NEW YORK, 26 MARCH, 2019: Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), Managers ofthe American Club, has announced several senior appointments which have been made to enhance the capabilities of its global service teams.
At the Club’s headquarters in New York, Margaret Lee has been appointed as Lead Counsel. With twenty years of experience in the industry, Margaret is a New York-admitted attorney who worked in private practice before joining the Club’s management several years ago.
Margaret has particular expertise in occupational disease claims and, in addition to overseeing the wide – and diverse – range of legal matters which attend the operation of the Club and its Managers, she is a member of the International Group’s Occupational Disease Sub-Committee in which role she liaises with the representatives of other clubs in this important area of the Group’s collective engagements.
In the Managers’ office in Piraeus, Joanna Koukouli has been appointed as Deputy Global Claims Director, reporting to Global Claims Director Don Moore in New York. Holding both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law, and qualified to practice in Greece, the United Kingdom and New York, Joanna also has twenty years’ industry experience including that of in-house counsel at a major Greek container company.
Joanna has also been appointed as Joint Managing Director of the Piraeus office, in which role she will continue to work closely with Dorothea Ioannou, the Managers’ Chief Commercial Officer.
In addition, Marivi Banou has been appointed as P&I Claims Manager, assisting Joanna Koukouli in the general day-to-day supervision of the Piraeus-based claims team. Having gained a degree from Metropolitan University, London in shipping and transport, and then acquired experience in both the shipowning and insurance broking sectors, Marivi originally joined the Managers’ Greek office on its opening in 2005.
At the same time, Elina Souli was recently recruited by the Managers’ Piraeus office to undertake the roles of FD&D Manager and Regional Business Development Director. With undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law, and holding legal qualifications from both Greece and the United Kingdom, Elina has extensive experience working with both a major local shipping firm and the branch office of another Group club.
In her new role, Elina brings a duality of expertise in promotion of the Club’s capabilities both in Greece and elsewhere in the region.
Joe Hughes, Chairman and CEO of SCB said:“I am delighted to announce this quartet of senior appointments. They speak not only to the evident abilities of the individuals concerned, each of whom has more than twenty years’ experience, but also to the growing gender diversity for which our company continues to gain a market-leading reputation. I am certain that Members, and the Club’s many other friends, will wish to congratulate Margaret, Joanna, Marivi and Elina, in the expectation that they will continue to apply their characteristic energy and dedication to the fulfilment of their new professional duties.”
Notes to Editors
The American Club
American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association, Inc. (the American Club) was established in New York in 1917. It is the only mutual Protection and Indemnity Club domiciled in the entire Americas and its headquarters are in New York, USA.
The American Club has been successful in recent years in building on its US heritage to create a truly international insurer with a global reach second-to-none in the industry. Day to day management of the American Club is provided by Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. also headquartered in New York.
The Club is able to provide local service for its members across all time zones, communicating in eleven languages, and has subsidiary offices located in London, Piraeus, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Houston, plus a worldwide network of correspondents.
The Club is a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs, a collective of thirteen mutuals which together provide Protection and Indemnity insurance for some 90% of all world shipping.
For more information, please visit the Club’s website http://www.american-club.com/
P&I Insurance
Protection and Indemnity insurance (commonly referred to as “P&I”) provides cover to shipowners and charterers against third-party liabilities encountered in their commercial operations; typical exposures include damage to cargo, pollution, death/injury or illness of passengers or crew or damage to docks and other installations.
Running in parallel with a ship’s hull and machinery cover, traditional P&I cover distinguishes itself from usual forms of marine insurance by being based on the not-for-profit principle of mutuality where Members of the Club are both the insurers and the assureds.