Efthymios Mitropoulos

Mitropoulos's father was a merchant navy chief engineer officer and a mother was the daughter of a shipmaster and owner of brigantines and schooners. Mitropoulos is the husband of Chantal Byvoet, with whom he had two children, namely Elias and Athina Mitropoulos.[1]

He studied secondary education from the St. Paul French College in the city of Piraeus in Greece. He studied at the Aspropyrgos Merchant Marine Academy in Athens at Attica from 1957 to 1959. After his apprenticeship on board merchant ships from 1959 to 1962, Mitropoulos studied at the Hellenic Coast Guard Academy from 1962 to 1964.[1]

After studying at the Hellenic Coast Guard Academy in 1964, Mitropoulos practiced as a Coast Guard Officer in Corfu then in Piraeus, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He studied shipping economics in Italy in 1965, then marine technology in the United Kingdom in 1970.[1] He started his career as a member of the Greek delegation in 1966. Among his achievement included the laying down of the foundation for establishing the Joint Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue Centre of Greece. He was the harbor master of Corfu from 1977 to 1979.[1]

He began his career at the International Maritime Organization in January 1979. He held positions such as Implementation Officer of the Maritime Safety Division (1979), Head of the Navigation Section (1985), Senior Deputy Director for Navigation and Related Matters (1989), Director of the Maritime Safety Division (1992), Secretary of the Maritime Safety Committee (1992), Assistant Secretary-General (2000), and as Secretary-General beginning 2004. His first tenure was from 2004 to 2008. His second term began in 2008 and was completed in December 2011. He also acted as Chancellor of the World Maritime University in Sweden (2004) and as Governing Board Chairman of the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta (2004).[1] Mitropoulos currently serves as Patron of the ITF Seafarers' Trust.[5]