Judges Profiles

The second Wind Propulsion Innovation Awards shortlist of submissions will be announced in mid-October and then after nearly three weeks of voting the winners will be announced at the virtual awards ceremony to be held during the second week of COP26, being held in Glasgow. These awards are about telling positive stories of shipping innovation at an important event in our voyage towards a sustainable world and averting the worst ravages of the climate emergency. The judges job will be to whittle down the submissions to a select five (possibly six) in each of the award  categories which will then progress to either an open vote, or one from IWSA members. 

The shortlist will be generated by the selected panel of judges drawn from the industry, academia, wind propulsion advocates and some general renewable energy/sustainability backgrounds.

We would like to thank all of the judges that have agreed to join us and we will adding a few additional judges over the next week.   

Judges Profiles

Aleksander Askeland – CSO, Yara Marine Technologies

Aleksander Askeland is Chief Sales Officer at Yara Marine Technologies since March 1st 2020. Aleksander has worked for the broader Yara group since 2016. Prior to joining Yara, Aleksander worked four years as Director for Sales & Business Development for Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani in Svalbard and before that, six years for the Boston Consulting Group. Aleksander holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts from Oxford University.

Andrew Stephens – Executive Director, The Sustainable Shipping Initiative

Prior to becoming Executive Director of The Sustainable Shipping Initiative in August 2018, responsible for leadership of the Secretariat, Andrew has earlier been Chief Operating Officer at Wilhelmsen Ships Service and Wallem Group, leading strategy implementation, business transformation and continuous improvement programmes achieving improved customer satisfaction and business performance.

Bertrand Charrier – Founder, BC Consulting

Bertrand Charrier, PhD in Physics, integrates in 2009 the French Development Agency (AFD) in charge of Innovations for Development. Prior to this, Bertrand Charrier worked for 15 years with Captain Jacques Cousteau. Charrier is the co-inventor of the Suction Sail, named Turbosail as commercial name, with Pr. Lucien Malavard and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The Suction Sail is an efficient system for Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion based of the cylinder-flap wing with boundary layer suction. Alcyone, ship of Cousteau Foundation was successfully equipped with two SS. Bertrand Charrier is founder of BC Consulting, specialized in Sciences and Environmental Policy is contributing to the research and development of Suction Sail.

Bud Darr – Executive Vice President, Maritime Policy and Government Affairs, MSC Group

Bud Darr is Executive Vice President, Maritime Policy and Government Affairs, MSC Group which operates in 155 countries. An experienced global maritime leader in the areas of policy, government, and related law, Bud is closely involved in MSC’s response to developments in environmental public policy and regulation and other industry-wide issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, maritime security, safety at sea, and international shipping policy. Having served in the US Navy, Merchant Marine, and Coast Guard, as well as being an accomplished ocean yacht racer, Bud’s longstanding connection with the sea and ships is both personal and professional. He also serves on the Boards for the ICS, UK Chamber of Shipping, BIMCO, Liberian Shipowners’ Council, and Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel.

Carleen Lyden Walker – Executive Director, NAMEPA

Carleen Lyden Walker is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of NAMEPA (North American Marine Environment Protection Association), Chief Evolution Officer of SHIPPINGInsight and a marketing and communications professional in the commercial maritime industry for over 40 years.  In 2015, Ms. Walker was appointed a Goodwill Maritime Ambassador by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Craig Eason – Owner, Fathom World

Craig is the owner of Fathom World and host of the Aronnax Podcast, His focus is on delivering content, news, project management and analysis in the maritime, shipping and marine industries. A former deep sea navigation officer, he is also a multi-disciplined media and communications entrepreneur and professional event host, with a deep journalistic background in the maritime, shipping and ocean environment space. He has an ability and empathy to quickly understand a situation or issue within his field of expertise.

David Bolduc – Executive Director, Green Marine | Alliance verte

David Bolduc was appointed as Green Marine’s executive director in January 2010 following his active participation in creating the environmental certification program while employed at the St. Lawrence Economic Development Council. He leads a team of six employees based in Quebec City, Halifax and Seattle and is Green Marine’s leading representative and outreach agent.

David Patraiko – Director of Projects, The Nautical Institute

David Patraiko is the Director of Projects for The Nautical Institute, and coordinates its Technical, Professional Development and IMO Committees. He has led research on training, mentoring, electronic navigation, the associated ‘Human Element’ effects created by technology, and Marine Spatial Planning. Currently involved with the international debate on e-Navigation and served as Chairman of the IALA e-navigation working group for Strategy and Operations (2006-2014), Chaired the Industry ECDIS Training Group, and is the current Chairman of the Green Awards Board of Experts.  A graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (US), he served 12 years in the Merchant Navy (1985 – 1997) and holds an Unlimited Master Mariners licence and was awarded an MBA degree from Henley Management College (UK).

Dmitriy Ponkratov – Technical Director, Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Dmitriy Ponkratov is a naval architect with international experience gained in Russia, China, Norway and the UK. He worked as an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a senior consultant at the world-renowned Technical Investigation Department at Lloyd’s Register. Currently, he holds the position of Technical Director at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Edwin Pang – Chair, Royal Institution of Naval Architects IMO Committee

Edwin Pang is a naval architect with over 20 years of ship design and consulting experience, particularly with passenger ships. He is Chair of the RINA IMO Committee, which numbers around 30 members with a wide variety of experience and is responsible for all of the Institution’s engagement at the IMO. Edwin is also founder of the consultancy Arcsilea Ltd that specialises in safety and environmental regulatory policy development, with a particular focus on GHG policy and safety of alternative fuels.

Frank Berrens – Director, Berrens Maritime

Frank Berrens worked as master and officer in almost all sorts of shipping. Next, he built up many years of experience in management of transport and shipping companies. He wrote his thesis on “the navigation and economical aspects of modern sailing cargo vessels” in 1983, and remains a firm believer that wind assisted propulsion is one of the pragmatic ways forward to a more sustainable shipping industry. He holds an MBA and a BSc.

Frédéric Moncany de Saint-Aignan – Président du Cluster Maritime Français

Giovanni Bordogna & Nico van der Kolk – CEO/CTO, Blue Wasp Marine

Giovanni Bordogna holds a Ph.D. in the aerodynamics of wind-assisted ships from TUDelft and he is Blue Wasp’s CEO. He has experience in wind-tunnel model testing, especially concerning wind propulsor aerodynamic interaction and full-scale performance. Within Blue Wasp, Giovanni is responsible for the aerodynamic modelling of WASP vessels, and he is in charge of the company’s management. Nico van der Kolk obtained his Ph.D. on the hydrodynamics of wind-assisted vessels from TUDelft, and he is Blue Wasp’s CTO. Nico is experienced in towing-tank testing and computational fluid dynamics, in particular applied to the sailing efficiency of WASP ships. At Blue Wasp, he is responsible for the company’s R&D and software development as well as being the hydrodynamics expert. Blue Wasp Marine BV is an engineering consultancy built on more than 10 years of Ph.D. experience in wind-assisted ship propulsion, offering expert and independent technical advice to support the shipping industry accomplish its decarbonization mission.  

Grant Gassner – Director of Integrated Systems and Solutions, Wärtsilä Marine Power

Grant Gassner is currently working as Director of Integrated Systems and Solutions in Wärtsilä Marine Power which focuses on holistic solutions and system integration to support the marine industry in its decarbonization journey.   He has been working in Wärtsilä for sixteen years, mainly in four-stroke and two-stroke R&D and product management related functions.  Prior to starting his current position he has been based in Shanghai from 3/2018-7/2021 as Managing Director of one of Wärtsilä’s joint venture engine factories with CSSC.    Grant currently in based in Vaasa Finland where he lives with wife Linda and two children Ella and Edric.

Haris Zografakis – Partner, Stephenson Harwood LLP

Haris Zografakis is partner at the London office of Stephenson Harwood LLP, one of the maritime sector’s leading international law firms, and is heading up the firm’s commodities team. For over 25 years, he has dealt with all aspects of international maritime trade, published and lectured extensively around the world (including for BIMCO and the IMO). He leads his firm’s work on maritime decarbonisation for the Global Maritime Forum, he served on the drafting committee of, and is now legal advisor to, the Sea Cargo Charter.

Helene Smidt – Lead, Maritime Industry Decarbonisation Council, Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association (RBSA)

Hélène Smidt represents the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association (RBSA) where she follows up on topics related to maritime innovation and sustainable finance. Within RBSA she leads the Maritime Industry Decarbonisation Council, a thinktank where innovative projects are discussed in-dept and a MASS- focused thinktank. She is also a project partner in the STEERER project where her main focus is mapping the state-of-play within the maritime industry and the creation of a detailed catalogue.

IMO Maritime Technical Co-operation Center for Caribbean (MTCC-Caribbean)

MTCC Caribbean is part of the EU funded and IMO implemented GMN Project. Equipped with an extensive pool of expertise, it is an experienced, internationally recognized centre for maritime excellence which promotes technologies and operations to improve energy efficiency in the maritime sector, helping to navigate shipping into a low-carbon future.

Lars Robert Pederson – Deputy Secretary General, BIMCO

Deputy Secretary General Lars Robert Pedersen is responsible for BIMCO’s technical and operational activities involving all technical and nautical issues within the area of marine environment, ship safety and maritime security. He is also responsible for BIMCO’s activity related to regulatory developments relevant for shipping at international, regional and national levels. In the past decade he has served on IMO expert groups on market-based measures and on the steering group for the IMO 2020 fuel oil availability study. He joined BIMCO in early 2010 after a long career at A.P. Moller-Maersk (APMM). For more than 25 years he was involved in regulatory affairs at IMO level, technical management of the Maersk fleet of container ships and prior to that as seagoing engineer officer, holding an unlimited Chief Engineers license.

Octavi Sadó Garriga – Ship Design Manager, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping

Octavi Sadó Garriga is currently the Ship Design Manager at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping anchoring the center activities on energy efficiency onboard vessels. He has worked extensively throughout the industry primarily focused on vessel and fleet performance management with positions at Maersk, Nordic Tankers A/S, Clipper group and DNV. Before joining the MMMCZCS, he was the Head of Fleet Performance Optimisation for A.P. Moller – Maersk leading a team of technical experts on energy efficiency and performance monitoring activities. While in DNV, Octavi was a part of the technical advisory team with focus on ship hydrodynamics. Octavi holds Master’s degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of New Orleans

Peter Rae – President, World Wind Energy Association

Peter Rae is the current president of the World Wind Energy Association and for the past 16 years has been a member of the International jury for the Energy Globe Awards. After a lengthy career in politics spanning over 20 years, including as Senator for Tasmania in the Australian Senate and Shadow Minister with portfolios that included Industry and Commerce, Finance, and Education and Science he has served in various roles in the renewable energy sector including currently as the honorary chairman of the International Renewable Energy Alliance (REN Alliance) and serves as a non-executive director at IWSA.   

Ruan Wei, Professor – Head, IMO Maritime Technical Co-operation Center for Asia (MTCC-Asia)

Professor Ruan is the Head of the IMO Maritime Technical Co-operation Center for Asia (MTCC-Asia). He is an Associate Professor at Shanghai Maritime University (maritime education & training, researching IMO conventions, maritime safety management, maritime policies). He is a regular delegate of Chinese Maritime Safety Administration (MSA China) at IMO conferences and serves as the Dean of both the Continuing Education & International Education College and a director of the Shanghai Seafarer Training Center and International Office of the University.

Sara Skold – Project Manager, Clean Shipping Index

Sara Sköld is a senior project manager at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute for 5 years, working on sustainable development of the shipping sector producing different publications with focus on improving the environmental work in ports and harbors, mapping different indices for shipping and evaluating different strategies for decarbonisation of shipping. Sara is currently project manager for Clean Shipping Index, which is a tool for shipping companies to benchmark their environmental performance towards their customers, and a system which – once verified – can receive rebates on port fees and fairways dues in Scandinavia.

Sofia & Conor Fürstenberg Stott – Partners, Fürstenberg Maritime Advisory

Sofia Fürstenberg Stott was previously doing innovation at Maersk, developing pioneering conferences for Nor-Shipping and consulting on greener solutions with DNV. Over 15 years in maritime, Europe and Asia. Co-chairs WISTA Tech+Futures Committee and is Board member Sweden. Educated as Chemical Engineer from Lund Institute of Technology, later gaining Blue MBA at CBS Copenhagen. Conor Fürstenberg Stott was previously offshore Asset Manager, operations manager, Captain/OIM with Maersk. Over 29 years in maritime at sea and ashore. Volunteering, mentoring and advisory board member in maritime and ocean arenas. Educated as Master mariner, Ship Management (Lloyds) and MBA from Henley UK.

Vasileios Kosmas, Dr – Senior Researcher, Hapag-Lloyd Center for Shipping and Global Logistics (CSGL) of Kühne Logistics University (KLU)

Vasileios Kosmas is a Senior Researcher at the Hapag-Lloyd Center for Shipping and Global Logistics (CSGL) of Kühne Logistics University (KLU). His work focuses mainly on environmental policies, green technologies, and alternative fuels within the maritime transport industry. He has been involved in various projects related to sustainable shipping and he is the lead researcher of the “Policy and viable business” work package of the Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) project. Dr. Kosmas is a member of the International Association of Maritime Economists. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Operations Management from Copenhagen Business School and a MSc in Maritime Transport with Management from Newcastle University.