Board Co-Chairs

Rolf Habben Jansen was born on 27 August 1966 in Spijkenisse near Rotterdam. He graduated in Economics from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1991 and embarked on his career as a trainee at the former Dutch shipping company Royal Nedlloyd.

He held a number of different positions both there and at the Swiss logistics firm Danzas, before the latter merged with DHL, the subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG.

From 2001, he was responsible at DHL for contract logistics for large parts of Europe, and from 2006 he was in charge of the services group's 100 most important customers as Head of Global Customer Solutions. In 2009, he joined the global logistics company Damco and spent five years leading it as the company's Chief Executive Officer.

Rolf Habben Jansen was appointed member of the Hapag-Lloyd AG Executive Board in April 2014. He has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hapag-Lloyd AG since July 2014.

Jeremy Nixon is the Global CEO of Ocean Network Express (ONE), one of the largest liner shipping companies in the world. His career originally started at sea as a navigating officer, followed by a BSc (Hons) in Maritime Commerce at Cardiff University (UK), and then four years at the Port of Felixstowe. In 1990 he completed an MBA at the University of Warwick (UK).

He has been actively engaged in the container shipping industry for the last thirty years and has held senior management positions with P&O Nedlloyd, Maersk Line and NYK Line, in Europe, North America and Asia.

From April 2008 he joined the NYK Group as Managing Director of NYK Line Europe Ltd, based in London. Then in 2010 he transferred to Singapore to become COO of NYK Line’s new Global Liner Management Division, based in Singapore. In 2012 he was promoted to CEO and went on to become a Corporate Officer of the NYK Group. As of July 2017 he heads up Ocean Network Express, a joint venture founded by the K Line, MOL and NYK Group.

Board Members

Kim Kyung Bae was appointed as President & CEO of HMM and became a member of the World Shipping Council’s board of directors in 2022. He is a logistics expert who worked for Hyundai Motor Group for 31 years from 1990 and successfully served as CEO of Hyundai Glovis, a global logistics & distribution company, for nine years from 2009 to 2018. With his global management capabilities, organizational management capabilities, and expertise, Mr. Kim leads the sustainable growth of HMM. Mr. Kim was born in Seoul in 1964 and graduated in Business Administration from Yonsei University in Seoul in 1990.

Randy Chen is the Vice Chairman of Wan Hai Lines. Randy is responsible for the International Business Development functions across different departments, including joint-venture efforts with other lines, long-term investments, port/terminal relations and investor relations.

In addition, Randy is Wan Hai Lines' representative for industry forums including the World Shipping Council and the Asian Shipowners' Forum.

Randy has served on the Wan Hai Lines Board of Directors since 2002. Before joining Wan Hai Lines, he was a member of the senior management team of the Central Trading & Development Group, a Taiwan-based investor group with extensive infrastructure and real estate holdings in Vietnam. Randy also has extensive experience in software and financial services.

Randy holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from MIT's Sloan School of Business as well as a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and English Literature from Duke University.

Mr. Cheng-Mount Cheng has served as a member of the Board of Directors at Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. since 2018 and was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Yang Ming on October 1, 2020.

Mr. Cheng received his master’s degree in Economics and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from National Taiwan University and is also registered at National Taipei University for a Ph. D program.

Mr. Cheng is renowned for his finance and economics expertise and has built a distinguished track record of management in the financial industry. Before taking up the role of Yang Ming’s Chairman and CEO, Mr. Cheng was formerly the Deputy Minister of the National Development Council (NDC) of Taiwan from August 2018 till September 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Cheng held several leadership positions in banking and finance, including the Vice Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) of Taiwan from November 2016 to August 2018, the President of the Agricultural Bank of Taiwan from May 2015 to November 2016, and the President of the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF) for 3 years. From 2002 to 2012, he served as the Chief Economist of Citibank Taiwan Limited, mainly focusing on economics and the financial markets of both Taiwan and Hong Kong, with special emphasis on economic growth forecasts, policy rates, direction of FX and interest rates.

Johan Sigsgaard was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer - Ocean for A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S in February 2023.

Johan joined Maersk in 2003, and has since, held a range of various commercial and leadership roles in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Denmark. Most recently, he was the Global Head of Ocean Products (2021-2022), where amongst others, he has led the development of a new vision and direction for Ocean Products leading the transformation of Ocean’s reliability and quality to integrate solutions for our customers.

Johan holds a MSc in Economics and Business Administration (2010) from Copenhagen Business School and an Executive MBA (2017) from IMD in Switzerland.

Thomas B. Crowley Jr. has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1994, succeeding his father and grandfather in such roles dating to the company’s founding in 1892. Today, Crowley is a global, $2.5 billion-a-year marine solutions, energy, and logistics services company for the commercial and government sectors.

Under Mr. Crowley’s leadership, the U.S.-based company has advanced its industry-leading assets and solutions into areas of opportunity such as commercial and government supply chain services, fuels transportation and distribution, ship management, naval architecture and engineering, project management and energy services. Recent advances provide total value chain solutions in new energy, such as offshore wind, and technology. Amid these strategies, he has set the company’s ambition to be the most sustainable and innovative maritime and logistics solutions provider in the Americas by 2025.

Recognizing the importance of having knowledgeable, skilled and safe employees, Mr. Crowley has dedicated a significant amount of his attention to employee learning, management training and other initiatives to build a nimble, collaborative and high-performance culture. He has placed safety at the center of everything the company does, and every employee has authority to work to ensure safety.

Mr. Crowley holds a business finance degree from the University of Washington. Away from work, Mr. Crowley lends his time and expertise to various organizations. He is on the board of directors of the World Shipping Council, an advisory board member at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, and a longstanding member of the Young Presidents

Matt Cox was appointed Chairman of the Board of Matson, Inc. on April 27, 2017. Having served as president and chief executive officer since 2012, he had been president since 2008. Cox is responsible for overseeing the entire Matson organization, which includes Matson Navigation Company, Inc. (ocean transportation), Matson Logistics, Inc. (logistics) and Matson Terminals, Inc. (terminal operations in Hawaii). He has served on the board of directors of Matson, Inc. since 2012.

Cox joined Matson in 2001 as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In 2005, he became executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Prior to Matson, Cox had 15 years of experience in the transportation industry, 12 of which were spent at American President Lines, Ltd. (APL) serving in senior financial and operational positions including vice president, refrigerated container market and managing director, Middle East, Africa, Indian Subcontinent Region in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. From 1999 to 2001, he held executive posts at Distribution Dynamics, Inc., a California based provider of outsourced logistics, inventory management and integrated information systems, and left as executive vice president and chief operating officer to join Matson.

Cox serves on the board of First Hawaiian Bank and is a member of the Hawaii Business Roundtable and the Shidler College of Business Advisory Council at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

A CPA, Cox has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of California, Berkeley and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Since joining ZIM in 2017, Mr. Glickman led several major strategic shifts and organizational transformations, re-positioning ZIM as a global player and an industry leader. Mr. Glickman orchestrated a strategic operational cooperation of ZIM with the top-ranking global shipping companies, while promoting innovation and introducing advanced technological initiatives to every aspect of the company’s activities, focusing on first-rate customer service, digitization, and agile response to market changes.

Prior to joining ZIM, Mr. Glickman served as CEO of the Israel Electric Corporation, the country's largest energy company, between 2011 and 2015. Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Glickman served in several senior management positions in Partner-Orange Communications Company, a leader in the Israeli cellular market, including as its Deputy CEO, after serving as VP of Customer Service.

From 1981 to 2002, Mr. Glickman served in the Israeli Navy as an officer, as well as a Missile Ship Commander. His military career included serving as Commanding Officer of the Israeli Navy Commandos (SEALS) between 1997 and 1999. In 1999, Mr. Glickman served as the Naval Attache’ of Israel to the U.S. in Washington, D.C. Glickman was valedictorian of the Israeli Naval Academy, and among his noteworthy awards and honors are several combat decorations and the U.S. Legion of Merit award.

Glickman is a graduate of Georgetown University in International Executive Business Administration Program and holds a Master of Science degree in Financial Management from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

Since 2020 Shmuel Yoskovitz has been the CEO of X-press Feeders, the world's largest independent common carrier. Present in Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Central America, the Mediterranean, and Europe. After graduating Shmuel joined Zim Line’s Haifa agency as a trainee. He quickly achieved success moving to jobs in Global treasury, VP of Asia Pacific Finance, MD of Gold Star Line between 2008-2012, and VP of ZIM’s global logistics.

In 2016, he joined X-Press Feeders as Chief Financial Officer before assuming the helm. He continues to lead and drive X-press with great passion, and pragmatism with an interest in sustainability, sports, and technology.

Shmuel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Administration from the University of Haifa.

Mr Lars Kastrup is the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd (PIL).

Prior to joining PIL, Mr Kastrup was CEO of NOL/APL, and subsequently assumed the role of Executive Vice President, Strategy and M&A at CMA CGM Group. A veteran in the global shipping industry with over 30 years of experience, Mr Kastrup’s other roles include Executive Vice President of Assets at CMA CGM Group heading up CMA Terminals, CMA Ships, Container Logistics as well as regional carriers such as MacAndrews, OPDR and Mercosul; as well as Vice President at AP Moller-Maersk.

Mr Kastrup complemented his tertiary education with leadership and management training at Penn State University and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

John Kirkland is currently CEO and also an owner of Independent Container Line (ICL), together with his business partner in the U.S. ICL is a carrier that has been operating in the North Atlantic trade for 35 years.

John started his shipping career in his hometown of Liverpool in 1977.  He joined Sealand Services shortly thereafter and embarked on a career with Sealand that took him to the UK, Netherlands and the USA.  He joined ICL in 1989 and relocated to Belgium where he is based today.  John became CEO of ICL in 2006 and an owner of the company in 2017.

Lasse Kristoffersen (born September 8th 1972) started as President and CEO in Wallenius Wilhelmsen on June 1st, 2022.

Prior to Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Kristoffersen worked in Torvald Klaveness for 15 years – the last 11 years as President and CEO. Kristoffersen was the first company CEO from outside the Klaveness family.

Kristoffersen has been very visible in the maritime industry over the recent years and a frequent speaker at various high-level conferences and seminars. He was the President of the Norwegian Shipowners Association from 2018 to 2020 and played a major role in developing their new positions and strategies on Decarbonization and Digitization.

Before joining Torvald Klaveness, Kristoffersen spent 11 years working for Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the last 9 years in various management positions, including 2 years in New York starting up Maritime Solutions Americas for DNV. In 2006, he became Director of Operation DNV Industry Norge.

He holds a Master of Sciences in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In addition, he has completed IMD’s Senior Management Program and INSEAD’s Executive Management Program.

After obtaining an engineering degree at the Ecole Française d’Electronique et d'Informatique in 1997, Olivier Nivoix started his career at Reuters Financial Software and was in charge of the Technological Watch Department. In 1999, he moved to IBM France as a Commercial Engineer and successively held the positions of Client Representative, Sales Director - Competitive France Benelux Division and France Sales Manager- Intel Server Division. Between 2006 and 2010, he took over the Sales Department for France SMB market at IBM Hardware Division.

In October 2010, Olivier joined the CMA CGM Group as Deputy Vice President- Caribbean Lines - Latin America, then North America lines in 2012. In 2014, he was appointed Vice President of North America Lines and in April 2017, he took in charge the management of all the lines operated within the framework of OCEAN ALLIANCE.

In June 2019 Olivier Nivoix was appointed Executive Vice President for the Group Shipping Activities (all of CMA CGM's lines, East-West, North-South and Short Sea, including APL, Containerships, ANL, CNC and Mercosul subsidiaries) and member of CMA CGM Executive Committee.

In 2022, in addition of the Shipping activities, Olivier took in charge the Key Accounts Department of CMA CGM, as well as the International Agency Network (GEN) on top of his current perimeter.

Jeremy Sutton is Managing Director of Swire Shipping based in Singapore.  Swire Shipping celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2022, where for much of its modern history it has been actively involved in liner shipping in the Asia Pacific region. Jeremy has worked with the Swire Group for 15 years. His previous experience includes various roles in USA and New Zealand working in the shipping and land transportation sector.

Jeremy is a graduate of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand and has more recently completed further executive qualifications at INSEAD and IESE business schools.

Soren Toft joined MSC as Chief Executive Officer in December 2020, reporting to Group President Diego Aponte. He oversees MSC’s global cargo businesses, including all ocean liner and logistics businesses. He will also be a member of the Board of Directors of Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), the terminals business which is majority-owned by MSC.

Soren has over 25 years of experience in the shipping industry. Before joining MSC, he was Chief Operating Officer and a Member of the Executive Board at Maersk. Since joining Maersk in 1994, he held various leadership positions in Europe and Asia. Soren was also Chairman of Hamburg Süd, Maersk Oil Trading, Maersk Container Industry and A.P. Moller Singapore and Board Member at Maersk Line Limited.

In addition, he has served as Deputy Chairman of Danish Shipping and Chairman of the Board of Young Presidents Organisation (YPO), Denmark Chapter. Soren holds an executive MBA from IMD (International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mr. Kenny Jianping Ye is the Executive Vice President of COSCO Shipping Holding and COO of OOCL. He joined the OOCL Group in 1994 and has served the Group in various capacities for over 25 years. He was appointed Executive VP of COSCO Shipping Holding and COO of OOCL in 2020. He was born and educated in Shanghai, China. Mr. Ye holds a Diploma of Accounting from Lixin Accounting Institute (currently known as Shanghai Lixin University of Commerce) and a Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma City University. Mr. Ye currently resides in Hong Kong.

Mr. Kuang-hui Wu was appointed as President of Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd. on January. 1, 2024 and he also became a member of the World Shipping Council’s board of directors.

Mr. Wu graduated from Sun Yat-Sen University with an MBA degree and has been a part of Evergreen Group since 1987. He has held various financial positions within the Group. Prior to serving as the Chief Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd. from 2011 to 2023, he was the Chief Financial Officer of EVA Airways Corporation from 2002 to 2010.

Mr. Wu’s expertise in finance, coupled with his forward-looking perspective, has contributed significantly to the formulation of the company’s operational strategies.