American P&I Club manager makes senior appointments

Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), manager of the American Club, has made a number of senior appointments .

At the club’s headquarters in New York, Margaret Lee has been appointed as Lead Counsel. With twenty years of experience in the industry, Lee is a New York-admitted attorney who worked in private practice before joining the club’s management several years ago. She has particular expertise in occupational disease claims and is a member of the Occupational Disease Sub-Committee of the International Group of P&I clubs.

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, Koukoli also has twenty years’ industry experience including that of in-house counsel at a major Greek container company.

Koukoli 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 Koukouli in the general day-to-day supervision of the Piraeus-based claims team. Gaining a degree from Metropolitan University, London in shipping and transport, Banou then acquired experience in both the shipowning and insurance broking sectors and 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, Souli has extensive experience working with both a major local shipping firm and the branch office of another International Group club.

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 fulfillment of their new professional duties.”