Efthymios (Thimio) E. Mitropoulos ( el, Ευθύμιος Μητρόπουλος; born 30 May 1939 in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Sar ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

) was the seventh

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derive ...

of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

agency. Mitropoulos was elected as Secretary-General on 18 June 2003 during the 19th session of the International Maritime Organization Council. His four-year term started on 1 January 2004, and then was extended until 31 December 2011 by the IMO Council on 9 November 2006. He was succeeded by Koji Sekimizu.Personal Page of the Secretary-General
, accessed: 30 January 2012Press-Briefing "Positional changes at IMO Secretariat"
, accessed: 30 January 2012 Mitropoulos was an accomplished

chief engineer A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer ...

officer,

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

officer,

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ex ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

marine technologist Marine technology is defined bWEGEMT(a European association of 40 universities in 17 countries) as " technologies for the safe use, exploitation, protection of, and intervention in, the marine environment." In this regard, according to WEGEMT, ...

harbor master A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct opera ...

, lecturer,

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

, chairman, and author of books about

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

and

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

s, and

navigation safety Maritime Security Regimes are codes and conventions of behavior agreed upon by coastal states to provide a degree of security within territorial waters and on the high seas. Purpose One of the best known International Maritime Regimes is the Uni ...

, among other shipping-related subjects.

Biography

Family background

Mitropoulos's father was a merchant navy chief engineer officer and a mother was the daughter of a

shipmaster A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and effici ...

and owner of

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Old ...

s and

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

s. Mitropoulos is the husband of Chantal Byvoet, with whom he had two children, namely Elias and Athina Mitropoulos.Biography
/ref>

Educational background

He studied secondary education from the St. Paul French College in the city of Piraeus in Greece. He studied at the

Aspropyrgos Aspropyrgos ( el, Ασπρόπυργος) is a suburb of Athens, and a municipality in the West Attica regional unit, Attica, Greece. The municipality had a population of 30,251 at the 2011 census. It has an area of 101.983 km2. Etymology The na ...

Merchant Marine Academy in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

from 1957 to 1959. After his apprenticeship on board merchant ships from 1959 to 1962, Mitropoulos studied at the

Hellenic Coast Guard Academy Hellenic is a synonym for Greek. It means either: *of or pertaining to the Hellenic Republic (modern Greece) or Greek people (Hellenes, el, Έλληνες) and culture *of or pertaining to ancient Greece, ancient Greek people, culture and civiliz ...

from 1962 to 1964.

Career

After studying at the

Hellenic Coast Guard The Hellenic Coast Guard ( el, Λιμενικό Σώμα-Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή, Limeniko Soma-Elliniki Aktofylaki, Port Corps-Hellenic Coast Guard) is the national coast guard of Greece. Like many other coast guards, it is a pa ...

Academy in 1964, Mitropoulos practiced as a Coast Guard Officer in Corfu then in

, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He studied shipping economics in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1965, then marine technology in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1970. He started his career as a member of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

delegation Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person,Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole ...

in 1966. Among his achievement included the laying down of the foundation for establishing the Joint Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue Centre of Greece. He was the harbor master of Corfu from 1977 to 1979. He began his career at the International Maritime Organization in January 1979. He held positions such as Implementation Officer of the Maritime Safety Division (1979), Head of the Navigation Section (1985), Senior Deputy Director for Navigation and Related Matters (1989), Director of the Maritime Safety Division (1992), Secretary of the Maritime Safety Committee (1992), Assistant Secretary-General (2000), and as Secretary-General beginning 2004. His first tenure was from 2004 to 2008. His second term began in 2008 and was completed in December 2011. He also acted as

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

World Maritime University The World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden, is a postgraduate maritime university founded within the framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. Established by an IMO Asse ...

in Sweden (2004) and as Governing Board Chairman of the

International Maritime Law Institute The IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) was established in 1988 under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its mission is to train specialists in maritime law. The Instit ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

(2004). Mitropoulos currently serves as Patron of the

ITF Seafarers' Trust The ITF Seafarers' Trust is a charitable maritime trust located in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1981 by the Executive Board of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), a global federation of transport workers' union ...

Awards

He received multiple awards and recognitions during his career for his achievements. Among them was for being the author of the book ''Tankers: Evolution and technical issues'', which won him the first prize during the Year of Shipping

panhellenic Greek nationalism (or Hellenic nationalism) refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture.. As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in pre-modern times. It became a major political movement beginning in the 18th centur ...

competition in 1969. In 2011 Mitropoulos was awarded the

International Maritime Prize The International Maritime Prize is an award granted by the International Maritime Organization to individuals or Non-governmental organizations that "have made the most significant contribution to the work and objectives of IMO." The prize is usua ...

for his contribution to the work of the International Maritime Organization. In 2012, he was appointed as Honorary Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in hono ...

for services to international maritime safety, security and protection of the marine environment. In 2013 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden.

References

External links

Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General IMO, BiographyQuick view
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitropoulos, Efthimios International Maritime Organization people Hellenic Coast Guard admirals Maritime writers Marine engineers Greek diplomats Greek writers Greek sailors 20th-century Greek economists People from Piraeus Living people 1939 births Rectors of universities and colleges in Sweden Greek officials of the United Nations Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George