Mr. Petros Pappas has served since July 2014 as our CEO and as a director on the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Pappas served from the Company’s inception up to July 2014 as the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and director. He served as a member of our Board of Directors since its inception. Throughout his career as a principal and manager in the shipping industry, Mr. Pappas has been involved in hundreds of vessel acquisitions and disposals. In 1989, he founded Oceanbulk Maritime S.A., a dry cargo shipping company that has operated managed vessels aggregating as much as 1.6 million deadweight tons of cargo capacity. He also founded Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. affiliated companies, which are involved in the ownership and management sectors of the shipping industry. Mr. Pappas serves on the board of directors of the UK Defense Club, a leading insurance provider of legal defense services in the shipping industry worldwide and is a member of the Union of Greek Ship Owners (UGS). Mr. Pappas received his B.A. in Economics and his MBA from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Mr. Pappas was awarded the 2014 Lloyd’s List Greek Awards “Shipping Personality of the Year.”

Hamish Norton is president of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. Until Dec. 31, 2012, when he joined Oceanbulk Maritime in connection with a joint venture between Oceanbulk and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, he was Managing Director and Global Head of the Maritime group at Jefferies & Co. Inc. Prior to joining Jefferies in 2007, Mr. Norton ran the shipping practice at Bear Stearns from 2000-2007. From 1984-1999 he worked at Lazard Frères & Co., from 1995 onward as general partner and head of shipping. Mr. Norton is a director of Neptune Lines, Fisica, Inc. and Cadre Holdings. Mr. Norton received an AB in Physics from Harvard and a Ph. D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.

Mr. Rescos serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. since July 2014 having served prior as COO and Commercial Director of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. and Oceanbulk Shipping a joint venture with Oaktree Capital. With 30 years of experience in the shipping industry, Mr. Rescos has held various senior commercial management positions, gaining expertise in the dry bulk, container, and product tanker markets. He has been involved in over 200 vessel acquisitions and various joint ventures in the dry bulk and tanker sectors. Mr. Rescos holds a BSc in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and an MSc in Shipping Trade and Finance from City University Business School.

Christos Begleris joined Star Bulk as Co-Chief Financial Officer in 2014. Until March 2013, he was a strategic project manager and senior finance executive at Thenamaris (Ships Management) Inc. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Begleris worked in the principal investments group of London & Regional Properties based in London, where he was responsible for the origination and execution of large real estate acquisition projects throughout Europe. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Begleris worked in the Fixed Income and Corporate Finance groups of Lehman Brothers based in London, where he was involved in privatization, restructuring, securitization, acquisition financing and principal investment projects in excess of $5.0 billion. In addition to his role at Star Bulk, Mr. Begleris is also an executive of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. and is Co-Chief Financial Officer of Oceanbulk’s joint ventures with Oaktree Distress Opportunities Funds. Mr. Begleris received an M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Simos Spyrou has served as Co-Chief Financial Officer of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. since 2014, having joined the Company as Chief Financial Officer in 2011. At Star Bulk he is responsible for financial reporting, accounting, capital markets, debt financing and investor relations. Before joining Star Bulk, Mr. Spyrou spent fourteen years at the Hellenic Exchanges (HELEX) Group, now Euronext Athens, which operates the Greek equities and derivatives markets, clearing house and central securities depository. From 2005 to 2011 he was Director of Strategic Planning, Communication and Investor Relations, and he sat on the Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Directors. Mr. Spyrou holds an MEng in Engineering, Economics & Management from the University of Oxford, and an MSc in Banking and Finance from the Athens University of Economics and Business.

Charis Plakantonaki is Chief Strategy Officer of Star Bulk Carriers Corp., leading the company's strategic planning, human resources, information technology, ESG, and public affairs. Before joining Star Bulk in 2015, Charis spent seven years at Thenamaris (Ships Management), with responsibility for strategy, planning, and corporate communications. Earlier in her career, she worked at the Boston Consulting Group on strategy projects across diverse industries and geographies, at Diageo's Centre of Excellence, and with the Organizing Committee of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. Charis holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BSc in International Economics and Politics from the University of Macedonia, where she graduated as valedictorian. She has also completed the "Leadership for the 21st Century" program at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Liberian Shipowners' Council, of the Governance Committee of the Maritime Emissions Reduction Center, and of the Advisory Board of the Poseidon Principles. Since 2011, she has served on the Board of Trustees of Anatolia College, her alma mater, where she chairs the Long-Range Planning Committee.

Zenon Kleopas is the Executive Vice President - Green Energy & Technology of Star Bulk. He was actively involved in the acquisition of Star Bulk's fleet in 2007 and 2008. He has extensive experience in ship operations and supervising ship management through his continuous employment in Shipping Companies in the U.K. and Greece since 1980. Mr. Kleopas has worked for various shipping companies namely Victoria Steamship Co Ltd (London), Marship Corporation, Astron Maritime SA, Combine Marine Inc and Oceanbulk Maritime SA. Before joining Star Bulk Mr. Kleopas was the general manager of Combine Marine Inc and the managing director Oceanbulk Maritime SA. Mr. Kleopas received a B.Sc. degree in 1978 and a M.Sc. degree in 1980 from Glasgow University, in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering. He is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (UK), the Marine Technical Managers' Association of Greece and the Hellenic Technical Committee of classification societies Bureau Veritas and RINA.