Board of Directors

Appointed November 2020

Graham Westgarth, who has been Chief Executive Officer of V.Group since April 2019, is now assuming the role of Chairman of the Board. Graham held various senior executive roles across a career spanning five decades in the shipping industry. His executive roles saw him spend considerable career time with Maersk UK, Teekay Corporation, and GasLog Ltd.

Graham also held a number of positions as Director and Chairman of a variety of committees and organisations. Prior to joining V.Group, Graham was a company Director at GasLog Ltd, while also a dedicated member of the HSSE Committee, and Chair of the Operations Executive Group.

As well as being a Master Mariner, Graham has undertaken various finance and leadership courses, and is a graduate of the Columbia Senior Executive Development Programme. Graham also holds directorial positions with GasLog Ltd, Seagull AS and Gastrade, and is Chairman of the ABS UK Advisory Committee. Graham was also recently appointed as Vice President of the UK Chamber of Shipping in March 2020.

Appointed November 2020

Mr. Kofod-Olsen has a wealth of experience from almost three decades in the global shipping industry. In 2012, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Topaz Energy & Marine, a position he held until the company’s successful divestment in 2019. He stepped down after completing the integration process in 2020, having successfully navigated the business through an unprecedented oil & gas environment, while transforming the company into a global leader. Earlier in his career he worked for the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group where he held a variety of executive positions in numerous countries including Chief Executive Officer of SVITZER, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

René graduated from the University of Southern Denmark, and holds an Advanced Management Program Diploma from Harvard Business School. René sits on the Board of BW Offshore as an independent Non-Executive Board Director.

Appointed March 2017

James’ early career saw him working on international mergers and acquisitions in the London office of investment bank, Baring Brothers, and affiliate company, Dillon, Read & Co. in New York. Joining Advent International in 1997, James was co-head of Advent in Europe and led the European business and financial services sector team. James also led Advent’s investments in Nets, Worldpay and Equiniti, and has participated in other major investments.

James was appointed Non-Executive Director of the V.Group Board following Advent International’s acquisition of V.Group in March 2017, and is still a Managing Partner with them. He is also a Director of Nexi Bank’s Nets.

James has an MA in Geography from Cambridge University.

Appointed September 2022

Jabine brings significant commercial, financial and governance experience to V.Group, having held a number of senior roles and non-executive directorships in the energy, transportation and logistics industries.

After 25 years with Shell, Jabine spent four years as executive vice president and chief financial officer at Royal Schiphol Group.

Appointed May 2020

Prior to joining V.Group, Paddy served as CEO of Euronav for almost 20 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the V.Group Board. Having qualified as a solicitor he relocated to Hong Kong where he first worked in shipping. Under his leadership Euronav grew from a family operation with 17 vessels to one of the largest international tanker companies with 73 vessels. Paddy is steeped in the contemporary maritime world and has taken a keen interest in safety, quality and the environment during his tenure.

Paddy is currently Director at the Royal Museums Greenwich, England, comprising of the Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House. Paddy has a passion for history, art and literature and is a Life Patron of the Museum.

Paddy holds a LLB in law from UCL (University College London).

Appointed July 2021

John has a wealth of over 25 years of experience in data engineering, analytics and turning data into business insights, and has successfully executed digital transformation projects as a consultant with a range of international, blue-chip clients across multiple industry sectors.

John is currently the Head of Product Management of the Airline Data Platform at Amadeus, where he has led the product design, from concept through development to commercial success. Prior to Amadeus, John was Vice President of Data for Prologis, a global leader in logistics real estate, where he managed four analytics platforms and led the cloud migration from their on-premise data center. His extensive global consulting experience saw him working with all Big 4 Consulting groups for both Fortune 500 and government clients.

John graduated from the Vanderbilt University, and holds an MBA in International Finance from Thunderbird School of Global Management. John is also currently working on a Doctorate of Business at IAE Nice (2023) with a focus on Digital Transformation through Distributed Ledger Technology.

Appointed March 2020

Petter joined V.Group from Eltel Group, a leading provider of technical services for power and communication networks, where he was Group CFO, based in Stockholm.

Prior to joining Eltel in 2017, Petter held a number of senior operations and finance roles in Wilhelmsen Holding ASA; initially combining roles as CFO and Deputy CEO of Wilhelmsen Maritime Service, then in 2010 becoming President of Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions. Petter has also held international senior finance roles with ASSA ABLOY, Boliden and Trelleborg Group.

Petter holds a diploma from INSEAD (Paris/Fontainebleau) on Strategy, Innovation & Leadership, and a BSc in Business Administration & Economics (Civilekonom) from the University of Gothenburg.

Appointed December 2020

Peter joined Advent International in 2020 and is based in London. He is a member of the European business and financial services sector team and participated in Advent’s investment in Aareon AG. Peter has been a private equity investor since 2010, working primarily on mid- and large-cap buyout investments for TPG Capital from London and San Francisco, prior to joining Advent.

Peter began his career in the corporate finance team within the London office of investment bank Merrill Lynch.