|
At
Genco Shipping & Trading Limited our Chairman and board
of directors have substantial experience in the shipping industry.
Peter C. Georgiopoulos, the Chairman of our board of directors,
is the founder of General Maritime Corp. (NYSE: GMR), a large,
publicly traded supplier of international seaborne crude oil
transportation services. Mr. Georgiopoulos oversaw the growth
of General Maritime from a single vessel privately owned company
to a publicly traded owner and operator of over 30 tankers.
Including Mr. Georgiopoulos, four of the six members of our
board have extensive experience in managing private and publicly
traded shipping companies.
We
have an experienced U.S.-based management team. Our management
team is based in New York City and includes several executives
with extensive experience in the shipping industry who have
demonstrated substantial ability in managing the commercial,
technical and financial aspects of our business. Our management
team is led by our President, Robert Gerald Buchanan, who has
over 40 years of experience in the shipping industry. Mr. Buchanan
has a broad range of experience in the shipping industry and
most recently served as the Managing Director of Wallem. Our
Chief Financial Officer, John C. Wobensmith, has worked in the
shipping industry for over 11 years before joining us. He has
been involved in a wide range of ship finance projects both
in the commercial and investment banking sectors. Our current
management team has an average of over 25 years of shipping
industry experience.
Peter C. Georgiopoulos has served as Chairman and as
a member of our Board of Directors since our inception. Since
1997, Peter C. Georgiopoulos served as Chairman and a member
of the board of directors of General Maritime Corporation and
its predecessors, which he founded, and he served as CEO from
1997 to 2008 and President from 2003 to 2008. Under the leadership
of Mr. Georgiopoulos, General Maritime Corporation grew from
a single ship ownership company to what today is an industry
leader listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Georgiopoulos
is also Chairman and a director of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network,
Inc., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Georgiopoulos
has also served as a director of Baltic Trading Limited, a subsidiary
of the Company, since its initial public offering in March 2010.
From 1991 to 1997, he was the principal of Maritime Equity Management,
a ship-owning and investment company that he founded in 1991.
From 1990 to 1991, he was affiliated with Mallory Jones Lynch
& Associates, an oil tanker brokerage firm. From 1987 to
1990, Mr. Georgiopoulos was an investment banker at Drexel Burnham
Lambert. Before entering the investment banking business, he
had extensive experience in the sale, purchase and chartering
of vessels while working for shipowners in New York and Piraeus,
Greece. Mr. Georgiopoulos is a member of the American Bureau
of Shipping. He holds an MBA from Dartmouth College. As a result
of these and other professional experiences, Mr. Georgiopoulos
possesses knowledge and experience regarding our history and
operations and the shipping industry, finance and capital markets,
that strengthen the Board's collective qualifications, skills
and experience.
Robert
Gerald Buchanan serves as our President. Mr. Buchanan has
40 years of shipping experience, holding various senior operating,
engineering and management positions. Before joining our company,
Mr. Buchanan spent eight years as a Managing Director of Wallem,
a leading technical management company. As the senior executive
at Wallem, Mr. Buchanan was responsible for the safe and efficient
operations of close to 200 vessels, as well as management of
approximately 500 onshore and seagoing staff. From 1990 to 1996,
Mr. Buchanan was Technical Director of Canada Steamships Lines
of Montreal, overseeing a fleet of bulk carriers. Before this,
Mr. Buchanan managed an oceanographic research vessel for NATO
from 1986 to 1990, was Superintendent Engineer of Denholm Ship
Management's United Kingdom office from 1982 to 1986, and Chief
Engineer of Denholm Ship Management from 1969 to 1982. Mr. Buchanan
was educated at Glasgow Nautical College and obtained a First
Class Engineers license for the both steam and motor ships.
Among his industry affiliations, Mr. Buchanan was a member of
the International Committee for Gard Protection & Indemnity
Association.
John
C. Wobensmith has served as our Chief Financial Officer
and Principal Accounting Officer since April 4, 2005. Mr. Wobensmith
is responsible for overseeing our accounting and financial matters.
Mr. Wobensmith has over 15 years of experience in the shipping
industry, with a concentration in shipping finance. Before becoming
our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Wobensmith served as a Senior
Vice President with American Marine Advisors, Inc., an investment
bank focused on the shipping industry. While at American Marine
Advisors, Inc., Mr. Wobensmith was involved in mergers and acquisitions,
equity fund management, debt placement and equity placement
in the shipping industry. From 1993 through 2000, he worked
in the international maritime lending group of The First National
Bank of Maryland, serving as a Vice President from 1998. He
has a bachelors degree in economics from St. Mary's College
of Maryland and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Stephen
A. Kaplan serves on our Board of Directors. From 2001 to
the present, he has served as a director of General Maritime.
Since 1995, Mr. Kaplan has been a principal of Oaktree Capital
Management, LLC, a private investment management firm, where
he co-manages Oaktree's Principal Activities Group which invests
in majority and significant minority positions in both private
and public companies. Mr. Kaplan currently has in excess of
$3.5 billion in assets under his management. Since 1993, he
has served as portfolio manager of all of Oaktree's Principal
Opportunities Funds, including OCM Principal Opportunities III
Fund, L.P. and OCM Principal Opportunities Fund IIIA, L.P.,
which collectively owns approximately 66.5% of Fleet Acquisition,
our sole shareholder. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Kaplan was a Managing
Director of Trust Company of the West. Before joining the Trust
Company of the West, Mr. Kaplan was a partner of the law firm
of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Mr. Kaplan currently serves
as a director of numerous private and public companies.
Nathaniel
C. A. Kramer serves on our Board of Directors. Mr. Kramer
is a principal at Mercantile Capital Group LLC, a private equity
firm with offices in New York and Chicago, and Managing Director
of his firm's New York office from 1999 to present. He brings
over 20 years of investment experience in both the public and
private capital markets. He started his career with Allen and
Company, a private equity firm, and recently served as its Vice
President. Mr. Kramer has led investments in a wide range of
industries including telecommunications, wireless infrastructure,
waste management, data communications, B2B commerce and Internet
infrastructure sectors. Mr. Kramer also serves on the boards
of MoveOnIn, Inc. and Environmental Asset Management.
Mark
F. Polzin has served as a director of our company since
July 27, 2005. Mr. Polzin is President of Ranch Fiduciary Corporation,
Farms Fiduciary Corporation, and Laurel Fiduciary Corporation.
Mr. Polzin is also Managing Director of The Oversight Company
and Manager of Wyoming Consulting LLC, and a senior consultant
to Cymric Family Office Services and Family Office Exchange.
On July 1, 2007 Mr. Polzin retired as President and Chief Executive
Officer of Moreland Management Company, where he had served
as an officer since 1989. Prior to joining Moreland he was an
executive and director of several mid-western community banking
organizations. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a J.D. from Marquette University
Law School. Mr. Polzin is a Regent of Concordia University Wisconsin.
Rear
Admiral Robert C. North, USCG (ret.) serves on our Board
of Directors. Since his retirement from the active duty with
the U.S. Coast Guard in April of 2001, Rear Admiral North has
served as the president of North Star Maritime, Inc., a marine
industry consulting firm, specializing in international and
domestic maritime safety, security and environmental protection
issues. While on active duty with the U.S. Coast Guard, Rear
Admiral North reached the position of Assistant Commandant for
Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Protection, where
he directed national and international programs for commercial
vessel safety, merchant mariner licensing and documentation,
port safety and security and waterways management. He is a graduate
of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, State University of
New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler and the U.S. Army
War College.
Basil
G. Mavroleon has served as a director of our company since
July 27, 2005. Mr. Mavroleon has been employed in the shipping
industry for the last 40 years. Since 1970, Mr. Mavroleon has
worked at Charles R. Weber Company, Inc., one of the oldest
and largest tanker brokerages and marine consultants in the
United States. Mr. Mavroleon was Managing Director of Charles
R. Weber Company, Inc. for twenty-five years and presently holds
the position of Manager of the Projects Group. Mr. Mavroleon
also serves as Managing Director of WeberSeas (Hellas) S.A.,
a comprehensive sale and purchase, marine projects and tanker
chartering brokerage based in Piraeus, Greece. Mr. Mavroleon
has served as a director of Baltic Trading Limited, a subsidiary
of the Company, since its initial public offering in March 2010.
Since its inception in 2003 through its liquidation in December
2005, Mr. Mavroleon served as Chairman of Azimuth Fund Management
(Jersey) Limited, a hedge fund that dealt with tanker freight
forward agreements and derivatives. Mr. Mavroleon is a member
of the Baltic Exchange, is on the board of the Associate Membership
Committee of Intertanko, a member of the Association of Ship
Brokers and Agents, is on the advisory board of NAMMA (North
American Maritime Ministry Association), is a board member of
NAMEPA (North American Marine Environmental Protection Association),
and is Chairman of the New York World Scale Committee. Mr. Mavroleon
is a member of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, the Connecticut
Maritime Association, NYMAR (New York Maritime Inc.), the Maritime
Foundation Knowledge Center and serves on the board of trustees
of the Maritime Aquarium, Norwalk, CT. Mr. Mavroleon was educated
at Windham College, Putney, Vermont. As a result of these and
other professional experiences, Mr. Mavroleon possesses knowledge
and experience regarding the shipping industry, ship finance,
and general business matters that strengthens the Board's collective
qualifications, skills and experience.
Harry
A. Perrin has served as a director of the Company since
August 15, 2005, and currently serves as the Chairman of the
Company's Audit Committee. Mr. Perrin has served as a director
of Baltic Trading Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, since
its initial public offering in March 2010. Mr. Perrin is a partner
in the Houston office of Vinson & Elkins, where he has been
employed since August 2007. From June 2001 through November
2006, Mr. Perrin worked as an investment banker with Petrie
Parkman & Co, an investment banking and financial advisory
firm with offices in Houston, Texas and Denver, Colorado. In
December 2006, Merrill Lynch acquired Petrie Parkman, and at
that time, Mr. Perrin was hired as an investment banker at Merrill
Lynch where he was employed until May 2007. Prior to joining
Petrie Parkman, Mr. Perrin was a partner for ten years in the
business finance and restructuring group of the Houston office
of Weil Gotshal & Manges. Mr. Perrin received his Bachelor
of Business Administration in Accounting with Honors from the
University of Texas at Austin in 1975. He received his J.D.
with High Honors from the University of Houston in 1980. Mr.
Perrin is a member of the State Bar of Texas, and is a licensed
Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas. As a result
of these and other professional experiences, Mr. Perrin possesses
knowledge and experience regarding general business, finance
and the law that strengthen the Board's collective qualifications,
skills and experience.
|