SPEAKER PROFILES

Minister of the Sea of Portugal

Ricardo Serrão Santos was born in 1954. He lived most of his life in the Azores. He has a Doctor in Biology and Animal Ecology and Principal Researcher at the University of the Azores, Pro-Rector of the University of the Azores and President of IMAR - Institute of Marine Research. He was Director of the Department Oceanography and Fisheries of University of Azores.

Ricardo Serrão Santos has been dedicated to the study of marine biodiversity and ocean ecosystems and has more than 400 hundred published works of which more than 200 papers in SCI journals included in the Web of Knowledge. He is co-editor of a book on "Seamounts: Ecology, Fisheries and Conservation", and co-author of a Virtual Centre of Marine Interpretation (CIMV).

During his academic career coordinated and chaired several scientific organizations of the European Union, Portugal and the Azores. He holds positions in several scientific advisory bodies and committees among which the Oceanographic Institute of Paris. He is Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Marine Science/ Deep-Sea Environments and Ecology.

Ricardo Serrão Santos is member of the Portuguese Academy of Sciences and Emeritus Member of the Portuguese Navy Academy.

He has received several honourable mentions and awards, among which a Gift to the Earth by WWF in 2002, the Insígnia Autonómica de Reconhecimento awarded by the Legislative Parliament of the Azores and the Azores Government in 2012, commended Chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint Charles by SAS Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2013, awarded thePrize Excellence Mare awarded by PwC Portugal in 2017.

He was Member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2019.

Minister for Infrastructure and Housing of Portugal

Pedro Nuno Santos was born in São João da Madeira, Aveiro, on April 13, 1977.

He holds a degree in Economics from ISEG-UTL, an institution in which he was chairman of the RGA Bureau and member of the Senate of the Technical University of Lisbon.

He began to participate in the Socialist Youth at the age of 14 and from 2004 to 2008 he was its Secretary General. During this time he fought vigorously for the legalization of the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy and helped to launch the public debate over the issue of same-sex marriage. He is now the President of the Socialist district federation of Aveiro.

He entered Portuguese Parliament in 2005, being a member of the X and XII Legislature. He was vice-president of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group and coordinator of the socialists in the Commission of Economy and in the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the Banco Espírito Santo's resolution.

He defines himself as a Social Democrat and a staunch supporter of understandings among the parties of the Portuguese left. He was the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the XXI Portuguese Government (2015-2019), whose main function was to manage the link between the Executive and the leftist parties that support the majority in the Parliament.

He was Minister of Infrastructure and Housing (2019) during the XXI Portuguese Government.

He lives in Lisbon with his wife and has a son, Sebastião.

British Ambassador to Portugal

Chris Sainty is Her Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador to Portugal since October 2018. He was previously the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Rome from 2011 to 2015. A career diplomat, he brings experience from a number of Foreign Office Departments as well as overseas postings in India, Pakistan, Spain and the Netherlands.

Chris has spent much of his career working on European Union issues: from 2004 to 2006 he headed the Foreign & Commonwealth Office team responsible for the organisation of the UK’s presidency of the EU in 2005 and more recently (2015-2017) he was the Deputy Director for Europe Directorate in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Shippers and Forwarders Manager
Port of Antwerp

Ocean Policy Analyst
World Resources Institute

Inês holds the position of Ocean Policy Analyst with the Sustainable Ocean Initiative, part of World Resources Institute. Inês is part of the Secretariat of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy where she is responsible for monitoring and analysing trends and developments, identifying new scientific research and relevant policy developments, while closely following the political, governance and regulatory progress in priority countries and regions. She is also responsible for engaging with ocean initiatives and assist in finding strategic synergies to galvanise widespread collaboration for the achievement of the High Level Panel’s overarching aim.

Prior to joining WRI, Inês worked for 3 years as a Technical Expert on Ocean Governance for the Portuguese Government. Inês was also a Nippon Fellow at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and a Guest Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law where she wrote an article on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Earlier in her professional career, Inês was an Intern at the International Maritime Organization, the European Commission and the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

Inês holds a Bachelor's in Law from Universidade Católica Portuguesa and a Master's in Public International Law from Queen Mary University of London.

Inês is passionate about ocean, music, sports and travel. She lives and works in London.

Managing Partner
European Mar Lda.

CEO
Port of Aveiro

Fatima Lopes Alves is presently CEO of Port of Aveiro and Figueira da Foz (Portugal).

Fátima Lopes Alves has a PhD in Sciences Applied to the Environment. She is professor with habilitation in the Department of Environment and Planning in the University of Aveiro and researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM).

With more than 26 years of professional experience, her main fields of expertise are Coastal and Marine Planning and Governance. She is participating/has participated in national and international research projects on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and Environment and Socioeconomic Assessment. Member of the coordination team of the Portuguese Maritime Spatial Planning and Coastal Zone Management Plans in the Portuguese mainland and of Azores islands. She was the national coordinator of Strategic Environmental Assessment studies of Portuguese Maritime Spatial Planning.

She is editor of 5 books, co-author of 6 books chapters and author of 38 papers in leading international journals in the area of Coastal and Marine Management and Planning.

Legal Counsel, Euromar
President, Wista Portugal

Carla Olival, Lawyer by profession, passionate about shipping working in the industry for 5 years

Legal Counsel for European Mar (EUROMAR) with headquarters on Madeira, acting on behalf of international shipowners for matters related to the International Shipping Register of Madeira (MAR), representing over 90% of owners, over 600 active vessels registered with MAR.

Founder and President of WISTA Portugal, an Association affiliated with WISTA International that aims to promote the sustainable development of the national maritime cluster and Portugal’s’ Blue Economy through a network of professionals at a national and international level.

Managing Director of Marítimos Manning Portugal (MMP), a company that provides industry-leading manning services to shipowners and ship managers.

Board member of the European International Shipowners Association of Portugal (EISAP), which represents almost 100% of the shipowners with vessels registered under the Portuguese Flag.

Chairman, Arista Shipping and Project Forward
Founder & CEO, Forward Ships

Mr. Panagopulos is Chairman and Founder of Project Forward, a Joint Development Project to combat global ship emissions by promoting the adoption of liquefied natural gas as a marine fuel which was conceived in 2013, and is funded by Arista Group.

Project Forward has evolved into Forward Ships, a company founded by Mr. Panagopulos in 2016 with the mission to build, own, and operate the cleanest, and most efficient LNG-fueled fleet of cargo ships in the world.

Mr. Panagopulos co-founded Superfast Ferries in 1993 under Attica Group, a Greek-listed entity which was controlled by the Panagopulos family. As CEO of Superfast Ferries and the Attica Group, he engaged and successfully completed the design and construction of 17 passenger ferry newbuildings in shipyards in Germany, Finland, Holland and Korea, an orderbook of over €1.5b, and led the successful expansion of Attica Group into a 25-vessel and 5-million-passenger-a-year company with routes in Greece, Italy, Finland, Germany, Scotland, and Belgium. In 2006 he closed the sale of Attica Group’s Baltic Sea operations and in 2007, following the sale of the family's participation in Attica Group, he founded Arista Group to focus on identifying attractive investment opportunities in various sectors with emphasis on shipping.

Alexander Panagopulos is a member of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Greek National Committee and the Lloyd’s Register Hellenic Advisory Committee and has also served on the Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Technical Ferry Committee. Mr. Panagopulos was honored to be elected and to have served for eight years in the position of Chairman of the High Level Ferry Group of ECSA (European Community Shipowners' Association based in Brussels), and on the Board and as a President of Interferry, the international association representing passenger ferry ship operators worldwide. During his presidency, Interferry advanced to Advisor Status in the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

An avid skipper himself, Mr. Panagopulos developed his passion for ships and the sea with the California-based Royal Cruise Line, the cruise company founded by his father Pericles in 1972.

Mr. Panagopulos has pursued innovation in the fields of shipbuilding and environmental technology and has sponsored a number of philanthropic events, including donations for natural disasters and conservation of wildlife.

Member of the European Parliament (The Greens / EFA)

Jutta Paulus is a Member of the European Parliament for the Greens/EFA group since 2019. She is a member of the committees on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Transport (TRAN). Ms Paulus is the European Parliament's rapporteur for the revision of the EU MRV regulation.

Paulus started her career as a pharmacist, co-founded an independent laboratory for the examination of chemical hazards, and worked in quality management. From 2017 to 2019, she was the regional co-president of the Rhineland-Palatinate Greens.

Jutta Paulus dedicated her political work to climate, energy and environmental challenges. She aims to achieve that the European Union takes effective action against climate change and that human beings, animals and nature are protected from destruction, pollution and poisoning.

Secretary General
European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO)

Secretary General of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) since 1/08/2013. Before taking up this function, Isabelle has been working as Director of the European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP) and Senior Advisor of ESPO for four years.

She studied Law (University of Namur and KULeuven) and European Law (UCL Louvain). Before joining EFIP, she worked in EU Public Affairs for almost 20 years. After a short period at the European Commission (DG Agriculture), she worked in an EU Public Affairs consultancy. In 1994 she started working in the European Parliament, as a political assistant and between 1999 and 2009 she was the political assistant of Dirk Sterckx, where she was mainly active in transport and port-related fields. She is co-author of the handbook “Zo Werkt Europa” (1st edition 2007, 2nd edition 2010, 3rd edition 2015).

Co-Founder
AitherCO₂

Jacopo is a pioneer in environmental markets. After years of experience as a quantitative trader, he founded AitherCO2, a leading company in the Carbon Markets.

He is a visiting professor in several universities worldwide, regularly participates as a speaker at Environmental Finance events and has consulted on environmental market mechanisms to Fortune 500 Companies and to the California State Senate. In 2018, together with Steve Wozniak, he co-founded EFFORCE, The first blockchain-based energy-saving platform.

Jacopo graduated in Finance from the Cattolica University of Milan and in Macroeconomics from Harvard University