Stathis Topouzoglou / Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Topouzoglou is the founder of Prime and serves as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Topouzoglou has more than 35 years of experience in the shipping industry.
In 1999, Mr. Topouzoglou founded Prime Marine Management, a predecessor of Prime Tanker & Prime Gas Management, a leading international product tanker and gas carrier management company, which has managed more than 95 vessels since its inception.
Mr. Topouzoglou is also a founding partner and a board member of Energean Oil & Gas Plc, a Footsie 250 oil and gas exploration and production company with activities in Greece, Israel, Egypt and Italy.
Mr. Topouzoglou also serves as Chairman of the board of First Lease Ship Trust, a listed shipping trust on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Mr. Topouzoglou holds a B.A. in Business Administration and Economics from the University of Athens, Greece.
Michael Chalkias / Co-Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Chalkias is the co-founder of Prime and serves as Co-Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Chalkias has more than 25 years of experience in the shipping industry, during which he has accumulated broad experience in all aspects of the business. In 1999, Mr. Chalkias co-founded Prime Marine Management, a predecessor of Prime Tanker & Prime Gas Management, a leading international product tanker and gas carrier management company. Prior to co-founding Prime Marine, he was employed by Tufton Oceanic Limited, a specialized shipping finance and investment firm in London, where he was involved with debt and equity instruments as well as structured financing. Mr. Chalkias serves as Director of Global Ship Lease Inc (GSL:US) and Director of First Lease Ship Trust (D8DU:SGX). Mr. Chalkias holds an MSc with Distinction in Shipping, Trade & Finance from the Cass Business School of London and a BSc with Honors in Maritime Business and Law from the University of Plymouth.
George Kouleris / Chief Operating Officer
George Kouleris serves as Chief Operating Officer for PRIME. He is responsible for the operations of PRIME’s combined fleet. George started his career in 1978 with Albion Marine Consultants, a naval consulting firm. He co-founded Blue Flag Navigation in 1981 which owned/managed various types of dry cargo ships and thereafter branched out to chemical tankers and product carriers, as well as chemical tankers. In 1997, he moved to Dubai as COO of Galaxy Shipping UAE, managing LPGC, oil tankers and chemical carriers. In 1998, he joined Oceanbulk, as Fleet Manager of bulkers, ROLO and MPCs. At the end of the same year, he joined PRIME. George acquired a degree in Naval Architecture from the Sunderland University and a degree in naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Joseph Tzardis / Commercial Director
Joseph Tzardis serves as Commercial Director for PRIME. He is responsible for the overall employment status of the PRIME product tanker fleet. Joseph started his career at PRIME in 2004 assuming finance analysis duties. He went on to set-up a proprietary tanker freight futures portfolio for PRIME between 2006 and 2008. Since 2009 Joseph has been leading commercial and chartering activities of the tanker fleet, historically ranging from MR to LR1 and LR2/Aframax. Accumulating valuable experience and maintaining close relationships within the product tanker space, he has been specializing on LR1 employment opportunities in line with PRIME expertise in the sector. Joseph holds a postgraduate degree in Finance & Economics from the London School of Economics.
Marinos Syrigos / Deputy Chief Operating Officer – Technical Manager
Marinos Syrigos serves as PRIME’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Technical Manager. He is responsible for the technical management of PRIME’s fleet. Marinos started his career as Junior technical Superintendent in 1999 in a well-established shipping company in Piraeus and in 2002 he took the position of ABS Surveyor and Project Manager in South Korea for a series of newbuilding projects. In 2007 he became the Newbuildings Site Manager in South Korea for a well-established European Shipping Company and he was later transferred in Antwerp and then in Piraeus as Fleet Manager. Marinos has been with PRIME as from 2019 in the position of Technical Manager and in 2022 he was assigned the responsibilities of Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Alternate DPA. Marinos holds a BEng and MSc in Marine Engineering from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
George Papathanassiou / Legal and Insurance Manager
George Papathanassiou serves as Legal and Insurance Manager of PRIME and handles all legal and insurance matters of the group of companies. He has spent more than a decade in the shipping industry as legal consultant and insurance manager in a number of Greek shipping companies. George is a qualified Greek lawyer and has a LLM degree at Shipping Law/Marine Insurance. He is a member of the Athens bar Association as from 1988.