ALEXANDER P. PANAGOPULOS

Chairman and CEO, Arista Maritime Inc., parent company of Arista Shipping, a vessel management company

Mr. Panagopulos (50) co-founded Superfast Ferries in 1993 under Attica Group, a Greek-listed entity controlled by the Panagopulos family. As CEO of Superfast Ferries and the Attica Group (ATTICA:GA), he engaged and successfully completed the design and construction of 17 passenger ferry newbuildings in shipyards in Germany, Finland, Holland and Korea, an orderbook of over €1.5b, and led the successful expansion of Attica Group into a 23-vessel and 5-million-passenger-a-year company with routes in Greece, Italy, Finland, Germany, Scotland, and Belgium.  In 2006 he closed the sale of Attica Group’s Baltic Sea operations and in 2007, following the sale of the family's participation in Attica Group, he founded Arista Group to focus on identifying attractive investment opportunities in various sectors with emphasis on shipping.

An avid skipper himself, Mr. Panagopulos developed his passion for ships and the sea with the California-based Royal Cruise Line, the cruise company founded by his father Pericles in 1972.

 

Mr. Panagopulos was honored to be elected and to have served for eight years in the position of Chairman of the High Level Ferry Group of ECSA (European Community Shipowners' Association based in Brussels), and on the Board and as a President of Interferry, the international association representing passenger ferry ship operators worldwide. During his presidency, Interferry advanced to advisor status in the International Maritime Organization (“IMO”).   Alexander Panagopulos is a member of the American Bureau of Shipping (“ABS”) Greek National Committee and the Lloyd’s Register Hellenic Advisory Committee and has also served on the Det Norske Veritas (“DNV”) Technical Ferry Committee.  Mr. Panagopulos has also served in the position of Secretary-General of the Greek Passenger Shipowners Association ("ΣΕΕΝ") between 1997 - 2003.

 

Mr. Panagopulos has pursued innovation in the fields of shipbuilding and environmental technology and has sponsored a number of philanthropic events, including donations for natural disasters and conservation of wildlife.

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