Taking place from November 12 to 14, the first four speakers to attend The Global Superyacht Forum have been unveiled. Thanks to their caliber as well as breadth of experience, they are expected to provide a hard hitting three day programme, which for this year, goes under the theme of ‘future focus’.

Seane Wing

Sean Ewing, Chairman of and a principal investor in Pinmar is the first speaker to be revealed, appearing after day one’s Keynote Address. Ewing will join a panel of private equity members and investors to discuss the current state of their investments within the industry as part of the day’s agenda, The Global Superyacht Market’s New Business Plan.

Ewing has a long established footing in the financial sector. He was responsible for the launch of the UK’s first online Fund Supermarket, which was then acquired by UK insurance corporation Prudential for its new online bank Egg. Soon a runaway success, it was developed as the company’s subsidiary. Other achievements include the founding of a global hedge fund and private equity group in 2004 and the acquisition of a hedge fund management business with $300 million of assets. In the superyacht industry, Ewing purchased a 60 per cent equity stake in Pinmar from Ferretti/Candover in December 2009, the year he became Chairman.

Moving onto speakers announced for day two, under the subject The Global Superyacht Market’s New Ideas and New Thinking, is a trio of exceptional industry figures. Marnix Hoekstra from Vripack, Mike Worthington-Leese at J W & Partners and Rory Marshall from Newmar will join the afternoon’s New Thinking Panel Discussion. Comprising a ‘think tank’ format, the panel will debate a number of points before opening the floor to audience questions and participation. Design, engineering, manufacturing and integration will be the order of the day, addressing the fundamental question, ‘what are the new developments in these areas?’ Hoekstra, as a graduate in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, is one of the third generation owners of Vripack, the Dutch naval architecture, design, engineering and brokers firm founded in 1961 by Dick Boon.

Marnix Hoekstra

Mike Worthington-Leese is senior director at Winterbothams Ltd and has racked up an impressive variety of experience prior to this, including tenures as surveyor for Lloyd’s Register, ship-builder and yard manager. He provides technical supervision for superyacht projects of all sizes at Winterbothams Ltd, as well as complete surveying, valuation and legal services. RoryMarshall, marine coatings consultant at Newmar gained his experience painting superyachts in Norway in the early 90s as an applicator and since then has worked up through the ranks on projects for Wally, ISA, Benetti, CRN and Fincantieri. Recent projects include Aquamarina, noted for her metallic hull and pearlescent superstructure and a series of new builds in Ancona.

Fresh from delivering an insight into the behaviours of the ultra wealthy at the American Superyacht Forum is Merrill Lynch’s Ashok Rajan. On the final day of the Global Superyacht Forum entitled, The Global Superyacht Market’s Next Generation, Rajan will be one of two leading lights from the world of wealth intelligence discussing future thinking, and methodologies that can be applied to the vast group of potential and new UHNW clients. Case studies and tools that have been successfully used in other wealth sectors will be presented.

Ashok Rajan

As U.S. Chief Investment Strategist for Merrill’s Investment Management & Guidance Group, Rajan works across U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia to create global markets content and its translation to affluent private wealth portfolios. He also works closely with Merrill’s Ultra High Net Worth Investment Office on investment consulting and asset management solutions to its UHNW private clients and foundations, meaning his insight into this market is highly acute.

Ewing will return on the final day of the forum to participate in the all-important closing Keynote, The Future. Ewing will be one of the key panelists invited back to the stage to participate in an action plan, drawn up live before the audience. Utilising the expertise and opinions of all the sessions this year, the Global Superyacht Forum will formulate a practical plan out of all the ideas generated over three inspiring days.