercial Projects and for Investor Relations. She also acts as a consultant of Interchart Shipping Inc., the exclusive chartering broker of the Company. Ms. Pappas also serves on the Board of HELMEPA, a nonprofit organization aiming to reduce ship-generated pollution and increase educational environmental awareness and on the board of Just World International, a nonprofit organization that provides access to education, nutrition and health programs for children around globe. She has also served previously on the Company's Board as Director during 2009 - 2014 and has worked in the Finance Department of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. Prior to that, she was trained at Merrill Lynch in the Private Wealth Department and thereafter at the CoeClerici Group in the Risk Management Department. In 2004, while at Merrill Lynch, she assisted in founding the Women's Milestones program. She holds a dual Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from Cornell University, N.Y., where she graduated with honors and an M.Sc. in Shipping, Trade and Finance from Cass University, London.

Gary Weston has served as a director of the Company since April 9, 2024. Previously he was a director of Eagle. Mr. Weston has also served as the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of C Transport Maritime S.A.M., a provider of commercial, operational, technical and logistical management of dry bulk vessels. Mr. Weston was also a director and Chief Executive Officer of various affiliated companies controlled by the Ceres Group of Companies, including CBC Holdings Ltd., DryLog Ltd., Carras Ltd. and Tara Ltd. Prior to that, Mr. Weston was the Executive Chairman of H. Clarkson & Co. Ltd. and Chief Executive Officer of Clarksons PLC, the world's largest shipbroker and a leading provider of integrated shipping services. Mr. Weston currently serves as a non-executive director and member of the Audit, Compensation and Finance Committees of Wah Kwong Transport Holdings Limited, a privately-owned shipping company and previously served as a non-executive director and a member of the Audit, Regulatory and Risk Committee of the United Kingdom Freight Demurrage and Defence Association Limited, a leading provider of legal defense services in the shipping industry. Mr. Weston is a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. He received a B.Sc. in Maritime Studies from the University of Wales, in Cardiff.

Mr. Raffaele Zagari has served as director on our Board of Directors since August 2018. In his career he has developed approximately 25 years' experience in the shipping business. Since 2010, as CEO of Augustea Group Mr. Zagari engineered and implemented the expansion and consolidation of the dry bulk business that has led to the incorporation of Augustea Atlantica, and its subsidiaries in Argentina, Singapore, London and Malta (Augustea Group). He has actively promoted the incorporation of CBC, AOM, ABML and ABY, the joint ventures in which Augustea Atlantica is a shareholder. He founded the towage company Augustea Grancolombia in the Santa Marta area in Colombia and he has over the years worked closely with Drummond Coal and Glencore on their logistical/maritime needs for their local coal loading operations which have a combined 60 million tons yearly throughput. During this time he supervised in excess of 50 vessel sale and purchase transactions (both new building and second hand), and more than a dozen long-term ship leases primarily with the support of Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. Since 1997, he has actively led the Chartering Department of Augustea Dry Bulk Division, and directing the other business of the Augustea Group. In 2017, Raffaele was appointed Chairman of Augustea Group Holding SpA, in addition to his role as the Group's CEO. He is also a non-executive director of Steamship Mutual, one of the largest P&I marine insurance, where he also chairs the Underwriting and Reinsurance Committee. Prior to joining Augustea, and for the period 1993-1995, Mr. Zagari worked for Blenheim Shipping (a company of the former Scinicariello Augustea Group) during which time he gained extensive experience in the Japanese shipyards, Sumitomo Yokuska and Sanoyas Mitsushima, as assistant site supervisor. In 1996-1997, he worked at Zodiac Maritime Agencies with the operations department before joining the Augustea Group. Mr. Zagari holds a Diploma in Commercial Operation of Shipping at Guildhall University London.

Mr. Spyros Capralos has served since July 2014 as the Non-Executive Chairman of our Board of Directors and as a director. He is also the Chairman of the Compensation Committee. From February 2011 to July 2014, Mr. Capralos served as our Chief Executive Officer, President and director. From October 2004 to October 2010, Mr. Capralos served as Chairman of the Athens Exchange and Chief Executive Officer of the Hellenic Exchanges Group and for the period from 2008-2010 was also the President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges. He was formerly Vice Chairman of the National Bank of Greece, Vice Chairman of Bulgarian Post Bank, Managing Director of the Bank of Athens and has a ten-year banking experience with Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank) in Paris, New York, Athens, Milan and London. He is the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC), the President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Previously, he served as Secretary General of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and Executive Director and Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Organizing Committee for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. He has been an Olympic athlete in water polo and has competed in the Moscow (1980) and the Los Angeles (1984) Olympic Games. He studied economics at the University of Athens and earned his Master Degree in Business Administration from INSEAD University in France.

Mr. Christos Begleris has served as our Co-Chief Financial Officer since 2014. Until March 2013 he was a strategic project manager and senior finance executive at Thenamaris (Ships Management) Inc. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Begleris worked in the principal investments group of London & Regional Properties based in London, where he was responsible for the origination and execution of large real estate acquisition projects throughout Europe. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Begleris worked in the Fixed Income and Corporate Finance groups of Lehman Brothers based in London, where he was involved in privatization, restructuring, securitization, acquisition financing and principal investment projects in excess of $5.0 billion. In addition to his role at Star Bulk, Mr. Begleris is also an executive of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. and is Co-Chief Financial Officer of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A.'s joint ventures with Oaktree. Mr. Begleris received an M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Nikolaos Karellis has served as a director of our Board of Directors since May 2016 and as Chairman of the Audit Committee since May 2020. Mr. Karellis is currently a Director of the advisory firm MARININVEST ADVISERS LTD and has more than 35 years of experience in the shipping sector in financial institutions. Until 2013, he served as the Head of Shipping of HSBC BANK PLC in Athens, Greece for 28 years, where he built a business unit providing a comprehensive range of services to Greek shipping companies. Prior to HSBC, he worked at Bank of America. Mr. Karellis received his MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and received an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Mahesh Balakrishnan has served as a director on our Board of Directors since February 2015. Mr. Balakrishnan has extensive financial and business experience, as well as in depth knowledge of the dry bulk shipping industry. Until August 2019, Mr. Balakrishnan was a Managing Director in Oaktree's Opportunities Funds. He joined Oaktree in 2007 and focused on investing in the chemicals, energy, financial institutions, real estate and shipping sectors. Mr. Balakrishnan has worked with a number of Oaktree's portfolio companies and has served on the boards of STORE Capital Corp. (NYSE:STOR) and Momentive Performance Materials. He has been active on a number of creditors' committees, including ad hoc committees in the Lehman Brothers and LyondellBasell restructurings. Prior to Oaktree, Mr. Balakrishnan spent two years as an analyst in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance group at UBS Investment Bank. Mr. Balakrishnan graduated cum laude with a B.A. degree in Economics (Honors) from Yale University.

Charis Plakantonaki joined Star Bulk in 2015 as Head of Strategic Planning and assumed the position of Chief Strategy Officer in 2017. She leads the Company's strategic planning, ESG, human resources, information technology, public affairs and corporate communications. Prior to Star Bulk, she worked for seven years at Thenamaris (Ships Management) focusing on strategy, planning and corporate communications. Before that, she was a senior consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, managing strategy projects across various industries and geographies. Charis has also worked at Diageo's Centre of Excellence and for the Organizing Committee of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BS in International and European Studies from the University of Macedonia, where she graduated as valedictorian. She sits on the Board of the Liberian Shipowners' Council, the Governance Committee of the Maritime Emissions Reduction Center and the Advisory Board of Seafair. Since 2013, she has served on the Board of Trustees of Anatolia College, where she chairs the Long Range Planning Committee.