Shipping Award – Dorothea Ioannou
Shipping, an area inextricably linked to our country for thousands of years, difficult and very demanding, in which to stand out one must possess many capable elements of a distinct personality. One such personality is Dorothea Ioannou ,who holds the enviable position of Chief Commercial Director Of The American P&I Club.
With 25 years of professional experience, including 20 in the field of Seafarers, with proven professional skills, business acuity dynamic personality and significant presence in the market, Dorothea is a true leader of her generation in the field of Seafarers and the only one who holds the position of high-level strategy officer worldwide, among women but also men of Greek Cypriot and Greek-American origin in the P&I clubs market.
He was born and raised in New York, U.S. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the City University of New York and Juris Doctorate from St. John’s. John’s University of Law in New York.
After moving to Greece in 1997 and not having professional connections in the country, the road was not paved with rose petals. He faced several difficulties and initially worked at local law firms dealing with a wide range of commercial traNanactions and litigation, as well as greek maritime law issues.
In 1998 he began working for a real estate company, where he eventually gained an administrative position as a Legal Adviser as well as in the Claims department and gradually began to become known as a rising talent in the management of maritime accidents.
In 2005, she joined SCB (Hellas) Inc., the Piraeus office of the managing company, SCB Inc., of the American P&I Club as Claims Executive and once again distinguished herself for her zeal. He participated in conferences in his capacity as a specialist in the field of maritime insurance not only in Greece, but also in other major shipping centres around the world.
In recognition of her skills and the effort she had made up to then, in 2009 she was asked to take up claims manager duties as well as the general administration of the office. She developed a strong team in the Greek office consisting of 90% female professionals, a remarkable feature when one considers that initially when she started her career in sea insurance, there were very few women working in the industry and none at administrative level.
In 2010, she became the first woman to be appointed to the Executive Committee of the American Club’s New York management company, Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., and was involved in corporate strategy.
During that period he developed a successful development model. As a result, she was given the position of Director of Regional Development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The model adopted for these regions produced impressive results and thus, in 2015, she was promoted to Global Development Director.
During the same period, he held a key role in promoting the development of the Club’s subsidiary for Hull and Machinery insurance, AHHIC Ltd. She is also the only woman appointed as a member of the Board of Directors.
Dorothea Ioannou has pioneered the implementation of a stronger corporate social responsibility at the American Club. In 2012, and under its supervision, the American Club presented the Posidonia Charity Initiative, thus raising more than 250,000 euros for three different charitable programs in Greece to help families affected by the financial crisis as well as children with special needs.
At the same time, he has a passion to invest time in the new generation, to create and develop the new talented generation of the sea insurance market. It implemented the internship program for the company worldwide in 2016 and also personally undertakes the guidance of students and young professionals outside of its working hours.
She has developed a reputation as one of the future leading figures in the maritime industry and her achievements in this direction were recently recognised when she was selected from Lloyd’s List 2017 as the winner of the “Next Generation in Shipping” Award and took first place in the top 5 “rising leaders” of the next generation of Lloyd’s List Shipping.
As a proud mother of an 18-year-old daughter studying at a University in Athens, she made every effort during her career to balance family and professional obligations despite the high demands on her business trips and considers her daughter to be “the most important motivation to always look to the future and become a better person”.
