Mr Kiruja Micheni – IMO

Mr. Kiruja Micheni works with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as the Project Manager for the Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment. He has more than ten years of experience supporting regional states to build capacity and counter maritime security threats through the implementation of the Code of Conduct.

Mr. Micheni comes from a naval background and has extensive experience in maritime safety and security. He has also worked as a security expert for international NGOs and the corporate sector. He is an alumnus of the University of Wales (Cardiff University), UK, and holds a master’s degree in international transport.

Lt Cdr R Dougie Bell RN

Lieutenant Commander Dougie Bell Royal Navy joined UKMTO (Dubai) in January 2022 as a senior maritime operations manager with circa 34-years of RN service as well as a few years managing projects in industry.

A seaman officer and principal warfare officer by trade who has served in several surface warships; Dougie qualified in naval mine-warfare and clearance-diving in 1988, before commanding three of the RN’s bomb-disposal units around the UK in the 90s and noughties. He has served with standing NATO maritime groups in the Baltic, North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean on three occasions, working alongside numerous maritime nations.

Christopher Charles Trelawny – Interport Police

Chris Trelawny was commissioned as Deputy Secretary General of INTERPORTPOLICE on 1 January 2022. Prior to that, he spent 18 years in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretariat focussed on multi-agency approaches to maritime security and facilitation.

His major projects included the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC), the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, and the Jeddah Amendment to the DCoC, 2017.  Before joining IMO in 2003, Chris spent 6 years at ICAO and 4 years in aviation security roles and 8 years as a customs officer. 

He also served for 30 years in the Royal Naval Reserve.

Delvin Woolridge-Jones

Foreign Affairs Officer

Cross-Cutting Team, Africa and Middle East Office

International Narcotics and Law Enforcement

Delvin Jones serves as a Foreign Affairs Officer on the Cross-Cutting Team in the Africa and Middle Eastern Affairs Office in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. Delvin’s portfolio includes the Maritime Security, Geo-strategic Competition and Congressional Relations coordination across the office. Immediately Prior to this opportunity, Delvin served at the U.S. Agency for International Development as a Sub-Saharan Africa analyst in the Office of Security.

Before joining the Federal Government as a civil servant, Delvin worked as a computer forensics investigator for the Department of the Army. Delvin also worked as Chef de Partie and prep-cook at Minibar, by Jose Andres. Delvin also served as a Foreign Affairs Officer leading

LCDR Derek WallinJ593 – Maritime Law Enforcement Program USAFRICOM

Lieutenant Commander Derek W. Wallin enlisted into the Coast Guard in 2000, from his hometown of Bountiful, Utah. Upon graduating boot camp, he was stationed at Motor Lifeboat Station Bodega Bay, California. In 2003, as a new Boatswain Mate (BM3) he transferred to Station Dauphin Island, Alabama. In 2007, he transferred as a BM2 to Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) South in Miami, Florida. He then transferred to Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) Miami in 2010 as a BM1.
In 2011, he was selected to attend Officer Candidate School. Upon receiving his commission as an Ensign, he reported to Sector Miami in Miami Beach, FL until 2014. He was then assigned to Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington D.C., Office of Boat Forces. In 2017, he was then selected as Commanding Officer at Station Fort Lauderdale, FL. Subsequently, in 2020 he transferred to Congressional Affairs in Washington D.C., working on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr Richard MorrisRoyal Navy Maritime Domain Awareness Programme Manager

Richard Morris entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman in January 1984 at Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth. An exciting and rewarding career of 36 years’ service as a warfare officer saw Richard at sea in a variety of Royal Navy warships in home waters and in many areas across the globe where the UK has an interest to promote or a national or international security responsibility to enforce. Examples of his global maritime operations experience include Northern Ireland, the South Atlantic, the Far East, Western Indian Ocean region and the Persian Gulf on 3 separate deployments including the invasion of Iraq in 2003. At sea Richard was privileged to command HMS TRUMPETER and HMS SOUTHAMPTON.
From January 2014, Richard served in the UAE based at the British Embassy Dubai as the Royal Navy Liaison Officer Gulf and Commanding Officer Naval Party 1023 which included responsibility for the forward deployed UKMTO Dubai team. This was his final Royal Navy appointment prior to leaving the Service in May 2019. On retirement Richard joined NAVY DIGITAL as a civilian

Ms Dania CossaEUCAP Somalia, Head of Operations

Dania Cossa currently works as Head of the Operations Department in the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian Mission EUCAP-Somalia.
She has almost 20 years of experience in International & Institutional Relations and managerial experience in critical environments, war and crises areas, multicultural & multi-ethnic contexts.
Her last assignment was Senior External Cooperation Officer, OSCE HQ, Vienna, Austria where she performed, among other tasks, a mapping of the OSCE’s entire range of External Co-operation activities, strategies and priorities.
She has participated in various missions abroad: OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) as Deputy Team Leader (2 years, Donetsk Monitoring team, in charge of operations and reporting); Policy Analyst & Program Coordinator for the Development Cooperation Office, Italian Embassy in Kabul,

Ms Toral Vadgama, Deputy Head, UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP), Nairobi, Kenya.

Ms Vadgama is the Deputy Head of UNODC’s Global Maritime Crime Programme.  The Global Maritime Crime Programme is part of UNODC’s newly created Border Management Branch. This role entails providing strategic support to the entire programme and maintain dialogue/relationships with key counterparts, including donors, national interlocutors and likeminded international partners.  She has worked for UNODC for 7 years. 

Prior to this role, Ms Vadgama led the UNODC GMCP Indian Ocean West that various capacity building initiatives supporting the entire criminal justice chain, aimed at helping Member States enhance their ability to combat maritime crime in the region.  

The programme delivers various interventions supporting law enforcement, investigations, prosecution,

Commodore Nitin Parvataneni Director Military Affairs, Ministry Of External Affairs, India

A naval aviator, flying instructor and seaman with almost three decades of naval service mostly on various ships and aircraft at sea. He has over 2000 hours of operational flying and instructional tenures on various types of fighters including the unconventional Sea Harrier from the aircraft carrier,  MiG 21s, Hawk and Kiran Jet trainers and other aircraft including helicopters. He has commanded two Navy fighter squadrons,  one warship and has served in various capacities such as Executive Officer, Navigating officer and Principal Warfare Officer  onboard a guided missile frigate, missile corvette, offshore patrol vessel and amphibious ships apart from being the Chief Operations Officer of a premier Naval Air Station on India’s East Coast. He is a Masters in Defence Studies from the Naval War College and has been an instructor at the College of Defence Management as well as the College of Air Warfare where he was a Chief Instructor.