Trevor Blakeley was appointed Chief Executive of The Royal Institution of Naval Architects in April 1997 after a successful and varied career as an officer in the Royal Navy. A Naval engineering specialist, he enjoyed a wide range of seagoing and shore appointments after reading for his degree at the Royal Naval Engineering College, Manadon. He served at sea in minesweepers, frigates, destroyers and aircraft carriers. Shore appointments included specialist technical teams, ship construction, training and general staff appointments in technical and personnel support. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He is the Chairman of the Council of the Confederation of European Maritime Technological Societies (CEMT) and a member of the Council of the Engineering Committee on Oceanic Resources (ECOR). He believes that the Institution has a responsibility to its members, the naval architecture profession and society to promote the highest standards of professional competence and integrity, and to assist both individuals and companies to achieve and maintain those standards, particularly by providing access to information on developments in the global maritime industry through the Institution's technical journals, conferences and website. He considers that the Institution has a vital role to play in providing a link between academia, industry and the naval architecture profession, which is essential to the prosperity of maritime industries in the countries of the members of the Institution.

Paul, a Norwegian, after National Service in the Norwegian Navy, worked at Mobil Exploration in Norway from 1981 to 1983 and then held various positions in Kvaerner Rosenberg A/S, Stavanger before becoming Senior Vice President of Sales from 1991 to 1995. From 1995 to 1996, he was Managing Director at Kvaerner Hetland A/S, Bryne, Norway before becoming Technical Director of Kvaerner Govan Shipbuilding in Glasgow in 1996 where he stayed until 2000. He was also a Program Director at BAE Systems where he stayed for two years; He then joined Goltens in 2002 as MD for the Middle East and India region and VP for the Far East / South East Asia. In 2006, he was appointed as the President of the Goltens Worldwide Services, the position he holds today. His many senior appointments within the offshore and marine industry worldwide have given him a broad experience within the aspects of sales, operation and general management. Currently he is responsible for about 1100 people worldwide and yearly sales of US$ 150 million.

Keith Read served as an engineer in the Royal Navy for thirty-three years. His appointments included Senior Engineer of the Polaris Submarine HMS REPULSE, Executive Officer of the Clyde Submarine Base, Deputy Director of Logistic Plans, Captain Surface Ship Acceptance and British Naval Attache in Italy and Defense Attache in Albania throughout the Bosnia crisis. He attended the Royal College of Defense Studies in 1990 and was appointed CBE in 1997. He was appointed Director General (now Chief Executive) of the Institute of Marine Engineers in January 1999 and has driven through the Institute's move to its new headquarters and emergence as the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) with a revised Royal Charter.

IMarEST is licensed to award Chartered Engineering and Science status to appropriately qualified engineers and scientists. Keith Read was a founding Member of the ETB; sits on the Science Council and is a member of the Technical Committee of the RNLI. He chairs the Engineering Institutions Chief Executives' Committee (G15). He is a Member of The US Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, the IET and the Royal Society of Arts.

Baird Publications is one of the world's leading marine publishers, web based information providers and exhibition organizers. The Baird "fleet" includes three monthly magazines, and many other books and market surveys as well as a web portal. It also organizes a series of highly focused, high quality exhibitions and conferences for the commercial and military marine and fishing industries. It maintains a number of major marine databases and undertakes marine consulting work. Neil is a former long-standing director of the Australian Shipbuilders Association, a member of the Navy League of Australia's Federal Advisory Council, a Foundation member of the Australian Fisheries Academy and former Secretary of the Australian Maritime Network. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association of which he is now Chairman. He is a "Roving Ambassador of INTERMEPA (International Marine Environment Protection Association). He sails with the Blair Gowrie Yacht Squadron.

Dr. Shin was born in Seoul, Korea on September 13, 1932. As one of country's foremost specialists in the fields of naval architecture and marine engineering, he was educated at Seoul National University, Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and University of Durham in UK. 

Dr. Shin kicked off his shipbuilding career as a Naval architect for Kockums Mekaniska Verkstad (Kockums Mechanical Industry) in Sweden, the largest and most modern shipyard in Europe at the time, and moved onto Hardy Tobin Co. Ltd., one of the most reputable marine consulting firms in UK as a consulting marine engineer. Dr. Shin's parade of reputable international shipbuilding career includes serving as a ship surveyor for both Lloyd's Register of Shipping (London, Kobe, and Yokohama) and ABS (New York). In early 1960's, Dr. Shin returned to Korea and served as a technical advisor to the government owned Korea Shipbuilding and Engineering Corporation (currently Hanjin Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.), being the country's largest shipyard at the time. During these years, Dr. Shin also served as Technical Advisor for Maritime Affairs to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Planning Board of the Republic of Korea. Having distinguished himself in this capacity, he was appointed by the late President Park Chung-Hee to serve as Chairman of the Special Maritime Advisory Committee, Senior Economic Secretary, and Secretary General of the Presidential Council in the fields of Economy and Science. Apart from these prominent governmental roles, Dr. Shin held and continues to hold key positions in many professional associations and societies. Throughout this period, Dr. Shin played a pivotal role in planning the national economic development and overseeing Korea's economic advancement, especially in the fields of heavy industry, maritime affairs, science and technology and basic infrastructure development. After leaving his government posts in early 1970's, Dr. Shin established Korea Maritime Consultants Co., Ltd. - KOMAC. In May of 2006, the world-renowned industry press, Lloyd's List in UK, praised Dr. Shin's achievement by crowning him as "The Father of Shipbuilding" who shows no sign of slowing down.

Maxwell De Silva was born in Colombo. He was fully involved with the Shipping Education in Sri Lanka for the last 20 years and it is his passion to impart knowledge to the youth of Sri Lanka and to build capacity in HR.

His professional experience includes; 1999 Jan To-Date MCS Logistics Intl (Pvt) Ltd. Colombo as Chairman; Executive Director, The Institute of Commercial Studies (Education and Shipping Consulting work) and Managing Director, NLPNOW Lanka Pvt. Ltd. He was NLP Training, Chairman at Macship Agencies Lanka Pvt. Ltd. 1990- 1999 Jan. Scanships Ltd and Maersk Lanka Pvt. Ltd (representing world biggest container carrier) was their first General Manager (Sales /Marketing). Maxwell was responsible for building up of the agency and getting to become a force in Sri Lanka with his networking and marketing efforts with the team of dedicated staff. His responsibility was to develop new markets and positioning Maersk and to be a profitable venture. Nov 1976 until Jan 1990 He was with Ceylon Shipping Corp, the national carrier of Sri Lanka- last positioned held was Deputy Manager, Maersk Line Unit wherein Maxwell was responsible for total development of this line during the pre-liberalized era and was involved with launching of CSC Container Service to Europe and studies conducted therein. He was trained in all aspect of shipping and liner services etc and was entrusted with special projects studies, economic viability of the liner service and implementation. He has received various awards like the Organization of Professional Association of Sri Lanka (OPA) felicitated him on being elected to the Chartered Shipbrokers, UK Executive Council, as he was the first Asian to be elected. He is also the First Asian/Non British to get elected to the Executive Council of The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, UK and finally also the First Asian / Non British to get elected as the Chairman of the Membership Committee of Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Worldwide. He is a member of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK, Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers UK and last not but the least a Member of Mensa International UK (High IQ Society). .

Mr. Teh Kong Leong was Executive Director of the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) from January 2005 to January 2007. Before SMF, Mr. Teh was Executive Vice-President (Technical Services) and Vice-President (Risk Management) at Neptune Orient Lines Ltd, Singapore's national shipping line.

After graduating in 1974 from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK he worked at the Marine Department, Ministry of Communications, becoming its Director in 1987. He left government service in 1997 to join NOL. Between 1991 and 1996, he was a Director of Singmarine Industries Ltd and Chairman of Singmarine Dockyard and Engineering Ltd, part of the Keppel Group. He was very active in the International Maritime Organisation, the UN's specialized agency for shipping, serving as Vice-Chairman of its Maritime Safety Committee and Chairman of the Working Group on Ro-ro Ferry Safety, which was formed after the Estonia accident. He is currently serving on the Board of Seacare Holdings and Chairman of Seacare MarinePlus, two companies associated with the seafarers' union, the Singapore Organisation of Seamen. He chairs the Advisory Council of the Singapore Maritime Training Fund, which was established by the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union to promote training of seafarers. Mr. Teh was an active member of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's R and D Advisory Panel, the Singapore Shipping Association's Services and International Committees, and technical committees of the American Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, Det Norske Veritas and Class NK. He has also contributed to manpower development by serving on the Board of the Singapore Polytechnic and the Nanyang Technological University's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering's Advisory Committee. At the professional level, he has been a past-President of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Singapore. He is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (UK) and currently the Executive Director of its South East Asia Division. He is much involved in grass-roots activities, being a member of the Marine Parade Citizens' Consultative Committee and Chairman of the Constituency Sports Club.

Sheila Lim is Counsel and Assistant Registrar with the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA). As Counsel she heads SCMA and oversees its daily operations, administers cases under the SCMA Rules and leads its business development efforts. She is a lawyer by profession. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore and her Master of Laws degree (in maritime law) from University College, University of London and is called to the Singapore Bar. Sheila has over 30 years of work experience. As a practicing litigation lawyer she has advised on a broad range of shipping and maritime law issues relating to charterparties, shiprepair and construction; marine insurance; enforcement of mortgages; carriage of goods by sea; ship collisions and the arrest and detention of ships. Prior to joining the SCMA she headed the legal department of a publicly listed shipping and engineering conglomerate. In this capacity and most notably, she was involved in a maritime arbitration in London under the London Maritime Arbitrators Association Rules with a claim value of $800 million.

Kevin Shakesheff is the Chairman of Casper Shipping Limited, a UK Ship Agency and Logistic Group. Aged 57 years, he is located at North Yorkshire, England and holds a Welsh nationality. He is the International Chairman for the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, which is headquartered in London, UK.

His career path in business includes various shipping management appointments in West Coast, UK between 1967 and 1985. He joined as a partner in Iberica Maritima Barcelona during the year 1985-1990 as a specialist Chemical Tanker Broker and Port Agent. He had also spent a short time in International Container Development for Sea Spain Group and returned to the UK in 1991 as Managing Director of Clarkson Brothers and Casper Ltd at Teesside. Around the period of 1991-2002, he grew Clarkson Bros and Casper from a one port operation to a logistics group with offices at all major UK ports. He also operated two centers in Northern France. In 2002, Mr. Shakesheff successfully concluded a management buy out of the Northern UK offices from Clarkson Brothers and re - branded them with new name dating back to 1872 as Casper Shipping Limited. Offices were located at Teesside, Grangemouth (Edinburgh) Blythe, Hull and Immingham. In 2004, he finalized the purchase of BS Freight at Durham Tees Valley Airport. In 2005, he finalized purchase of Camair at Newcastle Airport and relinquished the role of MD to Michael Shakesheff in 2005. He also has professional appointments with Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. During the period of 1975-1985, he was an active member of various ICS management committees. He was an Education Officer from the year 1978-83. He was the Chairman of South Wales in 1985, member of Tees and Hartlepool ICS Branch in 1992 and Education Officer in 1987-89. He was appointed as the Chairman of Tees and Hartlepool Branch from 1990-91. He was a member of Federation (Company Membership) from 1986-90 and 2001-2005. He was in the Executive Committee of ICS from 2003-2008 and was the International Vice Chairman of ICS for the year 2006 and International Chairman from 2007-2008.