Bergesen Worldwide Offshore Ltd. will on May 31 appoint four new board members. The board of BW Offshore Ltd will then comprise a total of six members.
The new board of directors will be as follows: Dr. Helmut Sohmen, Mr. Andreas Sohmen- Pao, Mr. David Gairns, Mr. René Huck, Mr. Christophe Pettenati-Auziere and Ms. Kathie Child-Villiers.
Helmut Sohmen, Chairman, born 1939, has served as Chairman of the Board since May 2006. Mr Sohmen was educated in law in his native Austria and in the United States, and has been involved in the shipping industry since 1970. Since 1986, he has been chairman of the World-Wide Shipping group companies, and currently also serves as Chairman of Bergesen Worldwide Ltd, Bergesen Worldwide Gas Limited, Bergesen LNG Limited, and BW Corporation. He is Chairman of the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited, and a non-executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc. Previously, he was President of the Baltic and International Maritime Council, Chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowers Association, a member of the London Steamship and Britannia Protection and Indemnity Clubs, and a member of the General Committee of Lloyd`s Register of Shipping. Dr. Sohmen is the father of Andreas Sohmen-Pao (Vice- chairman) and lives in Hong Kong. '
Andreas Sohmen-Pao, Vice-chairman, born 1971. Mr. Sohmen-Pao is Managing Director and member of the board of BW Shipping Managers Pte Ltd and Vice- chairman of the board of BW Gas. He also serves on the board of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, as a member of the Board of Directors of the London Steamship Owners` Mutual Insurance Association, as a member of the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank SHL (Schiffshypothekenbank zu Lübeck AG) and as board member of Bergesen LNG Limited. Mr. Sohmen-Pao holds a double first class honours degree (B.A. Hons) from Oxford University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Mr. Sohmen-Pao is the son of Dr. Helmut Sohmen (Chairman) and lives in Singapore.
David Gairns, Member, born 1936, is a UK Chartered Accountant who spent his entire professional life with KPMG, retiring in 1991 as the senior partner of the Hong Kong firm. He is a past president of the Hong Kong Society of Accountants. He spent 40 years of his working life in Hong Kong and from 1991 to 2002 he acted as non executive director and chairman of the audit committee of a number of public companies in Hong Kong including The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and the Mass Transit Railway Corporation. He is currently an independent non executive director and chairman of the audit committee of Edinburgh Dragon trust Limited, an investment company listed on the London stock exchange. He is married with three children. Mr. Gairns is independent from the Company`s management, major shareholders and principal business associates.
René Huck, Member, born 1947, is a member of the Board of Directors of PetroAlliance, a Russian Oil & Gas Services company partly owned by Schlumberger. Mr. Huck is recently retired from Schlumberger where he has held a variety of senior positions over the last 15 years, most recently as Vice-President QHSE and Industry Affairs. Before joining Schlumberger, Mr. Huck was CEO of the drilling contractor Techfor - Cosifor. Prior to that, he worked 16 years as an engineer and operations manager at TOTAL. Mr. Huck is a Mechanical Engineer from Ecole Centrale in Nantes, France and a Petroleum Enginner from the French Petroleum Institute in Paris, France. Mr. Huck lives in Paris. Mr. Huck is independent from the Company`s management, major shareholders and principal business associates.
Christophe Pettenati-Auziere, Member, born 1952, is President of Geophysical Services with Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (CGG) in Paris. He has served with CGG since 1996, holding several senior management positions in the group. Before joining CGG, Mr. Pettenati-Auziere has worked with Coflexip for 14 years, where his latest position was as Corporate Vice President, International and Industrial Operations. Before Coflexip, Mr. Pettenati-Auziere has also worked for Exxon and Schlumberger. Mr. Pettenati-Auziere holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France. He also holds an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. Mr. Pettenati- Auziere lives in Paris. Mr Pettenati-Auziere is independent from the Company`s management, major shareholders and principal business associates.
Kathie Child-Villiers is Managing Director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation`s (HSBC) Resources & Energy Group. Prior to joining HSBC she was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in the Energy & Power Group. Ms. Child-Villiers has also worked with Bear, Stearns & Co and Drexel Burnham Lambert. Ms. Child-Villiers has during her 16 year career advised on a number of significant mergers, acquisitions, privatisations and related financing transactions in the European Utilities landscape. Ms. Child-Villiers holds an International M.B.A. from the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and holds a B.S. in Economics from Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA. Ms. Child-Villiers lives in London. Ms. Child-Villiers is independent from the Company`s management, major shareholders and principal business associates.