Mr. Youroukos is our Executive Chairman, and played a pivotal role in the 2018 strategic combination of Poseidon Containers, a containership owner he had built in collaboration with a large US private equity firm, with Global Ship Lease. Mr. Youroukos is a self-made shipowner, and also serves as Managing Director of Technomar, an internationally recognized ship management company with specialized expertise managing ships in both the containership and dry bulk sectors, which he founded in 1994. Mr. Youroukos has negotiated and executed over 400 secondhand and newbuilding vessel transactions, including third party workouts executed in close collaboration with leading shipping banks. Mr. Youroukos has long-established relationships at the highest levels with our liner company customers; serves as Chairman of the Hellenic Advisory Committee of International classification society, RINA, and Deputy Secretary of the Union of Greek Shipowners; and holds a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from University College London and a Master in Engineering from Brunel University.

Mr. Gross has been a director of Global Ship Lease since inception and was Chairman from September 2008 until the completion of the strategic combination with Poseidon Containers in 2018. Since 2010, Mr. Gross has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ-listed Solar Senior Capital Ltd. and, since 2007, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ-listed Solar Capital Ltd, continuing in those capacities following the merger of the two companies in 2022 as SLR Investment Corp. In his leadership of SLR, Mr. Gross has extensive specialty finance experience, in particular with the origination, structuring, and oversight of asset-backed debt. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Gross was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Investment Corporation ("AIC"), a publicly traded business development company, and was the managing partner of Apollo Investment Management, L.P. ("AIM"), the investment adviser to AIC. From 1990 to 2006, Mr. Gross was a senior partner of Apollo Management, a leading private equity firm which he co-founded in 1990.

Appointed as a Director in 2018, Mr. Chalkias brings over 25 years of diverse leadership experience within the international shipping industry. Throughout his career, he has developed deep expertise spanning ship finance, fleet management, newbuilding supervision, and corporate governance. Mr. Chalkias is the Co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Prime Marine, a leading international tanker and gas carrier ship-owning and management company. Since its inception, Prime Marine has successfully owned and managed more than 100 vessels, establishing itself as a trusted name in the sector. Since 2012, and pursuant to Prime Marine’s business plan and growth objectives, he has engaged in raising over USD 850 million from equity markets and leading U.S. equity funds to drive strategic development and fleet expansion. Additionally, he serves as a Director of First Ship Lease Trust, a publicly listed Singapore-based business trust that owns and operates a portfolio of vessels. Prior to co-founding Prime Marine in 1999, Mr. Chalkias gained invaluable experience at Tufton Oceanic Limited, a specialist shipping finance and investment firm based in London, where he was involved in debt and equity instruments, as well as structured finance transactions. Mr. Chalkias holds an MSc with Distinction in Shipping, Trade & Finance from the Cass Business School at City University of London, and a BSc with Honors in Maritime Business and Maritime Law from the University of Plymouth.

Ms. Helfer was appointed a director in 2022. She has more than 40 years of experience in the international finance industry, of which more than 25 years focused on the shipping sector, with special expertise in the area of complex distressed portfolio management. From 2016 to 2023, at the request of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein and the City of Hamburg, Ms. Helfer served as a Member of the Board of Managing Directors of the newly established portfoliomanagement AöR. In this role, Ms. Helfer and her team had the responsibility of winding down a portfolio of non-performing shipping loans with an amount of EUR 4.1 billion transferred from HSH Nordbank AG to portfoliomanagement AöR. In 2011, Ms. Helfer became the Chief Representative of DVB Bank in Greece, where she managed DVB’s local office in Athens, reporting directly to the CEO of the bank. Prior to that, in 2005, Ms. Helfer joined DVB Bank SE in Hamburg, where she became Deputy Head of the Global Container, Car Carrier, Intermodal & Ferry Group. She commenced her career in international ship financing in 2000 in Vereins- und Westbank AG (merged into UniCredit). Ms. Helfer was a Member of the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bundesbank in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern until 2023.

Captain Neugeborn was appointed a director in 2022. He is a Master Mariner with more than 40 years of hands-on experience in the shipping industry, spanning across containers, bulk carriers, tankers, car carriers, and reefer vessels. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Aquarii Shipping Solutions Ltd., a private shipping consultant company. Prior to joining the Board of GSL, from 2010 to 2022 he served as Manager of the Chartering and Sale and Purchase Division at ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. Prior to that, Captain Neugeborn served in a variety of senior management roles, including as Manager of the Shipping Commercial Division at XT Shipping Ltd. (formerly Ofer Shipping), and Managing Director of Zim-Ofer Shipbrokers. Before that, he served as Commanding Captain onboard ocean-going vessels for Louis Dreyfus Armatures Shipping from 1994 to 1998.

Mr. Pitner was appointed a director in November 2018. Mr. Pitner has more than 30 years of shipping experience, having risen through the ranks at Banque Indosuez (now known as CADIF, a part of the Credit Agricole Group) over a 42-year career culminating in his appointments as leader of a global commercial and strategic data coordination initiative within the bank’s shipping finance function and also as a board member of the Indosuez Asia Shipping unit. He also held various operational and commercial responsibilities in the bank’s French Export Credit Department and the Shipping Division of the bank’s Structured Finance Department, where he financed newbuildings and was also responsible for special projects. Mr. Pitner possesses extensive experience in all aspects of global ship finance, including origination, structuring, and oversight of a diversified shipping portfolio that grew to approximately $20 billion. He graduated from Reims Business School and holds a Master of Science in Industrial Administration from Krannert Business School - Purdue University, USA.

Mr. van Lacum was appointed a director in 2018. With more than 25 years of shipping industry experience and a market-leading position as an investor and financier in commercially viable decarbonization solutions for the maritime industry, Mr. van Lacum specializes in structuring and arranging principal investments and joint ventures, debt capital market solutions, securitizations, and mezzanine and senior debt facilities. In 2019, Mr. van Lacum co-founded Amsterdam-based Prow Capital, where he serves as CEO, overseeing a €400+ million private debt fund focused on reducing emissions in the shipping industry. He is also a co-founder and partner of Transportation Capital Group (“TCG”), which manages private equity and debt portfolios across transportation verticals. Prior to that, he served as Director of Fortis Bank in the US, where he held responsibility for equity investments and structuring debt instruments across a diversified set of transportation asset classes, in addition to M&A. Mr. van Lacum has served on the Board of multiple public and private companies, currently including CS Leasing, one of the world’s leading tank container leasing companies, and AM Flow Holdings, an adaptive manufacturing automation company. Mr. van Lacum holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Mr. Webber was appointed a director of Global Ship Lease in 2024 having previously served as it’s Chief Executive Officer since its inception in 2007. During that time, Mr. Webber led the initial negotiations of the company's 17-ship carve-out from CMA CGM, its merger with Marathon Acquisition Corp and listing on the NYSE in 2008 and significant growth up to and including the merger with Poseidon Containers in 2018. From 1996 to 2006 Mr. Webber served as the Chief Financial Officer and a director of CP Ships Limited, a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Limited until 2001 when Canadian Pacific de-merged and CP Ships became a separate public company listed on both the New York and Toronto stock exchanges until its acquisition by Hapag-Lloyd’s parent company, TUI A.G. in 2005. From 1979 to 1996 Mr. Webber worked for PriceWaterhouse, the last five years of which he was an audit partner. Mr. Webber is a graduate of Cambridge University.

Mr. Wils was appointed a director in 2014. With more than 40 years of experience in the sector, Mr. Wils has an extensive background in shipping and logistics, including as an executive board member of leading global container liner company CMA CGM. Mr. Wils joined the CMA CGM group in 1996 as managing director of the previously state-owned shipping company, CGM, on its acquisition by CMA. He was appointed an executive board member of CMA CGM in 2001 on the merger of CMA and CGM, until his retirement in 2008. From 1992 to 1996, he was chairman and CEO of Sceta International, later renamed Geodis International, a leading European logistics and freight forwarding company. He was the managing director of the shipping group Delmas Vieljeux, which he joined in 1971, from 1982 to 1992. Mr. Wils, who is a graduate of HEC Paris and of Paris University, was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1995 and chaired the French Shipowners Association from 1998 to 2000.