A master mariner and a committed proponent of the maritime users’ perspective, Rear Admiral Nick Lambert concluded a long naval operational career as the UK National Hydrographer in December 2012. He advises on a wide range of maritime issues including the growing potential of the blue economy concept, the importance of spatial data infrastructures and hydrography for maritime economies, the evolution of eNavigation and GNSS vulnerability, near or real time situational awareness (especially that derived from space based assets and applications), human factors, and training and education in the maritime sector. He has a particular interest in the Polar Regions and is also engaged in a variety of situational awareness, marine autonomous systems and vessel efficiency projects.

Panagiotis Falidouris is Head of Marlink Cyprus & Greek (CG), responsible for the development of business in Greece & Cyprus for Marlink, the global innovative provider of satellite enabled solutions.

Panagiotis Falidouris is well-respected within the maritime IT and Satcom industry, having over 21 years’ experience in the satellite sector. Panagiotis began his career with Elkco Marine Consultants, a distributor of Telenor & SpecTec and then as Sales Manager of Xantic Hellas – a former ST12 mobile satellite operator based in The Hague, The Netherlands. During his time there, he was responsible for sales of Mobile Satellite Systems to the maritime industry in Greece and Cyprus.

In 2007, Panagiotis joined SRH Marine Electronics (Radio Holland Greece) specialised in the supply, installation and service of marine electronics and representing France Telecom, the mobile satellite operator based in France.

Panagiotis more recently joined as head of Marlink’s Hellas operations to enhance sales efforts within this key region.

Panagiotis has a degree in Programming and Analysis and integrated several commercial and finance topics through various positions in his career.

Kyle has 18 years’ experience in the maritime satellite communication sector. Before joining Iridium as Director, Maritime Business in March 2015, Kyle worked for Station711 and before that as Director of Market Development at Thuraya, and was also previously Maritime Marketing Manager for lnmarsat in London, specialising in product development and the application of satellite communications to the maritime market.

His experience extends to working as a Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) Manager for the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency in the Solomon Islands. A native Australian, he has also held a number of leadership positions at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. Kyle was also a soldier in the Australian Army (Engineer Corps) and grew up working with his family in a number of commercial fisheries on the South East Coast of Australia.

Rob O'Dwyer, Editor of Digital Ship, has been a maritime IT journalist since 2005. He has a Master's degree in business and law from University College Dublin and was previously a commercial writing consultant in Seoul, South Korea.

Rob was also previously Editor of Port Finance International.

Barbara Bersani has more than 12 years of experience in the maritime satellite communications sector. She joined Marlink as a Sales Manager for the sales regions in France, Monaco, and Switzerland in 2005. In 2008 she took responsibility for Maritime Sales for Europe West and Europe East. In 2012 Barbara was appointed as Head of Sales Maritime for Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa. Earlier in her career, she held Business Development and Marketing positions within the Defence Industry. Barbara holds a BA from The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva and a DBA from the LSE – London School of Economics.

Manuel Valero has a Bachelor of Telecommunications Engineering and holds a Masters in Satellite Communications from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain.

As Telenor Satellite Broadcasting Sales Manager for Maritime, he has been able to highly develop the TSBc customer database by closely supporting our maritime customers with their ever-increasing requirements prior to the new Thor 7 HTS ka band launch.

Prior to joining TSBc, he worked for STM (Global IP and now EMC) as a Business Development Manager in the period 2009/2012, and has more than 13 years of experience in the international satellite industry.

With the launch of THOR 7, Telenor Satellite Broadcasting is looking forward to offering Ka-band satellite capacity for offshore services in coverage areas spanning the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, the Red Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. We are already welcoming many new customers to our 1º West home and have seen incredible growth within the offshore sector for satellite broadband solutions in Europe and the Middle East.

Michiel Meijer is Senior Director Market Management at Inmarsat Maritime, where he is responsible for understanding the requirements of the market.

Michiel started his career after receiving his Merchant Navy deck officer qualification from the Nautical College in Rotterdam and fulfilled several nautical positions on board of vessels from Nedlloyd and Royal Netherlands Navy. As a Reserve Officer, Michiel Meijer, holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander within the “Naval Control and Guidance for Shipping” division.

After his maritime career Michiel received his Master degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Eindhoven University of Technology. His shore based career started within KPN (Telecom operator in the Netherlands) in which he held positions in marketing and product management. Since 2000, he held sales and marketing positions in maritime satellite communications before joining Inmarsat in 2012.

Marc is the EMEA Director for the IoT and Embedded Division in Dell. Dell takes a pragmatic approach to the Internet of Things (IoT) by building on the equipment and data you already have, and leveraging your current technology investments, to quickly and securely enable analytics-driven action. Marine is a key area of focus in Dell’s IoT division and we are working with a number of organisations in this industry in areas such as predictive maintenance and navigation solutions.

Panagiotis Gavalas is currently the Director of Operations for IQ Solutions SA, a company which has internal intellectual property of a strong tailored made portfolio of solutions for the Maritime Industry, focusing on thorough ICT infrastructures, emphasizing on security, interoperability and manageability of Vessel IT and Communications Systems alongside with B2B IT solutions, spanning from Virtual IT Systems and Hyper Converged Infrastructures, to Hybrid and Public Cloud Infrastructures.

Panagiotis has accumulated fourteen years of diverse experience in the ICT Business and has held key positions in a number of technology and business areas focusing on business development, partner management, market research, product and services management, spanning from TETRA Communications Systems & Satellite Communications to Private, Hybrid and Public clouds.

He holds an M.Eng Degree from the University of Sheffield, an MBA from the Hellenic Management Association and is also holding various certifications from global vendors in the IT business.

For almost two decades, David Tropp Hag has been closely engaged with KVH’s maritime customers, solving maritime IT and communications challenges. Today, in the role of Regional Sales Director, he is heading the Eastern/Southern European sales and account management team, providing daily support and finding new solutions for KVH expanding customer base in the region.

With a background in electronics, and a professional degree in business administration, David sits right in the cross field between technological challenges and business requirements, allowing him to understand the customers situation from both sides.

Ian is a partner in the Marine Trade and Energy group at Hill Dickinson. A solicitor with 16 years’ experience, his practice focuses on shipping casualties, contract of carriage and unsafe port issues. He also advises on shipmanagement contracts and associated disputes. A Master Mariner with 12 years seagoing experience up to the rank of Chief Officer, after coming ashore and completing an MBA, he spent six years in various senior management roles with a major ship manager in Cyprus, where his responsibilities encompassed loss prevention, casualty response and ISM Code compliance. He is a vice president, director and general counsel of InterManager the trade association for shipmanagers and represents Intertanko on the Lloyds Salvage Committee.

Panagiotis is Director within EY’s Advisory Practice. He is leading the Cyber Security and Data Protection & Privacy services, including EY’s Greek Advanced Security Center. Being one of the EY contact persons in the Central and South East Europe for such services he cooperates with multiple clients in Greece and abroad operating in a variety of industries such as Banking, Telecommunications, Oil & Gas, Consumer Products and Retail, and Transportation.

Prior to joining EY, he has worked for over 4 years in the IT function of a major Oil and Gas company in Greece.

Moreover, Panagiotis has assisted ENISA via the CEI List towards the work programme implementation by providing services as an expert in some domains. He is also an occasional lecturer at the Athens University of Economics and Business at the MSc of Information Systems, and a public speaker in several related events and conferences including also event and competitions in the startup community.

Finally, he holds a B.Sc. degree in Informatics and a M.Sc. degree in Information Systems (Scholarship from the National Funding Institute) from Athens University of Economic and Business. He also holds a CISSP Certification and a CISA Certification.

Electra has 20 years' experience in shipping litigation and claims and specialises in disputes arising from international trade including bills of lading, charterparties, MoA disputes and all associated insurance matters. She also handles "wet" claims (collisions, groundings, salvage) and has significant experience in limitation actions and general average. She often coordinates multi-jurisdictional disputes, including cross-border liquidation. She has extensive experience in dealing with large cargo claims arising from liquefaction, fire, explosions, collapse of stow and all types of container claims.

In recent years she has been advising and lecturing on legal issues relating from cyber attacks, cyber fraud and incidents arising from the malicious use of cyber technology. After practising for 12 years in London, she moved to Piraeus in 2009 and joined HFW Greece in 2014.

She is bilingual (English & Greek) and speaks fluent French.

Dr. Athanasios Drougkas is an Officer in Network and Information Security at the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA).

His domains of activity in ENISA currently include the Digital Single Market and NIS industry, cybersecurity in eHealth, Cyber-insurance and security in the Finance sector. In the past, he has held various positions within the ICT industry in cross-functional domains, including Project Management, Presales, R&D and Technical Consulting.

Dr. Drougkas holds a BSc./MSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. in Telecommunications from the National Technical University of Athens.

Howard Hughes has taken the role of Chief Technology Officer for Tototheo Group in Cyprus. Prior to working with Satellite Communication, Howard has over 12 years working in IT and Telecommunications. He has worked with diverse and leading companies, providing engineering and Project Management expertise.

Passionate about communication, it was a natural step to work with leading Satellite Communication provider, Inmarsat. During his 10-year tenure, Howard took the advantage of his knowledge to provide training, solution design, product management and service development, with the latter focussing on Inmarsat’s ground breaking Global Xpress product. Howard now divides his time between the UK and Cyprus.

Katerina Raptaki is the IT Manager of Navios Group of companies, including 4 NYSE-listed companies, with branches in cities all over the world, owning and managing more than 150 vessels. Katerina is also the former president of AMMITEC, the Association of IT Managers in Shipping. She graduated from the National Technical University of Athens with a degree in Naval / Mechanical Engineering and has 28-years’ experience in IT and Communications.

With more than 16 years of experience in Shipping, having deep knowledge in Marine Satellite systems, vast experience in shipping software and Project Management, Katerina has been holding Managerial positions in various companies allowing her to have a full understanding of technical issues and operational procedures. Her excellent people management skills include the ability to transfer her expertise in technical systems delivery, business analysis and the management of cross-functional business projects and project teams.

George is working as an IT administrator and security expert in the shipping industry since 2010. He has delivered various projects including vessels’ server deployment and installation, ERP deployment at office headquarters and Fleet and security auditing and upgrade, also managed efficient communications with vessels, such as database and file synchronization between vessels and office headquarters. He currently holds the position of IT Administrator and security expert in Gourdomichalis Maritime SA.

As President of Ra Security Systems, Gideon Lenkey has consulted on information security matters since 1989. He specialises in assessing and testing the security posture of enterprise IT infrastructures and managing enterprise cyber security initiatives. He has provided advanced training to the FBI and has been consulted by both foreign and domestic government agencies.

Mr Lenkey is a past president of the FBI's InfraGard program in New Jersey and has been recognised by FBI Director Robert Muller on multiple occasions for his accomplishments. He regularly lectures, writes and grants interviews on cyber security topics. In 2011, Mr Lenkey co-authored "Gray Hat Hacking" third edition for McGraw Hill and is featured in the film documentary "Code 2600".

Prof. N. Nikitakos is a graduate of Hellenic Naval Academy (1980) and holds a B.Sc. in Economics (University of Piraeus 1986) and 2 M.Sc. from Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA (M.Sc. Electrical .Engineering. and M.Sc. in Appl. Mathematics ). He spent 25 years as Naval Officer (Captain H.N. ret.) and received a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (1996).

He is Professor of Shipping Informatics and Communications. He holds 3 international patents and he was awarded from Lloyd’s List on Maritime Technological Innovation. He has published 5 books and many articles in international referred journals and conferences. He is a visiting scholar at Chinese Universities (HDU, SMU), Malaysian Universities (NMIT) and many European Universities. Since 2009 he is research fellow at the Center for Security Studies - KEMEA of the Hellenic Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection. He holds ISM, ISPS, PMP and PMI-RPM certifications.

Evanthia Kostidi was born and raised in Chios, a traditional maritime island in the Northeast of Greece. She is a PhD Candidate at the University of the Aegean researching additive manufacturing (3D printing) in the maritime industry.

She holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Energy, Industrial Processes and Pollution Abatement Technology. During her first degree dissertation project worked on: "Simulation of diffusion through nano-composite polymeric film: the case of air through food packaging film".

She holds also, an MSc in Shipping, International Trade and Transport with a specialization in Intermodal Transport and New Technologies. During her MSc dissertation, she worked on the: "Applications of Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) in the maritime industry".

Evanthia has a strong interest in the new Technology, and lately her research interests regard the spare parts in maritime industry with the advent of Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing, as it is commonly known).

Konstantinos currently holds the position of IT & Telecoms Operations Supervisor at Thenamaris Ship Management Inc., overseeing IT and Telecom related systems and operations both at shore and onboard.

He studied Computer Science at the Technical University of Berlin and holds an MBA from ALBA Graduate Business School. He has also been certified as a Chartered Shipbroker by the ICS.

Konstantinos has been working in the shipping industry since 2010 and his experience is in project management, IT infrastructure strategy, efficient communications, planning and process optimization.

Thomas Heide has professionally been involved with developing, supporting and selling Maritime software since 2008. His experience spans from working with regulatory authorities to develop applications for mandatory reporting, to system integration with major shipping companies.

Thomas has worked in several European markets, then spent 5 years in Singapore before relocating back to Europe earlier this year. He likes to see the practical impact of software, and how well-designed solutions improves the working conditions of its users.

Thomas was educated at The Arctic University of Norway, and holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and Computer Science.

Gary Pogson is a Lead Technical Specialist within Lloyd’s Register’s Marine and Offshore Innovation team. He has also been working on secondment at The Alan Turing Institute to research engineering applications of distributed ledger technology in support of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation funded Data Centric Engineering Programme.

Gary is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has a background in R&D and systems engineering and has been with Lloyd’s Register for nearly six years.

Initially with the Marine Product Development and Engineering Systems teams, working on the development of LR’s Rules, quality schemes and international requirements, he now works to develop innovative new products and services for LR clients.

Prior to Lloyd’s Register, Gary worked as a sub-system lead engineer at Cobham Mission Systems – Flight Refuelling ltd, designing air-to-air refuelling systems, and he also spent eleven years at DERA/QinetiQ developing smart materials.

Bent Erik Bjørkli is Head of digitalisation products and services at Kongsberg Maritime, and has 15 years’ experience in Customer Support. He headed up KM’s New Orleans subsidiary and started his career in KM as a Service engineer in Dynamic Positioning.

Educated in the Royal Norwegian Navy, Bent served as a weapons and sonar officer in the Norwegian Submarine forces.

Matt Duke has been in digital technology for 20 years and has worked in the shipping industry for the last 15, leading global digital and IT organizations within Odfjell. Because of Duke’s proven experience leading organizational change and moving Odfjell to a truly data-driven business, Kongsberg Digital brought him on to combine the customer perspective from shipping and elements of leadership and change management required to secure successful innovation through digital transformation.

Skilled in Digital Transformation, Business Process, International Shipping, IT Strategy, Project Portfolio Management, Public Speaking and Leadership. Strong professional with a BSc (Hons) focused in Sciences from University of Sunderland.

Dimitris Theodossiou is the co-founder and the managing director of Danaos Management Consultants S.A.

Dimitris graduated as Naval Architect and Marine Engineer from the National Technical University of Athens. He holds a Master’s Degree in Marine Engineering (with distinction) from the University of London. Post graduate studies in Computer Science and Industrial Marketing.

Dimitris’ experience is in the development of systems to support ship management and streamline commercial operations in the areas of fleet performance and statutory compliance.

Martin Jarrold has worked for GVF for more than 15 years, having been appointed GVF Chief of International Programme Development in June 2001. His particular responsibilities include outreach to the member organisations of the GVF and for the further development of the profile of the Forum within the satellite communications industry, and across the global telecommunications policy and regulatory community. This extends to the development and delivery of programmes focused on extending the understanding of, and promoting the use of, satellite-based communications in various key end-user vertical markets.

Mr. Jarrold is Chairman of the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Conference Series, the GVF Broadband Maritime Conference Series, as well as of GVF's Connectivity, HTS (London), and AeroConnect events. He is also contributing to the development of new events in the GVF-EMP Conference Partnership portfolio.

Mr. Jarrold is also Co-Chairman of the GVF Maritime Satcom Forum. Additionally, he is a frequent contributor to various telecommunications and other industry publications, online and in print. He regularly chairs and contributes to a wide variety of telecommunications conferences, symposia, and workshops around the world. Previously, Mr. Jarrold was Commissioning Editor and Head of Research for Space Business International magazine.

Panagiotis Falidouris is Head of Marlink Cyprus & Greek (CG), responsible for the development of business in Greece & Cyprus for Marlink, the global innovative provider of satellite enabled solutions.

Panagiotis Falidouris is well-respected within the maritime IT and Satcom industry, having over 21 years’ experience in the satellite sector. Panagiotis began his career with Elkco Marine Consultants, a distributor of Telenor & SpecTec and then as Sales Manager of Xantic Hellas – a former ST12 mobile satellite operator based in The Hague, The Netherlands. During his time there, he was responsible for sales of Mobile Satellite Systems to the maritime industry in Greece and Cyprus.

In 2007, Panagiotis joined SRH Marine Electronics (Radio Holland Greece) specialised in the supply, installation and service of marine electronics and representing France Telecom, the mobile satellite operator based in France.

Panagiotis more recently joined as head of Marlink’s Hellas operations to enhance sales efforts within this key region.

Panagiotis has a degree in Programming and Analysis and integrated several commercial and finance topics through various positions in his career.

Michiel Meijer is Senior Director Market Management at Inmarsat Maritime, where he is responsible for understanding the requirements of the market.

Michiel started his career after receiving his Merchant Navy deck officer qualification from the Nautical College in Rotterdam and fulfilled several nautical positions on board of vessels from Nedlloyd and Royal Netherlands Navy. As a Reserve Officer, Michiel Meijer, holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander within the “Naval Control and Guidance for Shipping” division.

After his maritime career Michiel received his Master degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Eindhoven University of Technology. His shore based career started within KPN (Telecom operator in the Netherlands) in which he held positions in marketing and product management. Since 2000, he held sales and marketing positions in maritime satellite communications before joining Inmarsat in 2012.

Marc is the EMEA Director for the IoT and Embedded Division in Dell. Dell takes a pragmatic approach to the Internet of Things (IoT) by building on the equipment and data you already have, and leveraging your current technology investments, to quickly and securely enable analytics-driven action. Marine is a key area of focus in Dell’s IoT division and we are working with a number of organisations in this industry in areas such as predictive maintenance and navigation solutions.

Gary Pogson is a Lead Technical Specialist within Lloyd’s Register’s Marine and Offshore Innovation team. He has also been working on secondment at The Alan Turing Institute to research engineering applications of distributed ledger technology in support of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation funded Data Centric Engineering Programme.

Gary is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has a background in R&D and systems engineering and has been with Lloyd’s Register for nearly six years.

Initially with the Marine Product Development and Engineering Systems teams, working on the development of LR’s Rules, quality schemes and international requirements, he now works to develop innovative new products and services for LR clients.

Prior to Lloyd’s Register, Gary worked as a sub-system lead engineer at Cobham Mission Systems – Flight Refuelling ltd, designing air-to-air refuelling systems, and he also spent eleven years at DERA/QinetiQ developing smart materials.

As President of Ra Security Systems, Gideon Lenkey has consulted on information security matters since 1989. He specialises in assessing and testing the security posture of enterprise IT infrastructures and managing enterprise cyber security initiatives. He has provided advanced training to the FBI and has been consulted by both foreign and domestic government agencies.

Mr Lenkey is a past president of the FBI's InfraGard program in New Jersey and has been recognised by FBI Director Robert Muller on multiple occasions for his accomplishments. He regularly lectures, writes and grants interviews on cyber security topics. In 2011, Mr Lenkey co-authored "Gray Hat Hacking" third edition for McGraw Hill and is featured in the film documentary "Code 2600".

Electra has 20 years' experience in shipping litigation and claims and specialises in disputes arising from international trade including bills of lading, charterparties, MoA disputes and all associated insurance matters. She also handles "wet" claims (collisions, groundings, salvage) and has significant experience in limitation actions and general average. She often coordinates multi-jurisdictional disputes, including cross-border liquidation. She has extensive experience in dealing with large cargo claims arising from liquefaction, fire, explosions, collapse of stow and all types of container claims.

In recent years she has been advising and lecturing on legal issues relating from cyber attacks, cyber fraud and incidents arising from the malicious use of cyber technology. After practising for 12 years in London, she moved to Piraeus in 2009 and joined HFW Greece in 2014.

She is bilingual (English & Greek) and speaks fluent French.

Ewan Robinson has been involved with shipping communications for over 18 years. Having worked with Shipping communications providers and Shipping companies on various tasks ranging from: Project management; Country management of sales channels; Vessel communication budget compliance; System Administration and Management; System development for vessels; Communications analysis; Communications Interface and System software design; Remote vessel management solutions; Citadel communications systems; Vessel IT recovery systems; Network penetration testing of office systems and L-Band Expert witness testimony.

Ewan has a degree in Marine Technology and Marine software, with further study in networks and is a qualified CEH.