Ian El-Mokadem takes the helm at V.Group

El-Mokadem takes over from interim ceo Hanne Sorensen. Former Maersk senior executive Sorensen was appointed following the takeover of V.Group by Advent International last year after which ceo, Clive Richardson left the group.

El-Mokadem joins the owner of the world’s largest ship manager coming from testing and advisory company Evoxa where he was chief executive.

“My initial priority is to learn more about our business and that of our customers so I’ll be spending a lot of time listening over the coming weeks and months. With a talented organisation – both at sea and ashore - I am very confident that we will achieve our ambition of becoming a blue chip, innovative, highly professional service provider to ship owners around the world,” El-Mokadem said.

A new management structure is aimed at bringing V.Group closer to its customers. Its ship management business is now headed by Alistair Evitt in the east and Maurice Baker in the west.

Marine Services is led by Elliot Gow, and Martin Gaard Christiansen started earlier last month as cco.

“We are delighted to have Ian on board and look forward to this next phase of V.Group’s journey as we strive to deliver superior world-class solutions for our clients,” said John Pattullo, V.Group chairman.

“On behalf of the Board, I’d like to thank Hanne Sorensen for her leadership, helping to ensure that we were able to keep the momentum of our ambitious plans to shape the future of the ship management industry.”