Ardmore Shipping Appoints Curtis McWilliams as Chairman

The US-based chemical tanker company  Ardmore Shipping Corporation announced that Reginald L. Jones is stepping down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company effective December 31, 2018.  

Curtis McWilliams has been appointed as Chairman of the Board effective January 1, 2019, said a stock exchange announcement from the company.

Jones will remain as a director until the Company's annual general meeting in 2019, when he does not intend to stand for re-election. He is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Greenbriar Equity Group LLC, Ardmore's initial investor in 2010 which exited its position in Ardmore as part of the monetization of its Fund II in November 2017.  

McWilliams became a director of Ardmore in January 2016.  He has over 25 years of experience in public and private company governance and corporate finance, including as a transportation industry investment banker with Merrill Lynch & Co. for 13 years and CEO of NYSE-listed company Trustreet Properties Inc. He serves currently as Lead Director of Braemar Hotels and Resorts, Inc.

McWilliams holds an MBA with concentration in Finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.

Reginald L. Jones, Ardmore's retiring Chairman, said: "It has been a privilege to serve as Ardmore's Chairman since the Company's inception in 2010 and to guide the evolution of Ardmore into a truly best-in-class public shipping company. I believe that the team and the corporate culture at Ardmore are extraordinary and I am confident that the Company will continue to set the pace for many years to come.  I am also very pleased to pass the chairmanship to a highly capable leader in Curtis McWilliams."

Curtis McWilliams, Ardmore's incoming Chairman, said: "I am honored to assume the role of Chairman and look forward to working even more closely with the Ardmore management team. With a leading fleet of modern, fuel-efficient MR tankers and excellent people both ashore and afloat, Ardmore is well positioned to thrive amid the opportunities that lie ahead, including the significant product tanker charter rate recovery presently underway, the very solid underlying fundamentals, and an anticipated further strengthening of charter rates from the IMO 2020 fuel transition."