Our management team is made up of individuals with backgrounds in various sectors of the shipping, trading and IT industries as follows (in alphabetical order):

Stephen Clifford, Comptroller
Marina Comninos, General Counsel
David Godfrey, Head of Account Management & Energy
Alexander Goulandris, Chief Executive Officer
Michael Hayes, Chief Technology Officer
Cynthia Worley, Head of New Markets
Ashley M Skaanild, Head of Liner Shipping

Stephen Clifford
Comptroller

Stephen Clifford is partner and owner of Clifford & Co Group LLP, a group of companies providing company formation, registered office, company secretarial and accountancy services in the UK. His expertise includes providing a complete range of accounting and company secretarial services. His group’s client base includes publicly-listed companies and high net worth individuals as well as smaller limited companies and sole traders. He was previously Financial Controller with AIM-listed Netvest.com PLC and management accountant with the Watermark Group PLC, during which time the company moved from the AIM market to a full listing.

Education
Stephen graduated from Southampton University with a BA (Hons) in Accountancy & Law.

Professional Qualifications
Stephen achieved  FCCA Chartered Certified Accountant status in January 2005 and was ACCA qualified in August 1999

Marina Comninos
General Counsel

Marina started her legal career as a trainee solicitor with Clifford Chance in 1998. She qualified into the Maritime and International Trade Group in March 2000. Her areas of expertise include dispute resolution (including charterparty, bills of lading and building contract disputes), commodities and international trade, and pollution regulation. In June 2005, Marina left Clifford Chance LLP to join Enterprises Shipping and Trading SA, managers of a fleet of over 70 vessels, as in-house legal counsel. Marina joined ESS on a part time basis in June 2006.

Education
Marina obtained a 2:1 in her bachelor degree in Government and Law from the London School of Economics and completed the Legal Practice Course with Distinction. In 1997, she obtained an LLM in Maritime Law from University College London with Distinction and was awarded the Derby/Bryce Prize in Law for obtaining the highest marks in the Faculty of Laws across the University of London.

Professional Qualifications
Marina is admitted to practice as a Solicitor in England and Wales.

Associations
Marina is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales.

David Godfrey
Head of Account Management & Energy

David Godfrey entered the oil industry in 1966, joining the supply department of Iranian Oil Participants. In 1978 he joined the British National Oil Corporation, progressing to the position of Manager of Supply Operations by 1985. After the closure of BNOC, he joined Elf to set up Elf Trading (now Totsa Total Trading). The company quickly established itself as a leading trading house for crude oil, refined products and LPG.

Initially employed as Manager Operations for Elf Trading, he was subsequently promoted to General Manager Operations for the International Supply and Trading Division of the Elf Group. In 1998 he returned to the UK to set up his own consulting company, Wendale Oil and Gas Services, whose clients have included BP, SGS, Engen, Amerada Hess, Statoil, Total, Nabarro Nathanson, Kennet Oil Logistics and the Karachaganak Integrated Organisation Consortium.

Education
David attended Harvey Grammar School, Folkestone, Kent, before pursuing a career in the energy industry. David has participated in training courses with companies such as BP and Total as well as with organizations such as the Oxford College of Petroleum Studies.

Associations
David is a member of the Energy Institute and an elected member of Shepway District Council.

Alexander Goulandris
Chief Executive Officer

Alex started his career as a maritime lawyer with Holman Fenwick & Willan in London, Greece and Hong Kong. He then joined Freehill, Hogan & Mahar in New York, where his clients included many leading ship operators. In January 2003, Alex co-founded ESS with the aim of eliminating the significant inefficiencies resulting from the use of paper documentation in shipping and trade. He is primarily responsible for the company’s strategic direction.

Education
Alex holds a BSc in Chemistry and Law and a BA in Law, both from the University of Exeter, UK. He also completed the Legal Practice Course at The College of Law, UK and was awarded an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Professional Qualifications
Alex is admitted to the Supreme Court of England and Wales, the US Federal District Courts of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the New York State Supreme Court. He is a UK member of the UNeDocs Development Board, the American Bar Association and the Law Society of England and Wales.

Associations
Alex is a Director of ESS-Databridge Exchange Limited. He is also a guest lecturer at the Maritime eCommerce elective, part of City University’s MSC Maritime Operations and Management course.

Michael Hayes
Chief Technology Officer

Michael brings with him 9 years of experience in software engineering, development and architecture roles. He began his career by joining a business management graduate training scheme within a defence contractor.

Michael has operated within numerous verticals including financial services, fast moving consumer goods, distribution, technology, telecoms and utilities, providing technical account management, pre-sales consulting, architecture, design and implementation consulting. His knowledge and experience spans a breadth of technology including business to business (B2B/EDI) data interchange, enterprise application integration (EAI), business process management solutions (BPMS), composite application frameworks (CAF) and service oriented architecture (SOA) governance. As CTO, Michael’s responsibilities are primarily focused on the design, realization and support of ESS’s service offerings.

Education
Michael holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from the University of Leeds.

Cynthia Worley
Head of New Markets

Cynthia began her career as a management consultant, working globally for Arthur Andersen. As an ERP analyst, she gained significant experience in business analysis, product development, and the delivery lifecycle. In 2001 she joined IntercontinentalExchange, the leading global exchange operator and OTC energy marketplace, in Atlanta. With ICE, her primary responsibilities were product development and sales of electronic trade services, and her clients included the leading oil majors, investment banks and trading houses across the United States. From 2005 until 2008, Cynthia was expatriated to ICE UK in London to head sales and marketing for Europe and Asia.

Since joining ESS in 2008, Cynthia has focused on identifying and coordinating strategic opportunities for ESS.  She works closely with the CEO to define new initiatives and develop relationships in order to expand ESS’s market presence.

Education:
Cynthia holds a Bachelor degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, with concentrations in business policy analysis and financial economics.

Associations:
Cynthia is a member of several International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) committees, including the ISDA Energy Committee, the ISDA FpML Working Group and the ISDA Commodity Operations Group. She also serves on various Leadership for Energy Automated Processing (LEAP) committees and is a regular speaker at LEAP, ISDA and other industry conferences.