Since the announcement of the first four panelists at the 2012 Global Superyacht Forum (GSF), additional 15 industry experts have decided to attend this amazing three day conference, taking place in Amsterdam, from 12 to 14 November.
New speakers join GSF. Clockwise from top L to R: Erwin Bamps, Giovanni Battista Vacchi, Richie Blake, Toby Walker, Ken Hickling and Ashok Rajan
Opening the event on the first keynote, New Strategic Thinking, will be a quartet of experts primarily from the wealth management field. Sean Ewing MBA, specialising in private equity, hedge fund management and family office, will be joined by Iñaki Arbulu, owner of Grupo Arbulu; Giovanni Battista Vacchi, founder and managing director of GBV & Partners; and Florent Battistella, director of ‘made-to-measure’ shipyard, Chantier Naval Couach.
On the second day President of the International Superyacht Society (ISS) Ken Hickling will present the session, Superyacht Industry Business Principals. Continuing last year’s GSF debate on developing a code of ethics, Hickling will demonstrate the steps taken by the ISS to achieve this. Hickling will be closely followed by New TechnologyPresentations, with speakers yet to be revealed.
Next for day two is a seven-strong panel led by The Superyacht Group Chairman, Martin Redmayne entitled New Thinking Panel Discussion. New participators announced are: Richie Blake, principal surveyor for the Cayman Registry; Will Faimatea, owner of Bond Technical Management; Richard Franklin, former superyacht captain and founder of energy-saving enterprise ECO superyacht; Marnix Hoekstra, owner of naval architecture, design, engineering and brokers firm Vripack; Rory Marshall, marine coatings consultant; Mike Worthington-Leese, senior director of surveying firm Winterbothams; and Tom de Vries, managing director of De Vries Shipyard. With a phenomenal 185 years plus experience between them, delegates will glean invaluable insight from theircontributions to this ‘Think Tank’ style debate.
A scene from the Global Superyacht Forum 2011
Tuesday’s final hour will introduce a new format for GSF. A comparative analysis of Land Architecture versus Naval Architecture aims to dissect and compare the quantitative,qualitative, project and time management aspects of the two vocations. Newlyconfirmed speaker and naval architect Mario Pedol, will be the perfect candidate to debate this issue. Founder of Nauta Yachts, Pedol’s company began life as a shipyard in 1985, before maturing nine years later into the design and brokerage house it is today.
Capitalising on Potential, the final day’s presentation will give delegates demonstrations of successful case studies from the wealth sector, putting forward-thinking under the microscope and assessing the methodology with potential for the future. Instigating talks will be Ashok Rajan, U.S. chief investment strategist from Merrill Lynch who gave such stimulating insight into this subject at the American Superyacht Forum 2011. Joining him will be Luisa Kroll, global wealth editor for Forbes magazine and an exciting new face to the GSF stage.
GSF’s penultimate session will be a presentation on Succession Planning, and a chance for some of the famous figureheads of our future to show their hand. Confirmed duo Erwin Bamps, chief operating officer at Gulf Craft and Toby Walker, managing director of Dubois Yachts have impressive portfolios, sure to be matched by the two yet-to-be-revealed names joining them. Bamps played a key role in transforming Gulf Craft from a small family-owned company into a multinational business, exporting to 40 countries worldwide. Walker, previously global sales director for Camper & Nicholsons International has engaged in some of the most significant yacht sales, charter, purchase and construction, recently acting for the buyer in the acquisition of 47m motor yacht Lady Dahlia.
Closing keynote The Future will see Sean Ewing MBA return to the spotlight, this time helping to conclude the forum. With fellow speakers drawn from previous sessions – so far Hoekstra has been nominated – they will formulate an action plan led by Redmayne, drawing on the points and suggestions of the previousdays’ discussion.
With more speakers still to be announced, including the superyacht owners participating in Wednesday morning’s keynote, the Global Superyacht Forum 2012 will be a melting pot for a myriad of expertise and experience.
