Instructors' Profile
Capt. Stefanos Skarvelis (Greece)
Having made his first steps on a VLCC, Stefanos concluded his service as an officer on chemical tankers by 1994 and then continued his academic training in Maritime Studies and Economics at Liverpool John Moores University.
Various positions in marine operations departments (containers/tankers/cargo vessels) gave him the initial experience on ships operational procedures before joining the oil spill response industry.
Training through real life marine incidents, along with an MSc degree in “Quality Management in Shipping”, have provided the experience on environmental protection and oil spill response methods and tactics.
In 2007, he has taken over the management and operation of the EMSA contracted vessels within the Aegean Sea along with an academic research (Phd) position in the field of Environmental Economics.
In recognition of his efforts for the design and conversion of a commercial oil tanker to an oil recovery vessel he received the Lloyds List Award “Ship of the Year 2009”.
In 2013, he joined Green Bow Maritime Ltd. where he provides consultancy services to the industry. He is the founder and Director of the NGP Training Center.
George Pantazakos (Greece)
18+ years of continuous career progression in various oil spill response organizations and in 5 different countries in Middle East and Europe; the last 10 years in executive/senior management positions in the Environmental/Oil Spill Response sector and in the management of diversified projects and entities. Involved in all aspects of oil spill response and marine environment protection services (emergency response, preparedness contracts and services, delivery of accredited OSR and Crisis management training, equipment sales and rental, solutions for environmental issues eg. Jellyfish and Marine Litter, management of European projects etc).
Prof. Nikolaos Ventikos (Greece)
Nikos is an Associate Professor at National Technical University of Athens with an excellent Academic and Research resume.
His main interests are related to Technological innovation, Emergency and salvage solutions as well as Contribution to the society.
Specialties: Marine Safety, Oil Marine Pollution, Marine Pollution, Risk Engineering, Accident Analysis, Environmental Systems Engineering, Human Factor, Salvage Engineering, Maritime Security, Integrated Transport Safety, Data Mining, Statistical Modeling, Port Operations.
John Dipple (UK)
John is an experienced emergency management consultant with extensive practical knowledge of all phases of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. He is considered as a global expert in the field and has been an Oil Spill and Hazardous Materials response, Incident and Crisis management professional and instructor from operations to management level over the last few decades. He has worked in some of the largest response organizations (Seacor, NRC, Briggs Marine) and has extensive Marine management experience (10 years) as Fleet Marine manager.
John is a multi-skilled trainer/ instructor familiar with operating in multicultural environments and a Hazardous Materials Specialist, proficient in the analysis and assessment of complex response issues and development of practical and innovative solutions either in desk-based studies or in the field during incidents.
Furthermore, he has an extensive experience in planning, organising and executing incident management exercises at local and international level, and is an ISO 9000, 14000, OHSAS 18000 and ISM auditor.
Nicky Cariglia
Nicky has over fifteen years’ experience across a broad spectrum of marine environmental management roles, previously working in fisheries management and coral reef conservation projects. Over the last nine years she has primarily focussed on emergency response to marine pollution emergencies. In this capacity she has provided on-site assistance at incidents and delivered prevention and preparedness training in over 45 countries across the World.
She is the author of several publications and has frequently presented at international conferences. She has a keen interest on the discourse surrounding sustainable shipping. As such Nicky is a strong advocate for the integration of joint initiatives and measurable market-based approaches for enhanced environmental and social performance of marine activities.
Digvijay Gopal Velapure (India)
Graduated the University of Mumbai with a Masters degree in Marketing Management and Mechanical Engineering. He focuses on marketing industrial products and the introduction of technical concepts to medium and large industrial organizations. A liaison with industrial consultants for project sales, providing assistance for installation & commissioning of oil spill response products, he has established & maintained relationship with different ports & almost all Oil Refineries spread all across India. His aim is to introduce knowledge and efficient and environment friendly new energy technologies in the Indian/Asian market. He also assists global companies with environmental technologies to access Asian market.
Noel C. Kimmayong (Phillipines)
Noel is currently the head of the Waterborne Industry Spill Equipment (WISE) Philippines, a Tier II responder for the oil majors in the Philippines such as Shell, Chevron, Total, Petron, PTT, ISLA LPG since 2010. At the same time, a salvage master for Malayan Towage and Salvage Corporation since 2011.
He is also the consultant to the Philippine Coast Guard particularly in crafting several policies pertaining to oil spill response, maritime safety, marine salvage etc.. His previous work was with the Philippine Coast Guard from 2001 to 2009 with the rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade before he joined the private sector.
Aniket Chatterjee (India)
A qualified petroleum engineer, holds experience in strategic deployment of oil spill response equipment in dynamic STS operation in open waters and conducting drills for offshore oil platforms
Esther Wolfs (Netherlands)
• Over 20 years of experience in sustainable economic development in the private and public sector, especially marine protected areas
• MBA at RUG and MSc Environment and Resource Management at VU University
• Expert in Environmental Economics, Sustainable Finance, Stakeholder Engagement (workshops and consultations), and Policy Development
• Expert on ecosystem service valuation and conservation finance
Stijn Schep (Netherlands)
• 9 years experience in impact measurement and monitoring.
• MSc in Economics at UvA and MSc Environment and Resource Management at VU University
• Environmental Economics, Development Economics, damage assessment sustainable land use, quantitative analysis, data collection
• Trainer in natural capital and ecosystem services
Mohaamed Fouad (Egypt)
Mohamed has graduated from the faculty of engineering-mechanical department. He has worked as an oil spill responder for Tier 2 bases in Egypt for BP, and after that he has worked in oil and gas and construction companies as an HSE engineer in different companies including Unilever, Siemens and Subsea. The last 4 years he is working as a representative of New Naval Ltd in Egypt, having delivered a number of OSR projects in some of the main response and oil companies in country.
Khaled El-Haw (Egypt)
Khaled is working in International Environmental & Marine Services (IEMS) as “Consultancy Manager”, based in Egypt since January 2012. He has a Bachelor of Science in Geology/Geophysics; Ain shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He started his professional career 17 years ago in oil spill response and management. Khaled is a consultancy expert in Contingency planning and crisis management, having over a decade of personal experience of actual response to incidents, with the participation in no less than 20 National exercises and 7 international Tier 3 exercises, from the UAE in the Arabian gulf to Morocco in the Mediterranean. Eng Khaled has prepared and had approved at the national level in several countries, oil spill contingency plans for ports, harbors and petroleum facilities. He is well versed in international conventions and the national laws of several countries, considered by many of his peers as an expert in the development and management of contingency plans both in Arabic and English.
Currently Khaled has been commissioned by the National Authorities in Egypt to prepare the regional contingency plans for the Red Sea; this shall be the first time that a sectorial plan shall encompass all activities Shipping, Tourism, Fisheries, Petroleum, Communities and Industrial including the new developments of the Suez Canal.
Ahmed Thabet (Egypt)
Ahmed is working in International Environmental & Marine Services (IEMS) as General Manager, a company based in Egypt and specializing in Oil Spill Response, since January 2012. He has an MBA and MSc in Project Management from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He started his professional career 20 years ago in oil spill response and management and Eng. Ahmed has over a decade of personal experience of actual response to incidents, with the participation in no less than 20 National exercises and 7 international Tier 3 exercises, from the UAE in the Arabian gulf to Morocco in the Mediterranean. He is responsible for a number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 contracts with Ports, Oil and Gas companies and the EEAA and he has also delivered many OSR courses as part of these contracts.