A multi-disciplinary, international experienced team with a combination of over 100 years of experience, with some of its members having worked together for over 20 years. The Sole team’s experience spans the sectors of ship owning, investing and financing, ship management and operations, contract negotiation, technical consulting, insurance, accounting, administration and compliance, as well as the manning of vessels. The team members have worked in a number of different countries, and continue their global reach for new projects.
Mrs. Birtwistle has been a financial services professional in Jersey for over 20 years. She qualified as an English Solicitor and began her legal career at Mourant du Feu & Jeune, subsequently becoming in-house counsel at Mourant International Finance Administration where she worked with some of Europe's leading asset managers. Following a career break, she returned to law joining the Corporate Group of Appleby Global in 2010.
Mrs. Birtwistle is a partner of Governance Partners in Jersey and since 2013 has been providing independent governance services to alternative investment funds, asset managers and other companies registered in Jersey and elsewhere.
Mrs. Birtwistle is an independent non-executive director and is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
Mr. Boleat has been a financial services professional for over 25 years, in London, the Middle East and Jersey. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1988 with Coopers & Lybrand and worked there for 5 years. He then moved to Bahrain Middle East Bank EC where he worked as a Financial Controller.
Mr. Boleat has been based in Jersey since 1992, primarily for a commodity management business and later for Capita Fiduciary Group. He has been working at Governance Partners since 2007 providing independent governance and consulting services to listed companies, collective funds, asset managers and structured debt programmes.
Mr. Boleat is an independent non-executive director, and is registered with the Jersey Financial Services Commission. He is a member of the Channel Islands committee of the Association of Investment Companies.
Ms. Morrison has been a fund professional in Jersey for over 20 years. She is a qualified chartered accountant, qualified with Deloitte in Jersey. She is currently an Executive Director on the board of a regulated Jersey service provider . Previously, Ms. Morrison was a Client Relationship Director at a boutique private equity administrator, holding several GP board appointments and prior to that Head of Funds at JP Morgan in Jersey.
She has worked in various company secretarial, fund administration and accountancy roles in Jersey, specialising in offshore fund structures.
Ms. Morrison is an independent non-executive director and is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
During his 35 years working in the shipping sector, Mr. Hatleskog has held multiple distinguished board positions and owned a number of shipping companies. Mr. Hatleskog began his career as a Management Consultant specialising in shipping companies at Aukner & Newman, followed by 5 years working as a consultant for ship owner P Meyer. In 1975, Mr. Hatleskog became co-owner-General Partner of Havtor Management AS, where he was responsible for new project flow, finance and accounting. During his time there (1975 – 1996), Havtor AS merged with Havtor Management AS, Hav AS, Kværner Shipping and finally Bergesen. From 1997 Mr. Hatleskog became Partner and Chairman of Belden Shipping. Belden shipping is a fully integrated ship owning company specialising in cement carriers. When Mr. Hatleskog joined the company in 1997 it owned one vessel, and by the time it was sold in 2006 it had a fleet of 18 vessels. After the sale of Belden, he became Partner and Chairman of Oslo Bulk Holding PTE, owner and operator of an ultra modern fleet of 21 geared MPP bulk carriers.
Mr. Hatleskog has also held various senior positions, including Chairman, and Board member of a number of shipping companies including Inge Steensland AS, Solvang ASA and Gard P&I Club.
Mr. Hatleskog holds an MSc in Economics and Business Management from Copenhagen business school.
He has been a Partner of Sole Shipping Group since 2004.
Jan William Denstad founded Sole Shipping in 2004.
During his experience of over 30 years in the shipping sector, Mr. Denstad has gained significant experience in arranging sale and lease back transactions as well as previous experience of ship financing with a large dedicated European shipping bank across a wide geography.
He worked for Nedship Bank, Bergen, Norway, for a couple of years before he was asked to move to Piraeus, Greece in 1995. During this period, he was Senior Account Manager and was responsible for developing his own loan portfolio in Greece. He also contributed to a team involved in work out loans. He subsequently moved to London with Nedship Bank where his responsibilities included developing the loan portfolio, corporate and structured finance services. In 2000, Nedship bank was acquired by DVB Bank and Mr. Denstad became Head of Shipping as well as Joint Deputy General Partner of the London Branch of DVB Bank AG. In 2002 he became responsible for the European market for Navigation Finance Corporation, a shipping equity fund specialising in purchase and lease back transactions.
Being the CEO of Sole Projects Ltd, Mr. Denstad is involved in doing new transactions, fundraising and managing the Sole Shipping group..
Mr. Denstad holds an MSc in Economics and Business Management from the University of Copenhagen, and is Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Nordisk Defence Club in Oslo.
He has been a Partner of Sole Shipping Group since 2004 .
During his 25 years experience in the shipping sector, Mr. Mosvold has been an active ship owner and investor. Between 1988 to 2007 Mr. Mosvold was based in New York and London gaining substantial experience across various roles with a number of firms including Lofstad Shipping (Dry Cargo Broker), Ekko Chartering (Ship Broker) covering dry cargo vessels, ocean liner business, chemical and small tankers, and Pace Shipping, where he was Managing Director/Chairman. Pace Shipping was a firm which managed logistics for ammonia and other fertiliser products from former USSR countries. From 2000 onwards Mr. Mosvold devoted more time in building up different companies as an active board member of listed and unlisted companies. Mr. Mosvold has been on the board of multiple companies listed on the Oslo stock exchange, including Mosvold Shipping Ltd (sold to Frontline), Mosvold Jackup Limited, Mosvold Supply Limited, Mosvold Drilling Limited (sold to Seadrilll Limited), Ocean Rig ASA and CorrOcean ASA, the former four of which he acted as Chairman. His unlisted board positions include Mosvold Platforms, Middle East Jackup and Mosvold Shipping Group. He has also acted as adviser to a number of private equity funds, including First Reserve Corporation and Blue Water Energy LLP.
Mr. Mosvold holds a BSc in Finance and International Business from New York University.
He has been a Partner of Sole Shipping Group since 2004.
During his experience of over 20 years in the shipping sector, Mr. Heiberg has gained significant experience within ship owning, ship financing and contract negotiation in Athens, London and Oslo. From 1992 to 1996 Mr. Heiberg worked in ship financing with Eurofin; from 1996 to 2002, he worked at Oceanbulk Maritime as Project Manager and later as Chief Financial Officer in Athens and thereafter as a Norwegian representative. During 2002 to 2006, Mr. Heiberg had several management for hire assignments. During the period that followed, Mr. Heiberg was a Vice President at Credit Agricole SA and Senior Vice President at the shipping bank DNB Bank ASA. In 2010 he took over as Head of Global Export Finance and Head of International Section Shipping, Offshore and Logistics Division at DNB Bank ASA. He joined the Sole Team in 2015.
Mr. Heiberg holds a BComm (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh.
He has been a Partner of Sole Shipping Group since 2017.
Ms. Sofocleous has more than 20 years’ experience working in the financial sector. From 2000 to 2014 Ms Sofocleous worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. as a Senior Manager in both Cyprus and New York, specialising in the shipping industry. Ms. Sofocleous is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Ms. Sofocleous holds a BSc in Accounting and Finance from the University of Southampton.
She joined the Sole Shipping Group in 2014 and is based in Cyprus.
CEO of Sole Marine Services AS Ltd., providing marine and technical supervision, vessel inspection, consulting and management services.
Captain Knudsen has more than 40 years’ experience in the shipping industry. From 1976 to 1989 he served on board various types of vessels, starting out as a deckhand and ending up as a Master . In 1989, Captain Knudsen went ashore, and worked for a number of vessel owners, being responsible for supervision and sub-contracting of technical management services, chartering, sale and purchase and new-building, together with projects within numerous sectors in shipping including offshore vessels.
He was educated at a number of Norwegian Naval and Merchant Marine Academies, training as a naval officer and Master. Additional education followed, in machine and mechanics, maritime law and he has attended various courses relating to shipping economics, chartering and quality assurance.
Captain Knudsen joined the Sole Shipping Group in 2016.
Mr Agoris has more than 17 years’ experience working in banking and shipping finance. From 2005 to 2007 he worked at Alpha Bank as an assistant relationship manager in Shipping Finance Division; from 2007 to 2019 he worked at the National Bank of Greece Group over half of which in the Shipping Finance Division. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and in 2017 became a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. .
Mr Agoris holds a BA in Accounting and Finance from Leeds Becket University, an MSc in International Finance from the University of Essex and an MBA in Shipping from the ALBA Graduate Business School.
He joined the Sole Shipping Group in 2019 and is based in Cyprus.
Ms. Kyriakoudes has over 15 years experience in accounting, administration and compliance. From 2008 to 2016, Ms. Kyriakoudes worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. as an Assistant Manager in the Global Compliance Services Department. Prior to that, Ms Kyriakoudes worked at Amdocs as Supervisor in the Accounting Department. Ms Kyriakoudes is a Certified Accountant Technician and holds a Financial Accounting Diploma of a London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
She joined the Sole Shipping Group in 2016 and is based in Cyprus.
Mr. Unander has more than 21 years’ experience in the shipping industry, starting out as engineer trainee and ending up as Chief Engineer. He has over 10 years’ experience as a Chief Engineer and two years as Fleet Technical Superintendent at Utkilen AS, where he was working with technical operation of advanced chemical tankers. He was also involved with developing of engine procedure manual, engine diagnostic tools and preformed vessel inspection of the company fleet.
He was educated at Kristiansand Tekniske Skole and Arendal Tekniske Maritime Skole.
Mr. Unander joined the Sole Shipping Group in August 2019 and is based in Lillesand.
Ms. Sampson has more than 7 years of experience working in the financial sector. From December 2012 to February 2020, Ms Sampson worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. as an Assistant Manager, specialising in Tax. Ms. Sampson is ACA qualified and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Ms. Sampson holds an LLB (Law) and an LLM (Corporate and Commercial Law) from the University of Southampton.
She joined the Sole Shipping Group in March 2020 and is based in Cyprus.
Ms. Antoniou has more than 12 years of experience working in the financial sector. From 2009 to 2022, Ms. Antoniou worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd, as a Senior Manager in the Indirect Tax Advisory Department, specialising in the shipping industry. Ms. Antoniou is ACCA qualified and fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA). She is also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC).
Ms. Antoniou holds a degree in Public and Business Administration with major in Accounting from the University of Cyprus.
She joined the Sole Shipping Group in April 2022 and is based in Cyprus.
Ms. Economou has 8 years of experience within the shipping business industry. Eliana has worked at ship management companies starting from Columbia Shipmanagement, followed by Interorient Shipmanagement and then at Wallem Maritime Ltd. Ms. Economou holds a BSc in Marketing Management, a master (MSc) degree in Shipping and Finance, and an MBA in Oil & Gas. She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS) in London, and an active member of Youngship Cyprus.
She joined Sole Shipping Group in March 2023 and she is based in Cyprus.
Ms. Socratous has 9 years of experience working in the accounting sector. From 2014 to 2023 Ms. Socratous worked as an accountant at Gnaftis Secretarial Services Ltd.
She holds a BA in Accountancy and Finance from the University of Macedonia.
She joined the Sole Shipping Group in June 2023 and she is based in Cyprus.
Ms. Christofi has over 15 years of experience in accounting and corporate compliance. From 2008 to 2013, Ms. Christofi worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd as part of the Global Compliance Services Department and from 2013 to 2023, she worked at Amicor Consulting Limited as a Senior Accountant. In 2023, she re-joined PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd as a VAT Compliance Assistant Manager in the Tax Reporting & Strategy division. Ms. Christofi is a certified professional in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and holds a CYSEC Advanced certification. She also holds a Financial Accounting Diploma of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a degree in Political Affairs from the University of Cyprus.
She joined the Sole Shipping Group in January 2025 and is based in Cyprus.