MAR-EVA Instructors

Yunoniia is an experienced Operations Manager with over 10 years in the maritime industry, currently working at Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg, Germany. Since September 2022, she has optimized vessel performance and routing, managed post-fixture commercial operations, and ensured compliance with charter party terms. Jane coordinates across various departments, including technical, supply, and crew, while overseeing key aspects of voyage instructions and documentation, such as Bills of Lading and Bunker Delivery Notes. She also liaises with P&I clubs to mitigate risks related to cargo and ports, ensuring efficient and profitable voyages.

Before her current role, Jane served as a Navigation Officer at Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement and ZEABORN Ship Management, where she gained extensive experience in bridge watchkeeping, cargo handling, and maintaining navigational and safety equipment.

She also completed the WMA Advance Certificate in Maritime Business, the Mareva course, further enhancing her expertise in maritime law and operations. Her academic background includes a Master’s in Marine and River Transport from the Odessa Maritime Academy and ongoing PhD studies in Maritime and Inland Navigation Transportation. Jane’s skill set includes vessel handling, safety management, and a deep understanding of navigation systems and cargo operations.

Kit Lim is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and leadership coach and has extensive experience in DEI, employee wellbeing and engagement. She is currently the global head of culture, diversity, equity and inclusion at a maritime company and prior to her career in DEI,  was leading business development and marketing teams in Asia Pacific. Kit also currently sits on the D&I committee for Britcham Singapore and WISTA International.

Kit holds a Bachelor in Business Management from Singapore Management University and had also previously studied Japanese management at Keio University in Japan. She is also a certified coach, mental health first aider, mentor and facilitator. She is recognized by Tigerhall, a social learning platform as one of the leading “Thinkfluencer” in culture engagement and regularly speaks on panels and keynote speeches relating to DEI, leadership, purpose, culture, people development and engagement. She has spoken at events organized by Google, HSBC, Lockton, GSK, British High Commissioner Singapore amongst others.

She is also a mother of two and enjoys a glass of Moscato or hot chocolate and is in for a good conversation anytime.

Valerie Cannon is an experienced Maritime Environmental Regulatory Specialist and passionate marine scientist with a strong commitment to making the world a better place. She began her career working on long-range fishing vessels, gaining valuable experience sailing as a scientist on research and container vessels, including occasional ice breakers, before finding her current role at Total Marine Solutions (TMS).

At TMS, Valerie oversees the Ocean Guardian program, leveraging her extensive onboard experience and knowledge to assist ship owners and operators in meeting challenging and constantly changing maritime environmental regulations. Through innovative solutions, comprehensive training, and education, Valerie helps clients remain compliant with relevant regulations.

Valerie earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and holds a Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management (DEL-MEM) degree, demonstrating her deep understanding of the complex issues surrounding environmental sustainability and management.

In summary, Valerie is a highly skilled professional with a wealth of experience and expertise in her field, committed to helping clients navigate complex environmental regulations and minimize their impact on the planet.

Executive management team level leader with a demonstrated history of working in the maritime industry with 20+ of business experience including 13 years as maritime ship registrar and business development executive director servicing in 2 different roles in two different companies. Strong business development with international exposure and years of experience in relationship building, account retention, expanding network connections, introducing services, and identifying customer needs to deliver solutions.
Skilled in Operations Management, Business Development, team building and leadership, sales and marketing, ship Registration, Ship Sanctions Compliance, Ship Mortgage, Seafarer Documentation with a Master’s Degree focused in Maritime Law from London Metropolitan University.

Born in New York, U.S.A., Dorothea obtained her Juris Doctorate from St. John’s University School of Law in New York in 1996 (having already obtained her BA from the City University of NY in 1993) and was thereafter and remains to date, admitted to practice in the state of New York. During the early years of her career, Dorothea worked in medical insurance management, at the Queens County District Attorney’s office, and in private practice of law in NY. After relocating to Greece in 1997, Dorothea initially worked in local law firms and was involved in commercial as well as maritime law. In January of 1998, Dorothea formally entered the Marine Insurance Industry when she joined Allied Insurance Brokers Ltd. to manage the Marine Insurance Claims Department. In 2005, Dorothea joined SCB (Hellas) Inc., the Piraeus Claims Liaison Office for the Managers of the American P&I Club, (Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., NY) as a Claims Executive and in 2009 took on the claims management as well as general management of the office. The American P&I Club is a mutual marine insurance association and member of the International Group of P&I Clubs and provides third party liability cover for ocean going world-wide trading vessels. In 2010 she became the first woman to be appointed to the Executive Committee of the N.Y. management company, Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc. In 2013 she was given the position of Regional Business Development Director for Europe Middle East and Africa and since June 2015, she holds the position of Global Business Development Director making her the first woman to occupy a top level global executive position in the history of the American Club and its Managers, Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc.

Dorothea is active in the shipping industry and served on the Board of WISTA Hellas, part of WISTA International, (an international women’s shipping and trade association) for four years as Vice President, currently serves as a board member of the Piraeus Marine Club and is a member of the American Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, the CEO Club Greece as well as the Propeller Club. Most recently she was also appointed as a board member of the American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company, Ltd., a Cypriot registered, licensed, Solvency II compliant marine insurance company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American P&I Club.

Maritime Lawyer with in-house legal experience in a Shipping Company. High premium on providing preemptive legal support in Spanish or English. Focus on maritime law, marine insurance law, commercial law, and contract drafting . Also experience in litigation in Argentina.

Specialties: Maritime law, admiralty law, carriage of goods by sea and charterparties, claim handling and negotiation, insurance law

Peg Buchan has worked for Broward County Government for 25 years, for the past ten as Assistant Port Director at Port Everglades. She is responsible for the Port Strategic Business Plan, coordination of Port legislative affairs, spearheading a Port wayfinding plan, and the selection and installation of $2M in public art. Previously she was the Port’s Director of Business Administration, the County’s Small Business Manager and Interim Director of Real Property. Peg holds a B.S. in Professional Management from Nova Southeastern University, Florida; and a Master’s Degree in Negotiations, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding from California State University, California.

Pallavi is an experienced coach, consultant, and confidante for corporate leaders. She specializes in bridging theoretical concepts with practical strategies tailored to individual styles, fostering authenticity and strength in interactions.

With a background in Law, maritime and over 20 years of corporate experience across cultures, Pallavi brings insight to her coaching practice. She facilitates positive shifts in confidence and presence, enabling creative problem-solving. Pallavi believes in the power of humor to navigate challenges and welcomes clients to connect with her for meaningful problem-solving.

A dedicated lawyer passionate about maritime law, specializing in Turkey’s legal landscape. With a keen interest in maritime affairs, she navigates complex legal waters with precision and expertise. Committed to upholding maritime regulations and protecting the interests of clients in Turkey’s maritime industry.

Cmdr. Heather Kostecki

Seren Sapmaz graduated from Tarsus American College with a high degree as a salutatorian. After the graduation from Koç University Law School, she completed her legal traineeship at Istanbul branch of an international law office and continued to work as an associated after she was admitted to Istanbul Bar Association. She completed her LL.M degree at Istanbul Bilgi University with her dissertation on “The Carrier’s Liability on Deviation”

Seren is a member of the legal committee of the Health and Education Foundation (SEV), Soroptimist International (SI) of Etiler, Women International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA Turkey), Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association (TURMEPA), Koç University Alumni Association (KUMED) and Tarsus American College Alumni Association (TACMED). She speaks advanced level English and intermediate level French.

Publications

The Carrier’s Liability from Deviation, 2019 (unpublished LL.M degree dissertation)

Co-author, “A serious obstacle to the implementation of TCC Art. 1352/1-(t): Who is going to be the custodian of the vessel?” December 2016

Areas of Practice

• Maritime Law
• Transport Law
• Commercial Law
• Association Law
• Law of Inheritance

Dr. Maria Lekakou is Professor in Maritime Economics in Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport amd Dean of Business School. She has a longlasting experience in shipping and maritime policy , as Advisor to the Minister of Mercantile Marine (1996-2000), member of the National Regulatory Authority for Internal Maritime Transportation (2001-20040 and as a maritime expert in national or European bodies(2007- ). Maria Lekakou is co-author of books examining European Maritime Policy, Greek shipping competitiveness island transports and cruise tourism and she has studied short-sea shipping policy developments, maritime tourism, cruise industry, passenger shipping, labour affairs as well as European policies related to liner shipping, cabotage, maritime competition and Blue Growth and entrepreneurship. She has contributed over 60 peer reviewed papers to international scientific conferences or journals, and has participated in numerous R&D projects. She is Treasurer of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME).

Co-owner of Tototheo Global, the holding company of the Tototheo group of companies, Despina is an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the satellite telecommunications and maritime industries. Skilled in Negotiation, Business Strategy, Operations Management, International Shipping, Maritime Satellite Communications.
Despina’s involvement extends to the energy and public sectors, where she serves as the Chairwoman of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus and as Vice President of the Natural Gas Infrastructure Company.

Passionate Chair of Fast Lines Belgium.
Skilled in the maritime industry for over 30 years.
Every transport starts by carefully listening to you, the customer…
Then Fast architects of transport offer the optimal multimodal solution: by water, road, rail, air or a combination. So you, the client can sit back and relax. This is what we call Sofa Style Service!
Call +32 3 213 52 70 to learn how Fast can optimize your supply chain.

Shipping is a people’s business and that’s why I love it.
Assets are important but people make the difference!

Akrivi, is the Finance Officer of the Company Efshipping Company S.A. which has been operating in the shipping sector for forty years. She started her career in the industry, entering the company after her postgraduate studies at Cardiff University. She started working for the founder of the company and continues with the second generation of the founder’s family.

She is experienced in bank loan evaluation, shipping market analysis, financial reports, cash flow, budgeting, and Sale and Purchase projects for second hand and new buildings in the bulk carrier and container sector due to her involvement in company’s fleet renewal and development. She is member of the Board of Directors of the vessels’ owning companies and other companies of the group. She has been involved in the implementation of other than shipping projects, in the area of energy and agriculture, diversified companies of the family. She is also the Business Consulting Manager for a company operating by the family in the area of agricultural products.

She holds a MSc degree in International Transport from the University of Cardiff, UK and a BSc in Business Administration from the American College of Greece. She holds a Certificate in Vessel Valuation from the Lloyd’s Maritime Academy and a Professional Maritime Diploma in Economics from the Hellenic Management Center in cooperation with the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. She has attended a series of seminars in Finance, Sale and Purchase, Chartering, Insurance and postgraduate courses in Finance from the University of Strathclyde

Anna has graduated from the State University of New York Maritime College,and holds both a Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture and a Master of Science in International Transportation Management. She sailed for several years aboard tugs as the Second Mate before coming ashore. She has worked as a Ship’s Agent, Container Terminal Operations Manager, Stevedore and a Navigation Instructor at SUNY Maritime College onboard their Training Ship Empire State. She is currently assigned the position of Operations Supervisor at Port Everglades.

Despina is a Marine Insurance executive specializing in H&M, IV, War Risks, Kidnap & Ransom and ancillary (LOH, MII, CII etc.) covers. She is the head of the H&M department of Aries Marine Insurance Brokers and was part of the executive team who started with the company in 2009.
She was fortunate to combine her academic studies with work experience and has now been in the marine insurance business for almost 20 years working with well-established insurance companies and brokers internationally.
She has gained first-class experience in all aspects of Marine insurance working as Documentation Technician, Underwriting Assistant and Account Executive.
She was also one of the first professionals in the industry to gain insight into maritime security in conjunction with associated Marine Insurance, and an expert in the management of contract, insurance and legal related compliance issues.

Dr Konsta has more than 20 years of international experience in maritime and logistics education, designing and managing undergraduate and postgraduate courses, executive education portfolios, professional development and online courses which has been delivered around the globe at the top maritime centres. Her extensive teaching experience has been gained at various organisations, associations, colleges and universities, lecturing on undergraduate courses in shipping, maritime business and related subjects. She has also developed shipping departments and faculties for Colleges and Universities. Her writing experience includes 30 distance learning books, papers in refereed journals and conferences. She has also served as a reviewer for Maritime Policy & Management Journal and she is currently a reviewer for Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering.

She is the first woman Course Director at Lloyd’s Maritime Academy and the first woman in Greece serving as the Head of the Shipping, Transport & Logistics Department at a College in Greece (which collaborated with a British University offering shipping and logistics undergraduate and postgraduate courses).

Katerina has obtained her Phd from the University of Plymouth, titled as Maritime Policy and The Success of Nations: The case of the Greek flagged Ocean Shipping, being supervised by Professor Michael Roe and Professor Jingjing Xu. She holds a degree in Maritime Business and Maritime Law from the University of Plymouth (UK). Prior to this she studied Business & Finance at North Hertfordshire College (UK). Her postgraduate studies include International Shipping at the University of Plymouth (UK) and Maritime Studies with International Transport at the University of Piraeus (Greece). She has also obtained University teaching qualifications.

Katerina is a member of the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA), the Hellenic Association of Maritime Economists (HAME), International Maritime Lecturers’ Association (IMLA), the Piraeus Association for Maritime Arbitration (PAMA), Association of Greek Women Scientists, and the Chios Marine Club. Since 2018 she is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the International WISTA.