Ioannis (Jannis) Kostoulas

Ioannis (Jannis) Kostoulas is the founder and President of Mare Forum. Born in Greece, he moved to the Netherlands in the 1970s and worked at Erasmus University Rotterdam organising seminars for the shipping and economics sectors. From 1990 to 1999 he was Managing Director of Erasmus Forum, the university's conference organisation at the time.

In 1999 he founded Mare Forum in Rotterdam as a platform for international maritime, shipping and yachting conferences. Its forums on ship finance, commodity trade, logistics and sustainability bring together shipowners and operators, charterers, traders, bankers, analysts, classification societies, regulators, maritime lawyers, port and terminal operators and yachting representatives. Under his leadership Mare Forum has convened more than 350 forums across Europe, the Americas and Asia, and has added a programme of webinars.

He chairs Mare Forum's flagship sessions and has been involved in the organisation of more than 200 Mare Forum events, from the Hellenic Dutch Forum in 1999 to the current season, including the 25th Mare Forum Ship Finance 2026.