Dr Ignace Van Meenen has taken up the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Rickmers Group effective 1 October 2011. In this function, Dr Van Meenen will press ahead with the realignment of the group of companies to enable it to respond faster and more flexibly to the demands of changing shipping markets. Holding a doctorate in law, Dr Van Meenen began his professional career in the investment division of Deutsche Bank in the USA and Germany. There followed various managerial positions including Director of Finance for RAG AG (now Evonik Industries) and CFO of the RTL Group and the DIC Group. In his new position as CFO and Member of the Executive Board of the Rickmers Group, Dr Van Meenen will be actively involved in directing and helping to shape the refinement of corporate processes. Commenting on the current financial scene in shipping, he stated: “Shipping finds itself in a consolidation phase leading to a paradigm shift. At the same time, classic capital procurement models are no longer working. In order to assume an active role in the marketplace, it is therefore essential that we adapt our processes since new sources of funding require efficient financial and corporate governance.” A multilinguist, Dr Van Meenen is responsible for the Human Resources & Information Technology, Treasury, Accounting & Tax, Global Financing, Management Accounting & Corporate Investment divisions, as well as Legal Affairs. In addition, he now serves on the Board of Directors of Rickmers Maritime Trust in Singapore. Dr Van Meenen takes over as CFO from Dr Moritz Mittelbach, who left the organisation at the beginning of the year after ten years of service for the Rickmers Group.