Efthymios (Thimio) E. Mitropoulos ( el, Ευθύμιος Μητρόπουλος; born 30 May 1939 in Piraeus, Greece) was the seventh Secretary-General of the

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...

(IMO), a United Nations 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 officer, coast guard 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 regarde ...

, shipping economist, marine technologist,

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 Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

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 The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

, and author of books about shipping economics and policy,

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 us ...

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 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. Older ...

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 schoon ...

s. Mitropoulos is the husband of Chantal Byvoet, with whom he had two children, namely Elias and Athina Mitropoulos.Biography
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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 at Attica 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 Academy in 1964, Mitropoulos practiced as a Coast Guard Officer in

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

then in Piraeus, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He studied shipping economics in Italy in 1965, then marine technology in the United Kingdom in 1970. He started his career as a member of the Greek

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

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 Assem ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

(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 Institu ...

in Malta (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 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

. 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, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

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