Speakers

Panos Laskaridis was born in 1947 and has established Laskaridis Shipping Co.Ltd. in 1977 and Lavinia Corporation in 1978 which developed into a vertically integrated Shipping Group controlling a large Reefer, Bulker, Fish Factory and Tanker Fleet, two shipyards in Spain, fishing and fish trading activities, various agencies, shipbroking and shipoperating companies in Europe, the Far East, South America and the USA along with various other shipping related business. He oversees the day to day business of the Group which employs some 3500 people. He has over 40 years experience in shipping and has been involved variously in other Group related business. 

He holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Braunschweig University in Germany, a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kings College and a Master’s Degree in Naval Architecture from University College in London. He was Chairman of the UK FD+D Club, is since 12 years a member of the Board of the Union of Greek Shipowners, Vice President and President elect of ECSA (European Community Shipowners Associations), a Member of the Committees of all major Classification Societies in Greece, a Member of several Learned Societies, a Member of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of RINA, IMechE and SNAME. 

 He established the "Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation" for the proliferation of knowledge through scientific, literary and artistic presentations including the cultivation of love and interest amongst the youth for the maritime affairs, through seminars and special programs. Life-time projects are the preservation of old lighthouses and the creation of the most advanced lending library. 

Mr. Papagiannopoulos has been a principal of Common Progress since its establishment in 1984 and has more than 37 years of experience in shipping.  Mr. Papagiannopoulos has been elected since 1996 on the Board of Directors of the Union of Greek Shipowners and since 2006 in the Executive Committee of the Union including Committee Chairman of the Seaman's Social Security and Labour Issues. He is currently President of BIMCO and an elected member of the Executive Committee where he had served since 1998 as an elected member of the Documentary Committee. Since 2004 he has also been an elected member in the Greek Committee of Det Norske Veritas (DNV). Mr. Papagiannopoulos has been elected (2006) in the Executive Committee of International Chamber of Shipping (I.C.S.).  Mr. Papagiannopoulos holds a BA in Law from the National University of Athens, an MSc in Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London, an MA in European Integration from University of Reading and a PhD in Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London. 

Steven Bitner has served as the Economic Counselor at U.S. Embassy Athens since the summer of 2015. He leads the embassy’s engagement on energy, trade, investment, and the breadth of economic issues. Prior to his posting in Athens, Steve was the Deputy Chief of the Economic Section at U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem where he worked to develop the Palestinian economy and contributed to the economic track of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He served previously with the U.S. Department of State as an economic officer in San Jose, Costa Rica where he advanced the Central American Free Trade Agreement; as an economic officer in Warsaw, Poland; and as a political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in the cities of Ramadi and Hillah, Iraq from 2003 to 2004. Steve has also completed multiple tours within the State Department’s Executive Secretariat in Washington, D.C. He speaks Arabic, Spanish, Polish, and Dutch.

John F. Hatley PE, Americas Vice President Marine Solutions for Wartsila North America, has over 30 years of combined marine experience spanning business development, project management of domestic and overseas vessel construction, advisor pension fund shipping assets, ship operations, and vessel design.

Prior to joining Wartsila he held positions with GE Transportation, Marine Industries Northwest, Pension Fund First American Bulk Carriers, , US Container Lines, Trinidad Tankers and Naval Architects John J. McMullen. He is a licensed Chief Engineer with 8 years sea experience onboard commercial ships in global trades, the last 2 years serving as Chief Engineer and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Mr. Hatley has a BS degree from the US Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point Dual License Program, an MSE Naval Architecture Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Washington, each with distinctive honors. He holds positions of industry trust as Board Member Society of Gas for Marine Fuel SGMF, Commercial Member Gastech Governing Body, Founding Associate Member SEA LNG, Academic Advisory Board University of Michigan Department NAME, and Board of Puget LNG.

He was recognized in 2016 as Fellow by The Royal Institution of Naval Architects and also the Society Naval Architects & Marine Engineers, Recipient of the 2016 Rosenblatt Michigan Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Marine Engineering, and was a featured employee profiled in the Wartsila 2014 Annual Report. In 2008 he was honored with the Rear Admiral McCready Award for Outstanding Achievement in Marine Engineering.

Oskar Levander joined Rolls-Royce in 2012 as VP Innovation, Engineering & Technology, Marine and is today SVP Concepts & Innovation, in the Digital & Systems value stream. Prior to this, he spent the majority of his career at Wärtsilä where he held various roles including Director, Concept Design, Marine Lifecycle Solutions. He graduated with honours from Helsinki University of Technology in 2000, with an MSc in Naval Architecture.   

Oskar has worked mostly in the development of new ship designs, machinery and propulsion concepts for various ship types and emerging marine technologies. Today, he drives the development of ship intelligence concepts and the introduction of remote & autonomous ships. In 2011 Oskar was included in “Lloyd’s List 2011 One Hundred Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry” and in 2017 he was nominated as the #1 Technology Leader by Lloyds List.