SPEAKERS / MODERATORS

Associate Professor Frank Stevens obtained his Law Degree from the University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1991.  He also holds an LL.M. in Admiralty from Tulane University (1992), a "Special Degree in Maritime Sciences" from the University of Antwerp (1993) and a Doctorate in Law from the University of Ghent (2017). He is Associate Professor of maritime and commercial law at Erasmus School of Law.
Frank Stevens joined the Antwerp Bar in 1993, and has been practising transport and maritime law since then. Since 2016, he is an Associate Professor at the Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam, and of counsel to a maritime law firm.

Michael Nolan is a Queen's Counsel (Q.C) and member of Quadrant Chambers. His practice covers all aspects of the law relating to ships, the international carriage and sale of goods, insurance and reinsurance, harbour law, commercial contracts, private international law and professional negligence. He appears regularly in arbitration, is a supporting member of the LMAA, a member of the SCMA and accepts appointments as an arbitrator.

Ms. Frangou is the Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NM) since August 2005. In addition, Ms. Frangou is the Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), an affiliated limited partnership, since its inception in August 2007. Ms. Frangou is also Navios South American Logistics Inc.’s Chairwoman and a Member of the Board of Directors since its inception in December 2007.

Mr. Kenney is Director of Legal and External Affairs at the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for regulating the global shipping industry. He is responsible for advising the IMO Secretary-General on all legal issues associated with the functioning of IMO, with special emphasis on matters of treaty law and the law of the sea; provides legal counsel to staff supporting IMO’s committees and subcommittees and has particular responsibility as Secretary for the Organization’s Legal Committee. He oversees IMO’s role as depositary for the 53 multilateral conventions adopted under its aegis. Prior to joining the IMO Secretariat in 2014, Mr. Kenney served as The Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the United States Coast Guard, attaining the rank of Rear Admiral. He also served as the Coast Guard’s Chief of Maritime and International Law and was seconded to the US Department of State in the Office of Oceans Affairs. Mr. Kenney served on a polar icebreaker and conducted law enforcement and security operations during nearly five years at sea. Mr. Kenney also served as a judge on the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals. Mr. Kenney holds a juris doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a B.A. in Economics from Michigan State University. Mr. Kenney has published several law review articles, has lectured widely, and was an adjunct professor of maritime law at Georgetown University Law Center and the US Defense Institute for International Legal Studies. He currently is a visiting lecturer at the World Maritime University in Malmo Sweden and the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta. 

Professor Soyer directs the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University and is a member of the British Maritime Law Association and British Insurance Law Association. He is the author of Warranties in Marine Insurance (2001), Marine Insurance Fraud (2014) and many articles published in journals such as Cambridge Law Journal, Law Quarterly Review, Edinburg Law Review, Lloyd’s Maritime & Commercial Law Quarterly, the Journal of Business Law, the Torts Law Journal and the Journal of Contract Law. Warranties in Marine Insurance won the Cavendish Book Prize 2001, and was awarded the British Insurance Law Association Charitable Trust Book Prize in 2002 for its contribution to insurance literature. Marine Insurance Fraud also won the latter prize in 2015.

Dr. Manolis Konstantinidis is the manager of the Legal Department of Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited, which currently manages 80 vessels. He mainly deals with charterparty disputes, which are in principle arbitrated at LMAA and/ or before local courts all over the world, and cargo claims. He has also dealt with S&P disputes, shipbuilding contracts and corporate financing matters/ disputes.

Mr. Fokion Karavias holds the position of Chief Executive Officer at Eurobank S.A. and he is Member of the Board of Directors.

He has served at Eurobank as Senior General Manager, Head of Group Corporate and Investment Banking, Capital Markets & Wealth Management and member of the Executive Committee (2014 – 2015), General Manager and member of the Executive Committee (2005 – 2013), Deputy General Manager and Treasurer (2002 -2005).

Dr. Theodore Syriopoulos is Professor of Finance and Chair of the Ports Management and Shipping Department of the School of Economics & Political Sciences (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). He also holds adjunct and visiting posts in several Universities, including Athens Law School. Professor Syriopoulos teaches a range of undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses in the field of Finance, including: International Finance, Shipping Finance, Banking Management, Global Capital Markets and Portfolio Management, Advanced Corporate Finance & Risk Management, and Financial Derivatives and Risk Management.

Professor Stephen Girvin is a tenured full Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Director of the Centre for Maritime Law (CML) since 2015, after a five-year period as Vice Dean (Research) in the Faculty. He has taught at Aberdeen, Nottingham, and Birmingham Universities and has been a Visiting Professor in several Universities throughout the world.

George Iatridis-Ramantanis is a partner at LCI Law Firm, with a 30 years' experience in advising Greek and international ship-owning groups, P&I clubs, banks and insurers and reinsurers.