Frank Mertens has over twenty-eight years of comprehensive experience in the marine industry spanning liquid and dry cargoes, in both physical and derivatives markets, as a freight trader, charterer, commercial fleet manager and expert advisor. Frank began his career at Cargill International (Geneva) as a freight trader, operating product tankers, dry cargo handy size bulkers and a fleet of handy to cape size bulkers as pool manager. He subsequently became Head of Shipping for Marc Rich Investments, overseeing all shipping activities across dry bulk, break bulk cargoes, and liquid cargoes. Frank next became Co-Head of Chartering Activities for the commodity trading desks of Noble Group with responsibilities as chartering manager for the Atlantic Basin, before establishing the Kingfish group of companies (Kingfish Marine Services, Kingfish Trading and Kingfish Holdings) as a Co-Founder / Co-Owner principal.  Kingfish's activities included trading freight, operating a fleet of product tankers and developing projects and new ventures in Latin America (Mexico and Brazil) and Asia (Japan and South Korea). Frank has extensive experience in creating and running shipping companies and managing joint ventures. He advises a number of funds and is involved in several ventures in Latin America. 

Frank holds a degree in Economics and Business from the University of Antwerp and an MBA from European University, Switzerland.

John Pitts has twenty-five years of wide ranging experience in financial services.  He began his career with senior trading roles at investment banks Hambrecht & Quist and W.R. Hambrecht & Co. in San Francisco, followed by five years as a portfolio manager at Cheyne Capital, a multi-strategy hedge fund in London.  Since 2010, John has worked as an advisor to alternative managers and companies in the areas of capital raising, corporate advisory and finance, since 2015 as the principal of Santoro Capital Ltd., a financial advisory firm authorized by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.

John graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) with a B.A. in Political Science and is a holder of the U.K IMC designation.

Jim Stocken has been a senior professional in the maritime industry since 2002.  Starting at Kingfish London, James was the Head of Chartering for a fleet of over thirty product tankers. James was responsible for managing multiple key contracts of affreightment, and a joint venture with the Japanese trading house Itochu. Subsequently, James was recruited to shipbrokers Galbraith’s where he was a Divisional Director for Projects, following which he established his own business, Charter Maritime Ltd, which develops time-charter and shipping contracts in the oil industry.  

James holds a Modern History degree from University College, Oxford University.