Meet the 36 Superyacht Design Symposium 2017 speakers

Timur Bozca is a nature addict adventurer and a designer who is best known with his vehicle concepts.

Timur established his design studio, Bozca Design, in 2013 which focused towards creating new trends in yacht, aviation, automotive and architecture. The firm also works toward creating intrigue and innovative living spaces. Bozca Design’s vision is to create solutions through design by considering human factors, technology and aesthetics. The philosophy of his design firm is determined on not only creating for tomorrow, but also for the day after.

Timur graduated from Coventry University with a degree in automotive & transport design and continued his education at the Politecnico di Milano where he completed a masters in yacht design.

Timur Bozca was awarded as a Young Designer of the Year Award at ShowBoats Design Awards. Afterwards, he became a winner also in International Design Awards and A’Design Awards in the yacht design field.

Guillaume Rolland is presently in charge of Studio Liaigre’s yacht design division. Guillaume joined Christian Liaigre’s team in 2002 and became the principal in charge of the design studio and has since been involved in all the projects developed. Before this, from 1998 to 2001, Guillaume worked with Philippe Starck.

Guillaume Rolland is an active sailor. He has been cruising and sailing since his early childhood and races an olympic keelboat all year round. He frequently participates in regattas on maxi-yachts.

Guillaume Rolland graduated from the Paris Beaux Arts School in Architecture and Fine Arts.

Projects include: Wedge 2, Rosehearty, Vertigo, Seahawk, Cloudbreak

Tom Cheesewright is the founder of applied futurism practice, Book of the Future and creator of the Futurist's Toolkit, a suite of tools for agile organisations.

Through consulting, speaking and media work Tom helps people to see, share and respond to a coherent vision of tomorrow. Clients range from charities and public sector organisations to FTSE100 enterprises and global technology corporations, They include LG, Nikon, Sony Pictures, the NHS, Manchester University, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Tom followed a degree in Mechatronic Engineering with 14 years in the tech industry, working with global brands such as BT, EE and IBM, and subsequently founded a series of technology-driven companies. Most recently Tom co-founded venture-backed big data analytics start-up CANDDi, of which he remains a shareholder. He acts as an advisor to a number of technology-driven start-ups.

Tom is a frequent presence on TV and radio, appearing across the BBC from the Breakfast sofa to Newsround and World Business Report, and as a regular contributor to 5live and Radio 4. He has shared his thoughts on the future with Channel 4′s Sunday Brunch, Sky News, the Guardian, Evening Standard, Entrepreneur Magazine, Stuff and MSN.

Tim Heywood founded Tim Heywood Designs, with his partner Vanessa Reville, in 1996. New projects followed very quickly and he became involved in ever increasing sized yachts, M/Y Pelorus, M/Y Carinthia VII, M/Y Dilbar, M/Y Ice, M/Y Radiant, all built by Lürssen, M/Y Mayan Queen IV, M/Y Baton Rouge, M/Y Cakewalk, M/Y Kogo, M/Y Al Mirqab, M/Y Symphony and, again with Lürssen, M/Y Quantum Blue and M/Y Topaz, (being the largest yacht he has designed to date, at 147 metres.)

Tim’s working relationship with the Amels Ship yard and the Limited Editions series of yachts, now totalling over 30 yachts in the last ten years, has been extremely successful and continues to this day. Tim has worked with nearly all the major yacht building yards of the world, Lürssen, Amels, Feadship, (both Royal Van Lent and De Vries), Blohm & Voss, Kusch, Fincantieri, Icon, Alstom, Direcktor, Oceanfast, Oceanco, Benetti and Picchiotti.

The flowing lines of his exterior designs, often matched with twisting structures, large windows and large wing stations, give his designs an original, individual and strong presence that makes his designs stand out from their contemporaries. Tim’s work has been very influential, he enjoys pushing the building yards, gently and with good humour, to create, what he considers to be, timelessly, elegant yachts.

Tim entered the yacht design world in 1972 at the Chelsea studio of Jon Bannenberg, prior to this he studied Industrial Design Engineering.

Maurizio Minossi is the technical Director at Videoworks which he joined in 1998. He is also a member of the Board and Director of research and development. Maurizio is currently focused on smart environments, IT redundancy, weareable devices and virtualisation of AV devices.

Videoworks entered the Luxury Yachts Market in 1998 and has been involved in more than 80 projects from 27 to 330 feet in Italy, Netherlands, US and China.

Maurizio began working in Industrial Automation and Industrial Networking in the early 1990s. He has an MBA from Institute Adriano Olivetti ISTAO, 1994 and graduated in Electronic Engineering at the University Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona in 1991.

Bill Duker is the founder of Amici LLC, acquired by Xerox in 2006 for $174 million. Founded in 2002, Amici is a leading provider of electronic-discovery (e-discovery) services, primarily supporting litigation and regulatory compliance. E-discovery is the identification, filtering, production and storage of relevant data from paper or electronic documents, like e-mail, text files, memos, databases, presentations and spreadsheets.

Sara Gioanola joined Heesen in 2009 as the role of PR and Press Officer. She shares her enthusiasm for the Heesen brand via the media, with extensive content in print publications, digital platforms, videography, events and trade shows. She has helped raise Heesen’s profile considerably thanks to her skills in communication coupled with a thorough understanding of luxury brands and marketing, all around the world.

Prior to Heesen Yachts, Sara worked with Baglietto as a fast motoryacht specialist and Perini Navi, the major superyacht builder specialising in large sailing yachts, from 2005 – 2008.

Sara graduated in 2001 with a Master’s degree in Philosophy. She has always been a passionate sailor and is fluent in three languages.

Ron Gibbs is the owner of a 35 metre yacht M/Y Elysium and has owned a series of motor yachts over the last 20 years. Ron has numerous international business interests, including being a founding shareholder and Chairman of Silver Arrows Marine Limited, which last year launched the new Arrow460 Granturismo with Mercedes-Benz.

In 2006 Ron became a Partner in the China National Aviation Fund, a founding shareholder and Chairman of Cammel Laird (Gibraltar) and the Chief Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Protectors to HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz. In particular, he was responsible for the tender, new-build and financing of the 124 metre M/Y Golden Odyssey which was delivered by Lürssen in 2015. He was also the legal advisor to the Board of the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation – which supports research of coral reefs world-wide.

As a solicitor and then partner with the international law firm Linklaters, Ron was the head of the Firm’s international Shipping and Aviation Practice, managing a substantial superyacht practice, including the new-build, refit and chartering of the yachts within the “Golden Fleet”.

Ron qualified as a lawyer in England and specialised in Aviation and Shipping Law at University College London. Ron is also a Yachtmaster and a Master Scuba Diver.

Bob Corcoran has been the Captain of 77m M/Y Samar for 9 years, traveling extensively from the Fjords of Norway to the Persian Gulf. He is currently involved with the project management of a new 107m motor yacht, project Zoza, a project on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. In addition, he has been involved in 2 previous new builds (being Yard Captain for Broward Marine) and several extensive refit projects as well as offering consultation services on a freelance basis, for new builds and to the development of yachting in Malta.

Bob has been in the Luxury Yacht field since 1984 as Captain, commanding both Charter and Private yachts. He grew up on boats in the waters of the Great Lakes in Michigan. After receiving his first commercial license in 1979 at the age of 20, Bob attended Michigan State University Kellogg School to study Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management.

Bob currently holds a Master 3000 ton License, Cayman Islands Endorsement and a Chief Mate Unlimited License and is working towards a Master Unlimited License.

Nicola Nicolai is Product Development Director of Benetti, Azimut|Benetti Group, in charge of product development of semicustom and full custom new projects. Starting as Project Manager of full custom yachts in 2006, he soon was appointed Head of Project Management Department after managing with success many custom new builds, and then Director of Product & Project Management Department in 2012, managing new builds of semicustom and full custom projects from 30 up to 90+ mt. At this time Nicola Nicolai, acting as Interim Sales Manager, leaded the “Benetti Design Innovation Project” working along with a selected group of top designers of the superyacht industry to rethink the future exterior lines of Benetti’s custom projects.

During his career Nicola has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most important owners, designers, naval architects, brokerage and management companies in the industry. He managed projects such as Benetti’s 70mt Spectre, 45mt Domani, 61mt Diamonds Are Forever, 65mt Seanna, 64mt Silver Angel, 56mt Annaeva, Riva 115’ Athena series, Genesis 153’ and many others.

With over 16 years’ experience in the superyacht industry, Nicola worked at Riva, a Ferretti Group Brand, in 2003 as Project Manager after starting his career in 2000 as Design and Engineering Coordinator for North American Yachts and Shipbuilding.

Combining his professional experience together with his natural passion for yachts he developed a 360 degrees knowledge of product and process, from negotiation to design, engineering, production and delivery of superyachts. Nicola always had an incredible passion for sea and yachting that he developed when still a student sailing as skipper for charter cruises and regattas. He graduated in Architecture and Yacht Design from Florence University of Architecture.