Philip Fullerton joined Northern Marine in 1995 at the time of the StenTex transition between Stena and Texaco after completing an Engineering Cadetship with Texaco Overseas Tankships Limited. He progressed through the sailing ranks from Fourth Engineer to Chief Engineer within the Northern Marine fleet, sailing on various types of tankers. He joined the office staff as Superintendent in 2002 initially working within the tanker ship groups, then progressed to Senior Superintendent and Technical Manager with involvement in all technical issues with the fleet, projects and new building activities. Appointed Technical Director in 2008, General Manager/Director in 2012 and Deputy Managing Director in 2015. In June 2017 Philip was appointed Managing Director.

Murdoch MacDonald served as Cadet and Deck Officer with Denholm Ship Management prior to spending three years ashore in the Operations Group. He joined NMM in 1983 and served in a number of positions in the Operations Department, including Ship Manager. In 1999 he was appointed Commercial Manager in response to the Company’s expanding activities and became Commercial Director in 2008.

Eileen Leith has been with Northern Marine Group since 2009, having started her career in practice before moving on to industry roles in the service and manufacturing sectors. Originally joining the company as a Finance Manager, Eileen progressed through other finance roles to her present position of Business Services Director. A chartered certified accountant, Eileen supports the board in a wide variety of projects.

Margaret McFadzean has been with Northern Marine Group since 2003, having previously worked alongside the business as a service provider, in Project Management. For over ten years she worked client-side, managing relationships with an oil major before moving into the HR function in 2013, as HR Business Partner. Having originally studied HR at Strathclyde Business School, Margaret has since progressed to Group Head of HR, with responsibility for shore-side activity across all business.

Bill Caldwell has been working in the discipline of Information Technology for 32 years. After a successful period in IT Consultancy, he joined Northern Marine Group in 2003. Bill has helped Northern Marine Group make major transitional shifts in technology that has helped both the Group and its clients. He currently holds the role of Group Head of Business Systems and has the remit of Strategy and Development of technology globally throughout all NMG companies.

A Master Mariner, Kenneth McConnell joined Northern Marine in 1995 with 21 years sea-going experience on many different vessel types. Before being appointed as Marine Compliance Director in 2012, Kenneth held various positions in the company including Superintendent, Ship Manager, Operations Manager, Global Manning Manager for Chevron Fleet, and President of NMM USA LLC. Kenneth’s main responsibilities are currently group compliance and sustainability.

John Cook joined Northern Marine in 2024 as Ship Management Director, where he is responsible for overseeing global ship management operations, ensuring safe, efficient, and cost-effective performance across the fleet. Prior to joining Northern Marine, John had spent his career with Shell from Marine Engineer Cadet progressing through the sailing ranks to Chief Engineer sailing on various tankers before coming ashore in 1997. Since then he has taken on a variety of roles including Engineer Superintendent, Conversion Manager (for the conversion of a VLCC into an FSU), LNGC Newbuild Project Manager, Marine & Technical Assurance Manager with North West Shelf, Fleet Manager for the Nakilat LNG Fleet, Managing Director of Brunei Gas Carriers and most recently General Manager, Shell Ship Management.

Hugh Rapson has been with Northern Marine Group since 2020, having previously spent 25 years in facilities management (remote location assets), working for Sodexo and Compass Group. Having spent 5 years as the Head of our Offshore Catering business, Hugh took on the role of Marine Services Director in 2024. Hugh’s remit covers marine service companies in Travel, Training, Catering, Tritec and Marine Projects & Ship Agency.

Sandy Watt joined Northern Marine in 2015 and has served in various roles in ship management (Marine Superintendent / Marine Manager) before becoming Business Unit Head of Northern Marine’s Marine Quality Assurance entities (Maritime Global Services in 2021 and International Marine Assurance Services in 2024). Prior to Joining Northern Marine, Sandy had sailed for 13 years to the rank of Chief officer with BP on DP Shuttles and chemical tankers before coming ashore in 2014 with V-Ships working in ship management.

Head of Business Development

Mikael Karlsson is a Swedish national who grew up in Denmark and studied economics in the United States on a scholarship at Walsh University.
He began his maritime career in 2006 with Eitzen Maritime Services, where he progressed to the role of Commercial Director.

He joined Northern Marine Group in 2018 as Head of Sales for Ship Supply and was appointed Head of Business Development in 2022, supporting a range of divisions across the Group.

In 2021, Mikael completed a business strategy certification at Harvard Business School. Motivated by a documentary on ocean plastic, he founded IMPAsave in 2020, an initiative aimed at reducing single-use plastics in the marine industry. The programme has since gained the support of over 8,000 vessels worldwide.

Mikael is a regular speaker on sustainability in shipping and contributes to industry efforts through his roles on the UK Chamber of Shipping plastic committee and the BIMCO Single-Use Plastics committee.