Executive Management
Mehrdad Radseresht is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Gulf Marine Investments Inc. He is an Iranian born, U.S. citizen and former Vice President for Middle East Operations for the Dole Corporation. He has over 25 years of experience developing markets and sourcing products in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has also developed close relationships with business and government leaders throughout the Middle East and East African region and enjoys a reputation for integrity and a keen business sense. In the mid 1990's he entered Somalia and helped to revive a banana industry that had been decimated by civil war. At the urging of Daniel Simpson, then U.S. Ambassador to Somalia, Mr Radseresht supported efforts to rehabilitate the Somalia fishing industry. In 2003, at the request of the President of neighboring Djibouti, Mr Radseresht was asked to take over management of the main fishing port in Djibouti. In 2004, Mr Radseresht replied to a request from the newly elected President of the Somalia Federal Transitional Government to provide assistance in the further development of the marine resources and he has been appointed by the Puntland government to develop and manage their marine resources. Mr Radseresht splits his time between homes in Dubai and California. He is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz. (mradsereshtgmi@sbcglobal.net)
Jim Coffis is the Executive Vice President for GMI. He has over 25 years of business development and management experience in the software, travel, hospitality and publishing industries. He has also been a marketing and research consultant to a number of Fortune 500 companies. He has started and managed his own publishing company, a tour company, and a restaurant. Most recently he was Vice President of Middle East Market Intelligence and Research, a compiler and publisher of trade data. Prior to that he was an associate with Direct!Direct! an advertising agency in Silicon Valley. Between 1985 and 1992 Mr Coffis was employed by Borland International where he helped develop a marketing department that grew from one to several hundred employees with sales increasing to over $100 million. Subsequent to Borland he served as a consultant to Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Adobe, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems providing expertise in marketing information systems particularly database design and analysis. Mr Coffis studied Economics and International Relations at Stanford University. (jcoffisgmi@sbcglobal.net)
Donald Robert Campbell, MBA, is Chief Financial Officer for GMI. He has over 35 years of business management experience. He operated his own consulting business before joining GMI. (drcampbellgmi@sbcglobal.net)
