Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou

Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou is joint CEO of TOTOTHEO MARITIME, a leading global service provider specialising in innovative, efficient, and functional solutions in the fields of digitalization, maritime satellite communications, automation, and navigation systems.

In August 2021 she was appointed as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus. She also currently serves as Vice President of the Natural Gas Infrastructure Company (ETYFA) and is a Member of the Board of Directors at the Cyprus Organization for Storage and Management of Oil Stock (KODAP).

A strong advocate of diversity and inclusion in maritime, since 2017 Despina has been President of Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association, an organization comprised of 55 National WISTA Associations globally. She was instrumental to WISTA’s success in receiving consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2018 and has since established numerous initiatives to support diversity and gender equality in the maritime sector.

She is a board member of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber and serves on the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation. She also sits on the Board of Governors of the Cyprus Maritime Academy.  Despina is also a board member at the Limassol Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In July 2020, she was elected as a Member to the General Committee of the Association of SA and Limited Companies in Greece where she is also Chair of the Shipping Companies Sector Committee and the Women's Committee.

For 5 consecutive years spanning 2017 – 2021, Lloyd’s List has selected Despina as one of the Top 100 Most Influential people in shipping.  In 2019 she was also named as “International Personality of the Year” at the Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards.

Despina holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the National and Capodistrian University of Athens, an Executive MBA in Shipping and Logistics from the Copenhagen Business School, a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Strategy from the University of Oxford and a Master of Science degree in Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford.

She is an Honorary Fellow of the Cyprus Institute of Marketing.