Tony has spent his whole career in shipping, after graduating from Oxford in law, and acted in a broad range of commercial roles including the IPO of a major listed shipping company and the acquisition of another in a state privatisation.’

Paul has more than 25 years’ international leadership experience, in sales, marketing and product management in the B2B Technology Media Telecom sector, including being Chief Marketing Officer of $3Bn SunGard Financial Systems and CMO of the global digital transformation association TM Forum. Paul was a founder of the Bristol Is Open smart city project in 2014 winning various international awards and went on to be TM Forum’s Global Smart City advisor, co-creating the widely endorsed City as a Platform Manifesto. From there he advised the UK Government on the design of its £200m 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme and helped to set up UK5G. Today he leads an energetic team of people in the UK and globally who work with cities and urban transport hubs, helping to shape their approach to inclusive innovation.

Paul is a regular conference speaker and moderator, combining public policy vision with in-depth technology understanding.  He has lived in London, Hong Kong and Geneva, and worked extensively in America. Today he lives with his family in Bristol, England.

Chair, Smart Cities World Advisory Board

Board Member, UK5G

Marlene is focused on supporting the Port’s Net Zero ambitions and those of key local and national stakeholders to underpin the energy transition and bolster national and international trade.

As Executive Director of Academic Engagement at Connected Places Catapult, Alex is responsible for supporting the Connected Places innovation supply chain, working for small businesses and researchers to maximise the development and implementation of innovations and support growth and jobs. With his team, he understands the regulatory and practical barriers to new market entrants to support hundreds of high-tech, high-growth businesses, operating at board and senior operational levels, helping them to win commercial traction, enter new markets and raise over £250m in investment, creating over 500 jobs in four years. He has also played a leading role in pioneering improvements of public sector innovation procurement and supported the creation of new investment funds.

Iwona is the Accelerator Programme Manager at Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and places. Iwona is leading the delivery of CPC’s first Maritime Accelerator focused on addressing significant sector challenges, and designed to provide a group of selected SMEs maximise their commercial engagement.

Iwona has nearly 10 years of experience delivering innovation programmes across various industries (retail, telecoms, online safety, creative) and connecting innovators with new partners and opportunities to accelerate their ideas and bring their solutions into the market. 

Vitaly has a vast entrepreneurial experience in various markets. As a Partner and SVP for New Business at Marchi Holding AG – a company building a variety of special vehicles for marketing, medical, recreational purposes – he was always passionate about implementing smart and unprecedented solutions of complex engineering tasks into real-life products. This is exactly what the team of ANT machines does in the field of intralogistics striving to make the industry cleaner, safer and more efficient.  

His big fascination is sailing and sail racing. It’s not just about great fun, it’s about valuing the team, focusing on the task and overcoming challenges to get to the goal. 

Vitaly lives in Germany, in the region of North-Rhine Westfalen – the largest logistics hub in Europe.  

Since leaving PLA she has worked for Metoc and SeaZone, where she was involved in developing GIS based software for companies like Airbus and was integral in the building of SeaZone Data Products – the first marine data company.  With OceanWise Caroline has developed higher quality Data Products, GIS based software for use in the marine industry and provided training for those learning or improving their GIS and data management skills.

A motivational speaker and trainer, the gateway to Hon Capt Ansari’s life was founded in 1985, where she joined the BBC as a Presenter and from that day on she has never looked back. Bush House became her “temple” for over two decades, moving from BBC Urdu to the World Service’s English-language programmes, Meridian, Outlook and eventually The World Today. During this time she produced and presented major series and interviewed several key figures. She also started presenting on British-based Asian channels, interviewing numerous Bollywood stars, Heads of States and Politicians, as well as voicing many Ads for TV, Councils and Health Agencies. She became a household name in the UK as well as abroad as a broadcaster. In 2006, she was invited by a British MP who asked her if she would be willing to lead a charity project in the UK to educate British Asian Muslim women. The project was intended initially for 100 women from marginalised backgrounds, but by 2012 it had engaged more than 9,000 women at various centres, which taught them English lessons, IT skills and offered Cultural Activities; the project was a huge success. She received an OBE for her contribution to this work. On 1st April 2019 she was appointed as Lt cdr and in July 2021 she was promoted and honoured with the consent of Her Majesty the Queen to act as an Honorary  Captain for the Royal Navy. In 2020 Capt Ansari visited the Mariana Trench Expedition onboard the Merchant Vessel DSSV Pressure Drop, where she proudly carried the White Ensign on behalf of the Royal Navy and has been a valued associate of the Royal Naval School of Recruiting supporting the training of Recruiting Field Force personnel by sharing her vast knowledge and experience of Cultural Awareness to benefit them in the recruitment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic personnel throughout the United Kingdom.

She has an interest in Skydiving.

She has been working in the bunker industry for the past 15 years in a variety of roles, including physical supply, terminal management, trading and fuel procurement.

Isabela held several leadership and managerial positions during her career with several blue-chip organizations; one of her greatest accomplishments was managing a team of equal gender.

For the last 5 years, she has been working closely with various pools/shipowners to ensure a smooth transition to the new sulphur regulations and decarbonisation in the shipping industry.

She is extremely passionate about sustainability, digitization, blockchain technology, renewable energies and its traceability in the maritime industry; working with incredible partners and collaborators who share a similar vision for a sustainable and green future.

As Director of New Mobility Technologies in Connected Places Catapult, Henry currently responsible for a group of planners, engineers and technologies focus on growing businesses with innovations in mobility services that enable new levels of physical, digital and social connectedness through intersection between public, private sectors, local government, and transport authorities to catalyse step-change improvements in the way people live, work and travel.

Prior joining the Catapult, Henry was working at BAE Systems leading some of the cutting-edge development in the defence/security solution collaborating with MoD, Dstl, industry and academic.

Henry is an Adjunct Professor, in the School of Electronics & Computer Science, at Southampton University. He is also Chair of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) Hub Strategic Advisory Network, the focal point of the £33m UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Programme; Chair for Future Mobility Challenge at Institution of Engineering and Technology Transport Policy Panel. He is also a Fellow of Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Chartered Engineer and a member of International Council on Systems Engineering,

Chris has experience across the Maritime, defence and engineering sectors with over 5+ years working at BAE Systems Naval Ships alongside the Royal Navy where he was involved in introducing next generation autonomous systems into the surface fleet.  He also has a strong interest in strategy, future technology trends and future business.

Chris usually spends his free time outdoors or in the gym training for the next crazy challenge

Occasionally, Emilio has also been a visiting lecturer at ESCP Europe Business School for the MSc in Management.

In addition to serving as Chair of Maritime UK, Robin is a Member of the CBI’s London Council, a trustee of Thames 21 and Chair of Estuary Services Ltd, a JV subsidiary with Peel Ports.

In 2006 Mark was a founding partner of Chrome Angel Solutions, a specialist SME working with advanced technology partners from other industries to transfer innovative solutions to rail. Since then CAS has successfully built collaborative partnerships and implemented innovate new technologies, in pursuit of their goal to make significant and measurable improvement to the performance of railway assets, engineering and maintenance.

James has led Spot Ship since inception through three financing rounds and grown the global team to 25.

Prior to Spot Ship, James spent six years as an investment analyst at the equity hedge funds Orbis and RWC, before leading the partnerships function at the unicorn Improbable.

James holds an INSEAD MBA, an MA degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and a CFA designation.

Kevin has responsibility for the overall strategy, direction and management of Bibby Marine’s commercial and contracting activities.

Prior to joining Bibby, Kevin gained 20 years of commercial related experience in the offshore energy sector including project logistics positions, Procurement Team Lead in the North Sea Business Unit of a large global upstream energy producer, Chartering and Commercial Manager for a large Asian based OSV owner and as Lead Supply Chain Management Specialist within a major Subsea EPIC contractor.

Bibby Marine Limited

Bibby Marine is a subsidiary of Bibby Line Group – a diverse, international business, operating across the globe. Bibby Line Group is proud to deliver personal, responsive, and flexible solutions to customers since 1807. One of the longest established family businesses in the UK, the Group has companies in the financial services, marine and infrastructure sectors.

Bibby Marine is the owner and operator of two walk-to-work Service Operation Vessels (SOVs), the Bibby WaveMaster 1 and Bibby WaveMaster Horizon – vessels that service the offshore energy sectors. Bibby Marine also owns and operates six floating accommodation vessels, namely the Bibby Challenge, Stockholm, Renaissance, Pioneer, Progress and Bergen.

Bibby Marine has always been at the forefront of innovation in the maritime sector and continuing its tradition as a bold first mover, the company is working to advance the pace in which its maritime assets are decarbonised.

In his role within Jet Engineering he has led some market leading innovation in delivering next generation systems for connected 5g environments. This has included approaching the challenging maritime coastal environment whereby the need for engineering creativity leverages the experience he has had in his Chief Engineer roles within complex operational environments associated with the defence and high performance automotive sectors.

His current project portfolio includes large scale infrastructure improvements to both communication connectivity and hydro-carbon environments. This encompasses strategic planning, policy alignment, technical design and programme delivery.

His experience has included senior level engagement with consultancies including McKinsey, PWC and Arthur D Little who are established industry leaders in shaping technology innovation, strategy and policy.