Our people

Andreas Sohmen-Pao is Chairman of BW Group. He is also Chairman of the Singapore Maritime Foundation and a trustee of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Mr Sohmen-Pao was previously Chief Executive Officer of BW Group. He graduated from Oxford University with an honours degree in Oriental Studies and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Capt. Katsuya Abe San is President of Nissen Kaiun, the largest private shipowners in Japan with more than 200 vessels. He began his career with Mitsui O.S.K Lines, Ltd and later acquired a license of Captain. His maritime career spans over four decades. He is a graduate of the Yuge National College of Maritime Technology, Japan.

Mikael Skov is Chief Executive Officer of Hafnia. Mr Skov was the co-founder and CEO of Hafnia Tankers and has more than 33 years of experience in the shipping industry. Mr Skov is a board member of Clipper Group Ltd. and was an industry representative of the Danish Maritime Strategy Team established by the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs.

Capt. Unni is the Co-CEO and a board member of the Alpha Ori Group. In a career spanning over 25 years in shipping, he has served in various roles across countries. He is driven by a vision to transform the maritime industry through technology and innovation. He is a Class 1 Master Mariner from the LBS College of Advanced Maritime Studies & Research, Mumbai.

Bala Sankaran is a business, operations, and tech executive. Previously, he was Vice President - Global Sales, Marketing Operations & Learning at Twitter. Bala also spent 6 years in management roles at Google, NYC. His strategic expertise was acquired at McKinsey & Company and he holds a Marine Engineering degree from MERI, Calcutta and a Master of Business Administration from Wharton School.

Padhu is a tenured Professor of Mathematical Sciences at George Mason University and serves as the Director of the STEM Accelerator Program in the College of Science as well as the Director of COMPLETE at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He holds Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics University of Maryland, MSc of Science (Honors) in Mathematics and Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) in Electrical & Electronics Eng, BITS, Pilani.