Kamran Agasi Research Staff Associate, Eurasian Energy Project

Kamran Agasi works as a Research Fellow at Columbia University, within the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy. Kamran is involved in a research programme on Global Energy Governance that is intended to look at trust building mechanisms in the energy sector.

Previously, Kamran worked at Royal Dutch Shell. For 5 years he worked at Shell Scenarios team, an international group providing advisory services to Executive Committee and Shell global businesses, through the use of scenario planning tools to develop long-term strategy and mitigate commercial and other risks. During his time at Shell Scenarios team, Kamran was involved in a number of strategy review projects, and was part of the core team in developing Shell Global Scenarios to 2025 and Shell Energy Scenarios to 2050.  Prior to joining the scenarios team, Kamran worked at Shell Azerbaijan in Baku as an External Affairs Manager. Kamran holds a master’s degree from London School of Economics in Theory and History of International Relations, and Bachelors in Russian Language from the University of Slavonic Languages in Baku, Azerbaijan.

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Stephen Blank Senior Research Program Coordinator for North America

Stephen Blank is a specialist on North American integration. He directed Canadian Programs at the Americas Society-Council of the Americas and, for seventeen years, was Managing Director of the Pan-American Partnership for Business Education, an alliance of four North American business schools.

Dr Blank taught at Pace University's Lubin School of Business in New York City from 1985 to 2006. Before coming to Pace, he taught in the Political Science Department at the University of Pittsburgh, directed the Council for European Studies (a Ford Foundation-funded inter-university consortium), headed The Conference Board's research program on multinational corporations and was a founding partner of Multinational Strategies, Inc, an international management consultancy. He continues to consult on international business issues, currently for Kansas City, Missouri's Office of International Affairs and Tradeon the city's North American trade strategy.

Dr Blank has been a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, HEC-Montreal and the University of Montreal (Fulbright Professor associated with the Chair of U.S. Economic and Political Studies). He has also been a visiting professor at Yale School of Organization and Management and Yale College, the International University of Japan, and at SIPA, Columbia University. His publications include, among eleven books, Making NAFTA Work: Corporate Strategies in a New North American Business Environment.

Dr Blank received his BA from Dartmouth College, his MA from Cambridge University and his MA and PhD from Harvard.

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Scott Borgerson Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Head of the Arctic and Climate Change Project, Marine Transportation Programs

Scott Borgerson is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) and an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Dr Borgerson's research interests include marine navigation in a melting Arctic, opportunities for U.S. Short Sea Shipping, and the geography of shipping networks.

Previously, he was the Director of the Institute for Leadership and an Assistant Professor of U.S. History, Political Geography and Maritime Studies at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. During a decade on active duty, he contributed to Coast Guard strategic planning efforts and served several tours at sea on narcotics interdiction and search and rescue missions holding positions as Navigator aboard the Cutter Dallas and Commanding Officer of the Patrol Boat Point Sal. Dr Borgerson also earned a Merchant Marine Officer 200 Ton Masters License for commercial ships upon near coastal waters.

A prolific writer and speaker on maritime matters, Dr Borgerson has published op-eds in the New York Times, The Singapore Straits Times, and Naval Institute's Proceedings as well as articles in several other magazines and journals. He frequently addresses shipping conferences and panels and has been consulted as a maritime expert by The Wall Street Journal, Tradewinds, The World Economic Forum, the PBS' Nova series and Russia Profile, Harper's and Fortune magazines.

Dr Borgerson holds a BS from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as well as a MALD and a PhD in International Relations, both from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he was distinguished with the inaugural Fellowship in Fletcher's Maritime Studies Program.

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Natasha Udensiva-Brenner is responsible for the development of CEMTPP relations with the Russian Federation and CIS countries.  She is in charge of bringing speakers from Russia, Ukraine and other former republics of the Soviet Union and organizing round tables and conferences on Eurasian energy issues.

The focus of her research is natural gas; Russian domestic and international energy polices.  Ms. Udensiva is also providing analytics and risk research analysis of the FSU republics for the various investment companies.

She is holding MA in Psychology from the Moscow State University, Russia and JD from the New York Law School, USA. She is a member of the American Bar Association

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Elie Chachoua International Consultant

Elie Chachoua is an international consultant on strategy/coordination in Climate and development issues. He specializes in multidisciplinary projects and provides services ranging from project/programme coordination to strategic analysis and advising.

Elie has lead and managed projects addressing climate change coordination challenges at regional level (United Nations Regional Commissions New York Office), designed projects on strategic and political issues related to climate negotiations (e.g Islands First), and provided support for program implementation (UNDP) on capacity building for policy makers to address climate change.

Elie has extensive experience and understanding of the climate negotiations process, which he covered as a consultant for academia (CEMTPP) and NGOs (Islands First). More recently, Elie has been working with the CEMTPP on the publication "Marine Transportation Scenarios to 2030". He has written a chapter on the global environmental aspects of shipping and is now working on the strategy aspects of the publication, in particular the refinement of the strategy scenarios. In that context, he covered important developments in the cross-sectoral discussions on the oceans (e.g World Oceans Council).

Elie is a Doctor in Theoretical Physics from Universite Pierre et Marie Curie and holds a Master of Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of Columbia University. He is fluent in English and French.

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Catherine Distler Marine Transportation Advisor

Catherine Distler was an advisor for the Marine Transportation research program at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP). In particular she served as co-Director of the MT2030 Scenarios Project, which draws on the six other Marine Transportation 2030 Projects underway at the Center to create an integrated perspective on Marine Transportation in 2030.

Ms. Distler was Managing Director of Promethée for five years (2003-2008), a Paris-based, non-profit think tank, which she co-founded in 1985 and that The Economist ranked among the world's twenty "good think-tanks." Promethée specialized on the global networked economy and its implications for European policy, and on the interplay between security imperatives and competition. Previously, she also served as Research Fellow at the Centre de Prospective et d'Etudes at the French Ministry of Research and Industry (1983-1985) in charge of European cooperation in high tech fields, and as Research Fellow at the French Council of Foreign Relations (IFRI, 1980-1983), where she was in charge of the energy chapters for the RAMSES annual report on the state of the world economy.

Ms. Distler has both contributed to and edited numerous books and reports on globalization, finance and technology in cooperation with companies, such as Standard & Poor's, Ernst & Young and Deutsche Börse. She also has published on energy and technology matters and on the world of networks and international relations. She was a member of the core research and editorial team behind the Shell Global Scenarios to 2025.

Ms. Distler holds advanced engineering and DEA degrees from Ecole Normale Supérieure (Sevres, Mathematics), from University Paris Dauphine (Decision Theory) and from Ecole Nationale des Telecommunications.

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Ms. Fotinatos is responsible for a number of ongoing initiatives of the CEMTPP designed to develop the Center’s research and outreach programs.  Her knowledge of the Greek shipping community helps the Center build relationships with an expanded network of scholars, academics and executives in the maritime community and develop the Marine Transportation Lecture Series, a series of well attended events that she created.  Ms. Fotinatos supports the CEMTPP Executive Director in a variety of projects, including student-led activities such as conferences, trips, workshops, and other events. Additionally, Ms. Fotinatos is part of the founding board of the World Ocean Council through the CEMTPP membership. She is also responsible for the Center’s digital and written visage which have led to a new website as well as the Center’s first brochure to be printed by July of this year.

Ms. Fotinatos is currently working on the forthcoming publication addressing hydrocarbon management for new producer countries, and has been instrumental in coordinating the publication’s early progress.  She will be authoring a section on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as well as coauthoring a chapter with Dr. Bressand on the theoretical underpinnings of the volume.

Before joining the Center, Ms. Fotinatos served as a consultant with the International Peace Institute as part of a team that examined the significance of governance indicators on the “fragility” of states.  At the UNDP, she worked on the Millennium Villages Project (part of the Millennium Development Goals) as part of a group led by the Earth Institute which collected and analyzed village-level data.  While at Freedom House, Ms. Fotinatos worked on assessing governance through a number of qualitative and quantitative indicators, specializing on energy rich countries such as Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and Russia.

Ms. Fotinatos completed two BAs from the University of Maryland in anthropology and criminology.   She holds a Master of International Affairs Degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University where she focused on issues of security, governance and geopolitics.

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Donald Frost President of D.B. Frost & Associates

Donald B. Frost is the president of D.B. Frost & Associates, a marine transportation planning, consulting and arbitration firm. After graduating from the State University of New York, Maritime College with a B.S. degree in Marine Transportation and a U.S. Coast Guard license as Third Mate (Oceans), Mr. Frost sailed as a deck officer aboard U.S. flagged ships in world trade for almost three years, during which he raised his U.S. Coast Guard license to Second Mate, Oceans, Tonnage Unlimited.

Ashore he was first employed in the Chartering Department of Naess Shipping Company, a large multi-national tanker and bulk carrier shipping company that evolved into P & O Bulk Shipping. He later had planning, logistics and chartering experience from the shipper's side with two Fortune 500 mining and manufacturing companies, AMAX, Inc. and International Minerals and Chemical Corp. While completing an MBA in International Business at City University of New York at night, he moved to the chartering department of integrated ship owner, operator, and cargo management company, Skaarup Shipping Group, Inc. He was promoted to Project Manager at their wholly owned consulting group (Total Transportation Inc.) and later named Vice President and Commercial Manager of the shipping company's fleet of 19 vessels with profit/loss responsibility. After more than twenty years with this firm he formed his own consulting and boutique charter brokerage company. He maintained his private consulting practice and continued to work for brokerage and logistics companies (MOP Logistics Inc., MIDSHIP Marine Inc. and New England Navigation, Inc.) until the year 2002.

Mr. Frost served as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve with Military Sealift Command for eleven years before retiring. He was a founding member, Vice President and twice President (1988–92 and 2000–2004) of the Connecticut Maritime Association, Inc. with which he maintains a connection today as editor of the CMA Newsletter (www.cmaconnect.com).

He is a member of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators (SMA), The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), the National Association of Maritime Organizations, Inc.(NAMO), and the Connecticut Maritime Coalition,

Stephen A. Hammer, PhD Adjunct Professor & Senior Advisor, Urban Energy Program, CEMTPP Executive Director, JUCCCE Energy Smart Cities Initiative IEMP Courses: Urban Energy Systems and Policy

Stephen A. Hammer is Senior Advisor to the Urban Energy Program at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP). Dr. Hammer also teaches a seminar on Urban Energy Systems and Policy.

Dr. Hammer is the Executive Director of the Energy Smart Cities Initiative, a program of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE).  In this role, Dr. Hammer directs a Beijing-based team providing training and technical assistance on energy issues to cities across China. 

In 2007, Dr. Hammer helped co-found of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), an international consortium of academic researchers focused on the analysis of climate change as it relates to cities.  In 2008, Dr. Hammer was appointed to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Energy Policy Task Force, which provides input to the mayor’s team on a range of local energy issues.

Dr. Hammer lectures internationally on environmental and energy issues and has published scholarly articles and opinion pieces in The New York Times, the New York Daily News, Aspenia, DOMUS, Energy Policy and several other international publications.

Dr. Hammer received his PhD degree from the London School of Economics, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BS in environmental policy analysis and planning from the University of California, Davis. Prior to joining Columbia, Dr. Hammer taught at the Milano Graduate School of Urban and Public Affairs and the Pratt Institute, both in New York City.

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Adam Hinge Adjunct Research Scholar, Urban Energy Program

Adam Hinge, P.E. is an Adjunct Research Scholar with the Urban Energy Program, providing leadership and support on our buildings and technology research projects.

Mr. Hinge also serves as Managing Director of Sustainable Energy Partnerships, a consulting practice specializing in energy efficiency programs and policy issues in North America and developing countries around the world. Hinge works as an advisor to utilities, government agencies and others in developing energy efficiency market transformation initiatives. Recent clients include the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the China Green Lights Program Office, the International Copper Association, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and numerous private energy services providers and consumers.

Hinge has degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a registered Professional Engineer in New York State.

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J. Richard F. Hodgson Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Head of the International Maritime Governance Project, Marine Transportation Program

J. Richard F. Hodgson is an Adjunct Professor in the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, which he joined in 2002. In addition to delivering a key course in the Masters of Marine Management program at Dalhousie, Prof. Hodgson has undertaken a number of research studies, including the recently begun evaluation of Canada's international and domestic shipping policies; an analysis of Canada's policy options for a 'places of refuge' policy; two studies into the economic potential for short sea shipping on the East Coast and in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System; an examination of the status of Canadian response arrangements for Hazardous and Noxious Substance; and the development of a marine sector issue paper for Transport Canada in support of its 2007–2009 Sustainable Development Strategy. He also has served on the U.S. Academy of Sciences Committee for Phase 1 of its study into options to eliminate the introduction of non-indigenous species into the Great Lakes.

From 1999 to 2002 Prof. Hodgson taught graduate courses in marine transportation and maritime affairs as an associate professor at the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden, a UN subsidiary to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Prof. Hodgson served as Special Adviser to the Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) from 1997 to 1999. He has been Director General for Program Planning and Coordination in the Canadian Coast Guard; Project Director General for Program Review in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO); Director General for Consulting and Audit Canada; Executive Director of the National Search and Rescue Secretariat; Director General for Marine Policy and Coordination at Transport Canada; and Executive Director of the Water Transport Committee at the Canadian Transport Commission (CTC).

Richard Hodgson is a commissioned officer with the Royal Navy. He has published various economic and technical papers and has authored or directed the production of numerous internal policy documents, decisions and reports of the Canadian federal government. He received the B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, with Honours, from London University and the M.Sc. in Advanced Marine Engineering from Greenwich College (UK). He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Michael Hyams, Adjunct Research Associate, Urban Energy Program

Michael Hyams is an Adjunct Research Associate affiliated with the Urban Energy Program at CEMTPP.  Mr. Hyams oversaw the Center’s recently completed assessment of the regulatory and policy environment for distributed energy microgrids in New York State.  The final draft report is entitled Microgrids: An Assessment of the Value, Opportunities and Barriers to Deployment in New York State.  He is also the author of an Urban Energy Program study examining applications of small-scale wind in New York City, titled Urban Wind Turbines: Prospects and Challenges for Deployment in New York City (2008).

Prior to his work at Columbia, Mr. Hyams spent four years working as a utility and regulatory analyst for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, focusing on the development of Community Choice Aggregation, an electricity aggregation program intended to provide competitive electricity service while significantly expanding clean energy supplies to the City of San Francisco.  Mr. Hyams co-authored the City’s program implementation plan and participated in other strategic planning efforts focused on expanding energy efficiency and local renewable energy deployment.  Mr. Hyams received his Master of Public Administration degree in International Energy Management and Policy from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.  He holds a bachelor's degree in History, Environmental Studies and International relations, magna cum laude, from the University of Oregon.

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Maximilian Kuhn, Research Associate, Eurasian Energy Project; PhD student at the Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

Maximilian Kuhn is a research associate with CEMTPP and a doctoral student at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, on Caspian Region Environmental and Energy Studies (CREES).

Maximilian Kuhn specialized on Caspian Region Studies, Energy Policy, international energy markets, and Policy Analysis for Policy Making. Prior to fulfilling his PhD, he has worked in the Fields of Public Affairs and Institutional Public Relations, Corporate PR and Agenda Setting.

Maximilian Kuhn has published various academic articles and he has extensively worked on the liberalization of the Turkish energy market and published a book on it. He has studied in Munich and Berlin and also spend semesters abroad in Washington, Moscow, Baku and Ankara. Mr Maximilian Kuhn has received his Diploma in Political Science, (equivalent to MSc.) magna cum laude, from the Freie Universität Berlin and has a PhD scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

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Chantal Mbuyi Program Coordinator

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Jeanene Mitchell Research Associate, CEMTPP

Jeanene Mitchell is a part-time Research Associate affiliated with the Urban Energy, Marine Transportation and Global Energy Governance Programs at CEMTPP. Ms. Mitchell is currently a doctoral student in Turkic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.  Recently, Ms. Mitchell oversaw the Center's analysis of the energy system and policymaking in Paris, and was co-editor of the Urban Energy Program's comprehensive study on small-scale combined heat and power in New York City, titled CHP in NYC: A Viability Assessment. Ms. Mitchell, who has knowledge and experience in the maritime field, is a member of CEMTPP’s ‘Marine Transportation 2030’ Scenarios group, and is presently authoring a chapter on the future of marine transportation in the Black Sea for the group’s forthcoming book.  She is a lead researcher in the joint CEMTPP-IUCN Environmental Law Centre project on Sustainable Marine Transportation in the Black Sea Region, and a contributor to academic conferences on energy and sustainability topics.

In 2002, Ms. Mitchell was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in Turkey for the study of environmental law and marine energy transportation issues in the Turkish Straits, a subject on which she has co-authored and edited several academic articles. Prior to her work at Columbia, she spent two years at the Istanbul Bilgi University Marine Law Research Center as a research assistant, and conducted legislative history research at the United Nations Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea.Ms. Mitchell received her Master of International Affairs degree in International Energy Management and Policy from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.  She holds a bachelor's degree in International Politics, cum laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

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Gerhardt Muller Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Head of the Ports Governance and Global Logistical Infrastructures Project, Marine Transportation Program

Gerhardt Muller is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP). Mr. Muller is a member of the faculty of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, which he joined in February 1997 as Associate Professor of Intermodal Studies. He is also a senior associate at the Academy's Global Maritime and Transportation School, developing and lecturing courses on advanced intermodal and logistics management concepts and technologies. In 2001 he was promoted to Full Professor.

Before joining Kings Point, Prof. Muller was with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for more than 28 years. At the time when he left the Port Authority, he was heavily involved with the identification and development of innovative intermodal systems and emerging logistics and transportation technologies designed to improve regional passenger and freight mobility.

For twenty years, he taught international and domestic transportation at The City of New York University-Baruch College and Nassau Community College on Long Island. In recent years, he has been very active in teaching short and intensive courses in transportation and logistics management at several American, European and Far Eastern universities, including the World Maritime University in Sweden where he is a member of their visiting professor faculty, and Dalian University, Dalian, China.

He has written or co-authored several papers, articles and books on advanced concepts in intermodalism and logistics management, transportation communication systems and marketing, and port operations. His books, Intermodal Freight Transportation, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Editions, sponsored by the Eno Transportation Foundation and the Intermodal Association of North America, are used widely in the United States and in foreign countries, as a basic reference on intermodalism. The 4^th edition was published in 1999 and a 5^th edition, in cooperation with Prof. William DeWitt (University of Maryland), will be published in 2006.

Mr. Muller received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from New York State Maritime College at Fort Schuyler. He sailed as a licensed officer in the United States Merchant Marine for three years.

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David Nissen, PhD Adjunct Senior Research Scholar; Founder and former director of the IEMP Program

David Nissen For 12 years prior to joining CEMTPP, Dr. Nissen was Manager of Strategic Consulting at Poten & Partners, a leading energy broker and LNG project consultant, where he pioneered the industry-standard LNG Cost and Competition service. He has held senior positions with Exxon's Corporate Planning Department and Chase Manhattan's Corporate Lending Group. During the Carter Administration, Dr Nissen served in the U.S. Federal Energy Administration (precursor to the Department of Energy), where he directed the quantitative assessment of the Carter Administration's National Energy Plan.

Professor Nissen has held faculty positions at the Rutgers School of Business and the Rice University Department of Economics. His publications include articles in Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, Management Science, and various energy journals. His current research is focused on the evolving industrial organizations of energy activities and implications for effective policy.

Dr Nissen holds a BS from the California Institute of Technology as well as an MA in Statistics and a PhD in Economics, both from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Nilufer Oral Faculty of Law at Istanbul Bilgi University

Nilufer Oral is a member of the Faculty of Law at Istanbul Bilgi University, where she teaches on law of the sea and international environmental law. She is co-chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law's Specialist Group on Oceans, Coasts and Coral Reefs, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the International Ocean Institute in Malta. From 1998 to 2004, Professor Oral served as a legal advisor to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on maritime issues, and to the Turkish delegation at the International Maritime Organization. She currently acts as a legal advisor to the marine environment division of the Turkish Council of Science.

Professor Oral has published extensively on transport issues and protection of the marine environment, with a focus on the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits. Selected recent works include "Oil Transportation Security in the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits" in the Journal of International Logistics and Trade (Vol. 5 No. 1, June 2007); "Straits Used in International Navigation, User Fees and Article 43 of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention" in Ocean Yearbook (Vol. 20, 2006); "Protection of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems In Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Can International Law Meet the Challenge?" in Unresolved Issues and New Challenges to the Law of the Sea: Time Before and Time After (Martinus Nijhoff, 2006); and "Oil Transportation in the Black Sea and Regional Marine Environmental Policy" in The Journal of International Maritime Law (Vol. 11, 2005).

Professor Oral has been a lecturer at the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, and has held visiting scholar positions at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Virginia. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, her J.D. from Santa Clara University, and a D.E.A. (LL.M. in private international law) from the University of Paris, Pantheon.

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Athanasios (Thanos) A. Pallis Assistant Professor, University of the Aegean, Greece

Athanasios (Thanos) A. Pallis is Assistant Professor and holder of a Jean Monnet Chair on European Port Policy at University of the Aegean, Greece. He also holds Adjunct Professor posts at the Centre for International Trade and Transportation (CITT), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada and the Institute of Transport and Maritime Management Anwerp (ITTMA), University of Antwerp, Belgium.

For the 2009 academic year, Thanos Pallis was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP).

Thanos' research focuses on port economics and policy, and supranational transport and maritime policies. He is the author of books examining the European Port Policy (published in English, Japanese and Greek), the Common EU Maritime Transport Policy and The Greek Paradigm of Maritime Transport. In 2008 he led a research on port concessions that won the “Maritime Economics & Logistics Best Paper Award 2008.” His doctoral thesis had won the “Best European Study 1999” Competition, organised by the European Community Studies Association (ECSA). His work has been acknowledged, among others, by the European Parliament.

A regular participant at the OECD and ESPO (European Sea Port Organisation) discussions, regarding the shaping of the port sector, he has participated in research teams advising governments (Canada, Serbia) on port performance and benchmarks, and has been involved in several research projects and consultancy studies and in examining the structures of the European port industry and other European maritime topics. Elected member of the Council of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), and the Secretary General of the Hellenic Association of Maritime Economists; and he is also an active member of the Port Performance Research Network (PPRN), the Special Interest Group Ports & Maritime Transport, World Transport Research (WCTR) Society, and the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES).

Thanos Pallis received his BS (Economics) from Athens University of Economics, Greece, his MA (Economics of European Integration) from Exeter University, UK, and his PhD in Maritime Transport Policies and European Integration, from the School of Management, University of Bath, UK in 1998.

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Thomas J. Scott Technical Advisor to the President of Vela International Marine Ltd.

Captain Thomas J. Scott is the Technical Advisor to the President of Vela International Marine Ltd, located in Dubai U.A.E. He has been employed by Saudi Aramco since 1989, starting with Saudi Petroleum and joining Vela International in 1991. During this period Captain Scott has run various divisions in Vela, including Technical Services, Human Resources, and Chartered Fleet Operations. He represents Vela and Saudi Aramco on various OCIMF and IMO committees. In addition, Captain Scott has received three patents for ship structural changes, including one for the AUBAFLOW system. Captain Scott holds a United States Coast Guard issued Unlimited Masters license, as well as a First Class Pilots license for the Delaware River, which he sailed on prior to joining Saudi Aramco.

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Sue Sheridan Senior Adviser on Energy Legislative Matters

Sue Sheridan is the former Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, a part of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that position, Ms. Sheridan served as the lead attorney responsible for overseeing hearings, drafting bills, and advancing legislative proposals on a wide variety of energy matters. Her expertise includes climate change policy, electricity regulation, nuclear energy and waste disposal issues, and oil and natural gas law.

Ms. Sheridan began her work with the Committee on Energy and Commerce in 1983, serving as Majority Counsel from 1983 to 1994, as Senior Democratic Counsel from 1995 to 2006, and as Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee from 2007 to May 2008.  Prior to her service on Capitol Hill, Ms. Sheridan worked on detail to the staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council and as a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of Energy. In the Almanac of the Unelected, Ms. Sheridan was credited as having "helped write most of the energy legislation that emerged from the panel in the past decade", and was described as being "head and shoulders above in her knowledge of the laws and the process."

Ms. Sheridan received her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School, and her B.A. from Duke University. She is a member of the Keystone Center Energy Board, an adjunct professor at the George Washington Law School, and an advisor to Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy. Ms. Sheridan is a frequent speaker before U.S. and international audiences on energy and environmental policy, and represents corporate and environmental entities with interests in legislative and regulatory affairs.

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Geoffrey F. Uttmark Naval Architect Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Head of the Impact of Technology on the Marine Transportation Value Chain Project, Marine Transportation Program

Geoffrey F. Uttmark is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) at Columbia University. Mr. Uttmark is the president of TransTech Marine Co., which he founded in 1979. Prior to TransTech, he was a Shipping Analyst / New Ship Sales Engineer at Sun Ship building and Dry Dock Company of Chester, PA. He also served as Naval Architect at Sparkman & Stephens, Inc., New York. Prior to attending the University of Michigan, where he studied Naval Architecture and Economics, receiving BSc, from the College of Engineering in 1973, Geoff sailed aboard U.S. break bulk, roll-on / roll-off, container and tanker vessels and aboard a Great Lakes research vessel and coastal passenger ferries. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master Mariner's license to command vessels on Lakes, Bays, Sounds and in Near Coastal waters up to 200 gross registered tons. In 1982, Mr. Uttmark earned a Diploma in Ship Chartering and Brokerage from the American Association of Ship Brokers and Agents.

In 1992–1993, Mr. Uttmark was employed as Assistant to the Chairman of Oak Steamship Company, Hong Kong, where he coordinated the successful float of a Eurodollar 100 million callable, convertible bond, issued by an affiliated company. From Hong Kong he relocated to London to sit the MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance at The City University. His thesis on merits of when and methods of how the shipyard should seek or accept an ownership stake in a new building project was awarded honors and was presented at the 12th Annual International Piraeus Conference of Ship owners in 1995.

After returning to the U.S., Mr. Uttmark spent five years as Director, Equity Research at Marine Money International before recommitting full time to TransTech.

Mr. Uttmark is adjunct professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, where he teaches Economic Issues in Maritime Systems. He has taught Fundamentals of Tanker Chartering and Brokerage at the Graduate Management Transportation School (GMATS), U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Fundamentals of Port Planning at the World Trade Institute, New York; and has lectured on Fundamentals of General Cargo Liner Shipping at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy.

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