KPI Bridge Oil Appoints Vice CEO and new MD for its North American Operations

Rob Atkinson, Vice CEO – KPI Bridge Oil

London, 30th April 2013 – KPI Bridge Oil, a leading global broker and trader in marine bunkers, marine lubricants and risk management products, has appointed Rob Atkinson as Vice CEO for the group and Jesper Rasmussen as Managing Director for its North American operations.

Rob Atkinson has held a senior position in the company since joining Kristensons-Petroleum, Inc. (KPI) in 1993, latest as Managing Director for KPIBO Americas, and he has been the driving force in the creation and development of KPI as well as the mastermind of the original KPI-Bridge Oil alliance. Rob’s vision and determination has played a central role in the company since 1997 when he bought out his former partners and initiated the expansion which made KPI Bridge Oil one of the largest bunker broking and trading houses in the Americas and saw it open offices in Valparaiso, Seattle and Miami and he continues to drive many of the successes in the KPI BO Group today.

Rob has a huge knowledge of the business and an impressive background in shipping, marine fuel oils and lubricants. Upon graduating from the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point in 1984 with a BS in Marine Engineering, Rob joined the Naval Reserve and served as an engineering officer. He joined Advanced Technology, where among other things he became heavily involved in tribology and marine
lubricants. He soon followed this discipline, taking a job as a Lubricant Sales Engineer (and ultimately East Coast Sales Manager) for BP Marine Lubricants.

Rob Atkinson says: “KPI was one of the first true marine fuel broking houses in the United States and having been part of it from creation to seeing it grow into one of the largest bunker broking and trading houses in the Americas today makes me very proud as the exact vision I started out with 20 years ago has now become a reality. I very much look forward to taking on a truly global role in the company and getting involved in the development of the wider group and of course to work closer with the management teams around the world”.

Jan Obel, CEO KPI Bridge Oil Group says: “Rob stepping up to work at group level will without doubt significantly strengthen our executive management team and enable us to provide more resources to key projects and the individual offices as well as enable us execute commercial decisions faster”.

KPI Bridge Oil North America – Jesper Rasmussen

Jesper Rasmussen has been promoted to Managing Director KPI BO North America with responsibility for the Miami, New York and Seattle offices.

Jesper has been working as Sales Director for North America responsible for the New York, Seattle and Miami offices. Prior to this Jesper was based in KPI BO’s London office as Senior Key Account Manager. Jesper has more than 20 years of experience in managing marine sales professionals in the global shipping industry, gained in various locations such as; Greece, UK, Norway, U.A.E, The Netherlands,
Russia and Denmark.

Rob Atkinson says: “Jesper’s in depth knowledge of the shipping industry and in particular of larger shipping companies combined with a substantial international sales and leadership experience will no doubt be a great asset to our American operations as we continue our ambitious and exciting development strategy for the region. Our dedicated and professional teams in the Americas have always played a crucial part in KPI Bridge Oil’s global success and our offices there enable the group to operate on a truly global scale and to service our customers across all time zones 24/7”.

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