Leadership transition at American P&I Club
Written by Nick Blenkey
Joe Hughes and Dorothy Ioannou of American P&I Club’s manager, Shipowners Claims Bureau.
After 27 years in the role, Joe Hughes will stand down as CEO of American P&I Club managing company, Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc. (SCB), on August 1. Succeeding him as CEO will be Dorothea Ioannou, who is currently deputy COO at SCB.
She will be the first woman to hold a top executive position at an International Group P&I club in the 167-year history of the marine mutuals.
In other transitional moves, Vince Solarino will step down as COO of SCB after a similar length of services as Hughes. Dan Tadros, presently chief legal and compliance officer will taking over the role of COO.
Arpad Kadi will continue to serve as CFO and Tom Hamilton as chief underwriting officer.
Hughes and Solarino will retain their roles as chairman and president of SCB to focus on the transitioning of their day-to-day operational roles.
Hughes was originally recruited as chairman and CEO of SCB (then owned by Johnson & Higgins) in 1995, to lead the American Club’s Vision 2000 initiative to internationalize and diversify its business.
Prior to moving to New York, Hughes, who is an Oxford-educated barrister by training, worked at both Steamship Mutual and Gard, later becoming chairman of the global marine operations of JIB International, part of the Jardine Matheson Group, in the early 1990s.
Vince Solarino became CFO and then president and COO of SCB in 1999. A graduate in business administration and certified public accountant with diverse commercial experience, Solarino played a key role in working with Hughes to accomplish the accession of the American Club as a full pooling member of the International Group of P&I Clubs in February 1998.
MORE ON HUGHES
Having established Eagle Ocean Management LLC to acquire SCB from Marsh & McLennan (the successor to Johnson & Higgins) in 2002, Hughes and Solarino subsequently developed additional lines of business, including Eagle Ocean Agencies, Inc. which operates the Eagle Ocean Marine (EOM) brand of the American Club and acts as a program administrator for Validus/AIG in underwriting U.S. hull and liability cover under the Eagle Ocean America banner.
Dorothea Ioannou was born, raised and educated in New York. A graduate of the City University of New York and St. John’s University School of Law, she relocated to Greece in 1997. After working originally in legal practice and insurance broking, she joined the newly-established SCB (Hellas), Inc., the Piraeus claims liaison office of SCB, in 2005, subsequently becoming general manager of the office in 2009, regional business development director in 2013 and global director of business development for the American Club in 2015. As part of SCB’s succession plan, Ioannou relocated to the company’s headquarters in New York in 2018.
Having been appointed deputy COO some three years ago, and secretary to the American Club in 2020, Ioannou’s appointment as CEO as of August 1, 2022 has been preceded by growing executive responsibilities over several years.
