Meet the ICS Head Office Team

Robert Hill FICS

Director

Robert was appointed Director in July 2021 after serving as Interim Director since September 2020. He joined the Institute as Head of Membership in February 2015 after nearly 30 years in the shipping industry. He has mainly been involved in liner shipping and port agency, including management positions for ship agency companies in New Zealand and a liner trade management role in Sydney, Australia.

Robert is from New Zealand and has worked in shipping in England, Germany and Australia as well as in New Zealand.

Robert has been a Member of the Institute since 1996, was branch secretary of the Australia/New Zealand branch for six years and held the position of Chairman of the Membership Committee 2013-15. Robert was made a Fellow of the Institute in 2012.

Robert has a MBA in Maritime Management from the Australian Maritime College.

Maria Kubalova

Head of Finance

Maria joined the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers as Finance Manager in March 2019 and has since been promtoed to Head of Finance.

Deborah Linton

Education Team Coordinator

Deborah joined the ICS in August 2019. She previously taught ESOL and Literacy in the community education sector. As Education Team Coordinator, Deborah deals with all the different processes in the education department.

Stella Piermattei

Examinations Manager

Stella joined the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in September 2011 and has a Masters degree in Education and previous experience as a childhood educator.

She now organises and leads on our global examinations.

Samantha Porter (Jacobs)

Membership Engagement Executive

Samantha joined the ICS in January 2009 after a lengthy career in retail banking as a Customer Service Manager.

Ryan Quemi

Assistant Management Accountant

Ryan joined in July 2019 as Assistant Management Accountant supporting the day-to-day accounting and finance function of the Institute. He brings with him years of experience in the field of public and private practice of accountancy, having started his career as an external auditor in the Philippines and eventually moving to a global real estate company.

Emma Linnane ACIM

Senior Marketing Executive

Emma joined the Head Office team in 2024 as our senior marketing person.

Emma manages all our external communications across all our digital and physical channels and is responsible for the ICS global brand.

She completed her level 6 diploma in professional marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and currently holds Associate Membership with the CIM.

Nassia Katroutsou

Head of Education and Training

Nassia Katroutsou is Head of Education & Training at the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and co-creator of the first online maritime tech academy. With over 23 years of experience in commercial shipping and technology, and a career spanning global programme design, LMS migrations, and digital transformation, she combines project management discipline with open-minded advocacy for the cultural adoption of new learning technologies.

She holds a BA (Hons) in Maritime Economics, an MSc in Corporate Finance, and a CIPD Level 5 Diploma in Learning & Development, and is currently pursuing an ILM Level 5 Diploma in Coaching & Mentoring.

Joseph Wilson

Membership Engagement Executive

Joseph joined the Institute in 2025 and looks after our members, company members and federation council.