Secretariat

Matt Gilbert

Head of Business and Partnerships

Matt worked at Informa plc from 1999-2008 where he was Director of Lloyd's Maritime Academy, founded the Corporate Training business and was Founder/Director of IBC Global Academy.

Following this he worked as a consultant for international clients in shipping and ports, advising on education and training, management development, commercial strategy, marketing, institution and capacity building, before joining the Institute in June 2016.

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.

Vi Hoang

Finance Assistant

Vi joined the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in December 2017, after previously having worked for a charity helping stroke survivors as a Finance Assistant.

Maria Kubalova

Finance Manager

Maria joined the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers as Finance Manager in March 2019.

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

Student Coordinator

Stella joined the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in September 2011.

After three years in the Membership team, Stella now supports students from the Education team.

Stella has a Masters degree in Education and previous experience as a childhood educator.

Samantha Porter

Membership and Branches

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.

Francess Toussaint

Membership Support

Francess started with the ICS in June 2006 as an examination administrator, having previously working for HFEA as a payment clerk.  Francess primarily focuses on organising and administering our membership functions.