Seaspan Corporation ("Seaspan") (NYSE:SSW) reports that Torsten Holst Pedersen and H. Theodore ("Ted") Chang have been appointed to its executive team. Mr. Pedersen will be joining as Executive Vice-President, Ship Management and Mr. Chang will be joining as General Counsel. Both Mr. Pedersen and Mr. Chang will begin their appointments in November.
These appointments bolster Seaspan's leadership team, reinforce its leading position in the containership leasing industry, and support its various growth initiatives, Seaspan said in its press release.
Bing Chen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, commented, "Torsten and Ted have both had distinguished careers and demonstrated successes in their respective fields. After an extensive search for both roles, we are pleased to welcome Torsten and Ted to our executive team. Along with other recent additions filling out our leadership team, we have an extremely dynamic and exciting group in place on which we can build success and effectively scale our organization."
About Torsten Holst Pedersen
Mr. Pedersen has over 20 years of experience in shipping, logistics and infrastructure, during which he has held senior leadership roles and board positions across Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. Mr. Pedersen started his career with the Maersk Group in 1996 and worked in several of the group's business entities, holding C-Level positions in Finance and HR. In 2016, he joined Inchcape Shipping Service as Regional CEO for Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Mr. Pedersen then worked as Head of Operations for V Group, leading the transformation of the global operations organization of more than 45,000 employees. Prior to joining Seaspan, Mr. Pedersen worked as a strategy consultant, assisting companies with strategy execution and M&A due diligence in the Middle East and South Asia.
Mr. Pedersen holds a Masters degree in Economics from Aalborg University, Denmark, and a Masters degree in International Economics (with Distinction) from University of Essex, U.K. These have been complemented by executive programs at Wharton and London Business School.
About Ted Chang
Mr. Chang brings more than 20 years of experience in the legal, global finance and corporate development worlds. Prior to joining Seaspan, he was the senior legal counsel for Seekers, a hedge and private equity fund based in Hong Kong with global investment portfolios. He began his career in New York City and Hong Kong as an associate with the law firms of Mudge Rose and Baker & McKenzie before becoming Asia regional counsel for one of Motorola's divisions and then joining a series of start-up companies. Prior to that, Mr. Chang was a vice-president in the legal/compliance group at Goldman Sachs in New York, where he headed the Goldman Sachs Group position reporting group as liaison to the SEC and all state and federal regulatory agencies on various securities reporting issues.
Fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, German and English, Mr. Chang holds a dual Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College, New York and a Master's Degree in International Economics from Colombia University, New York. He studied law at Boston College Law School and Columbia University School of Law, where he was also awarded a one-year post-doctoral fellowship at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. Mr. Chang is a member of the New York State bar in good standing.
About Seaspan
Seaspan is a leading independent charter owner and operator of containerships with industry leading ship management services. We charter our vessels primarily pursuant to long-term, fixed-rate, time charters to the world's largest container shipping liners. Seaspan's operating fleet consists of 112 containerships with a total capacity of more than 900,000 TEU, an average age of approximately 6 years and an average remaining lease period of approximately 5 years, on a TEU-weighted basis.