Ms. Dorothea Ioannou was awarded the Lloyds List Global Next Generation in Shipping Award in 2017.
NEW YORK, NY, September 30, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dorothea Ioannou has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dorothea Ioannou was born, raised and educated in New York, U.S.A. Technically she started working at the age of 9 answering the phones in her father's medical practice. She was raised to be hard working and generally worked part time jobs throughout high school, college and law school. Sometimes more than one job at a time.
She obtained her Juris Doctorate from St. John's University School of Law in New York in 1996 (having already obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the City University of New York in 1993) and is admitted to practice law in the state of New York. Her early work experience included the fields of medical insurances, criminal law at the Queens County District Attorney's office, and civil law through private practice in New York.
After relocating to Greece in 1997, for family reasons, she was faced with many difficulties professionally, personally and culturally. She had no connections at the time and as a U.S. qualified attorney she was not able to practice independently in Greece and despite her history and experience, was seen initially as the equivalent of a trainee. Ms. Ioannou initially managed to find work in local law firms involved in a wide range of commercial transactions and litigation as well as Greek maritime law as she worked my way towards Greek licensing but she soon realized that private practice in Greece would never be fulfilling for her the way it was in her home jurisdiction. In addition while she was bilingual English - Greek, her Greek was not on the exact professional level of her Greek native speaking lawyer colleagues and reality set in for her in terms of the ability to compete in that environment. Language and words are the strength and power of a lawyer whose main goal is to persuade counterparts, judges and juries to agree with them. As a result, during that first year she decided she needed a new strategy and turned herself towards the maritime field where mastery of the English language was key in every jurisdiction and what better jurisdiction than Greece – the maritime capital of the world?
In January of 1998, she entered the marine insurance industry when she joined Allied Insurance Brokers Ltd. to manage the Marine Insurance Claims Department and remained there until the end of 2004. During that period Ms. Ioannou was exposed to the full range of marine insurance products and managed a wide array of maritime casualties from the insurance management perspective coordinating the interplay between the various insurances placed for a marine adventure. The experience gained during her time with Allied was key in her development as a marine insurance claims expert.
In 2005, she joined SCB (Hellas) Inc., the Piraeus Claims Liaison Office for the Managers of the American P&I Club, (Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., NY) as a Claims Executive and in 2009 took on the claims management as well as general management of the office. The American P&I Club is a marine insurer providing third party liability insurance for ocean going world-wide trading vessels. While she did not intentionally mainly hire women, the evaluation of best candidates for the vacancies that would transpire led to an office of 90% staffed by female marine insurance professionals which she am very proud of and it was also always a priority for her to make sure the corporate family team was tight, strong and healthy from a work environment perspective. Having a female team which developed also a reputation of excellence in the region was especially gratifying to her, coming from an era of P&I when she started even in the late 90's of dealing with only a handful of women. In fact when she started there were no women in top management in any P&I Club.
In 2010 Ms. Ioannou was the first woman appointed to the Executive Committee of the NY management company Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc. and became involved in corporate strategy. During that period she implemented a system of regional business intelligence sourcing and an aggressive marketing initiative by way of utilizing claims staff for enhancing organic growth and creating leads for new target growth. As a result, in 2013 the Club implemented a regional business development function and she was given the position of Regional Business Development Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa. The initiative implemented in the region proved successful and in June 2015, she was asked to take on the position of Global Business Development Director making her the first woman to occupy a top level global executive position in the history of the American Club and its Managers, Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. and one of only a handful of women within top management in the P&I industry globally. In the two first years of her tenure the Club grew in tonnage by approximately 16% and continues to grow. She also played a key role in the development of the creation of the Club's Hull and Machinery insurance subsidiary, enhancing the Club's diversification initiative. In 2018 she was appointed Chief Commercial Officer and took on the responsibility for global commercial strategy and customer interface, making sure that all functions of the organization are aligned to meet commercial objectives.
Ms. Ioannou is quite active in the wider shipping industry generally. She is a member of WISTA Hellas since 2006 and served on the Board of WISTA Hellas, for four years as Vice President and Press Officer. She currently serves as the Chair of the Nominations Committee of WISTA International. She has served as a board member of the Piraeus Marine Club, is a member of the American Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, and she represents the Club as a member of HELMEPA as well as the Propeller Club of Piraeus. In 2016 she was also appointed as a board member of the American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company, Ltd., wholly owned Hull insurance subsidiary of the American P&I Club.
She has lectured at many conferences and forums over the years given her 22 year career in marine insurance and is also a guest lecturer at various universities and shipping organizations. As she had quite a difficult time when she first transitioned from the U.S. to Greece, forcing her to change career paths entirely, it has always been quite important for her to assist young professionals and fresh graduates whenever possible. Besides lecturing, through the years she has been a staunch supporter cultivating the talent pool for the marine industry of the future and spearheaded the company's global internship program giving opportunity to the next generation to gather valuable experience and exposure to the marine insurance sector. She is a vocal advocate of the notion that it is every senior professional's responsibility to foster a competent next generation to ensure sustainability in the maritime sector.
As a result of these achievements both in the company and within the industry, she was awarded the Lloyds List Global Next Generation in Shipping Award in 2017.
Overall as a manager she believes it is important to find time to understand the individuals that work with you. "If you want to have a productive team then you have to make sure everyone feels valued. That takes time and effort and quite a lot of work. It's not always easy because it means taking time out to figure out what is the best method of approach for each individual. Not everyone responds to the same approach but if you can figure out the method that motivates individuals you can create a group of people who really want to be there and really want to go the extra mile. Of course ultimately I think the key is just generally being nice because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that when you are nice, people generally like to be around you, work with you and more likely to support you. Of course it only happens that way when you are genuine."
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #