Robert N. (“Bob”) Allen Jr. is the senior partner at Robert Allen Law, which focuses a significant part of its practice on the yachting industry. Bob, himself, has advised the largest yacht manufacturing groups in the world with respect to their operations in the U.S., the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Bob received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame and his bachelor’s degree in international relations from New College. He is fluent in Spanish. He is married and has a 7-year-old son.

TEL. +1 305-490-6592
BALLEN@ROBERTALLENLAW.COM

Charles B. Anderson served for 23 years as Senior Vice President and Head of Skuld North America, the US subsidiary of the Norwegian-based Skuld P&I Club, during which time he handled numerous cases for yacht and superyacht owners and charterers. Previously he was a partner in Holland & Knight, practicing in all areas of maritime law. Charles is the co-author of Shipping and the Environment, soon to be published in its third edition. He is a member of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators (SMA) in New York and chairman of the SMA Yacht Committee. In addition to his legal career, he served in the US Navy on destroyers and in naval intelligence, retiring with the rank of Commander.

TEL. +1 914-391-7908
CBANDERSON1952@GMAIL.COM

Jon Burkard leads Allied Marine, a world leader in new yacht, brokerage and luxury yacht charter sales since 1945. Burkard has been with the South Florida-based company for more than 30 years, working in nearly every department from Parts & Service to the C-Suite, and has served as its president since 2001. Jon is a Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB) and a longstanding member of the International Yacht Brokers Association (IYBA). Burkard has been elected to the IYBA Board of Directors for multiple terms totaling 15 years (non-consecutively) to date. He has served on the IYBA’s Arbitration and Ethics Committee for nine years and is in his second term as its director. It is on his watch leading the Arbitration and Ethics Committee that the International Yacht Arbitration Council was conceived and launched. During the course of his career, Burkard has participated in several thousand national and international yachting industry transactions and counting.

TEL. +1 772-260-1415
JON.BURKARD@ALLIEDMARINE.COM

Jonathan is a Partner and Managing Director of Worth Avenue Yachts Newport, RI office. He currently serves as the President of the Yacht Brokers Association of America (YBAA), and has been paramount in their form’s revision committee, assisting in the redesign of the contracts used by licensed brokers across the industry. He is a member of IYBA (International Yacht Brokers Association) and earned his CPYB (Certified Professional Yacht Broker) certification in 2005. He is also a Florida-licensed yacht broker and a licensed yacht captain.

TEL. +1-401-474-4793
JONATHAN@WORTHAVENUEYACHTS.COM

Andrew was born and raised on the New Jersey shore. Immediately upon graduation from college, he moved to Fort Lauderdale to begin his career in the marine industry. In 1977 he acquired Luke Brown Yachts which he successfully managed until 2020. He is the founder of Outback Yachts and transits the East Coast on his 56’ Outback. After 15 years of service, he recently retired as president of Freedom Waters Foundation, a marine-based nonprofit that provides boating opportunities for people with disabilities. He is a past president of the IYBA, a former Director of the Yacht Architects and Brokerage Association, and former Secretary of the Southern Yacht Broker Association. He has received the Broker of the Year Award from the IYBA and a Golden Anchor Award from the Marine Industries Association.

TEL. +1 954-224-3933
ANDREW@LUKEBROWN.COM

Paul has been involved in the marine industry for almost his entire life. In 2004, Flannery Yachts combined efforts with HMY Yacht Sales and launched the North Florida representation for various high-end production new boat brands as well as brokerage sales. His affiliation with HMY lasted for 12 years and the final two years of Paul’s brokerage career were spent with SYS Yachts as Director of Sales, Palm Beach Division. In 2018, Paul was approached by the Executive Committee of IYBA and asked to assume the role of Executive Director on a full-time basis, where he currently directs the day to day operations of the association.

TEL. +1 904-607-0099
PAUL@IYBA.ORG

Mr. Hains is a graduate of the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture with a B.S. degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. In addition to having obtained a professional engineer’s license in several states, he is also Board-certified as a forensic engineer with the National Academy of Forensic Engineers. His primary forensic engagements range from manufacturing defect claims to accident cause and origin investigations, to new construction and repair disputes, to salvage claims, and more.

TEL. +1 954-428-1422
DHAINS@RIMKUS.COM

Head of the Italian Yacht Group, which specializes in new custom yacht projects and brokerage sales, George Jousma has more than 40 years of yachting industry experience. He has managed yacht brokerage and sales firms that included charter retail, and has been involved in thousands of yacht transactions. Jousma has served three terms on the International Yacht Brokers Association Board of Directors (IYBA) and has twice served as IYBA’s president. He also has served one term on the board of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF) and as IYBA liaison. Jousma has served on the IYBA Arbitration and Ethics Commitee, where he handled numerous brokerage ethics complaints and some dispute resolutions with regards to commissions.

TEL. +1 954-533-3145
GEORGE@THEIYG.COM

Michael R. Karcher practices in the areas of admiralty and maritime law, specializing in recreational yachts, marine environmental law and insurance issues. He is the current chairman of the Miami Marine Arbitration Council, the past President of the Marine Council, and continues as the Program and Seminar Chairman. At University of Miami, Karcher teaches Admiralty, a course that studies the problems of the maritime industry, including admiralty jurisdiction in the federal system and rights of seamen and maritime workers. He also teaches a course on Maritime Personal Injury and a seminar on Marine Ecology and Law.

TEL. +1 305-773-7472
MKARCHER@ROBERTALLENLAW.COM

Whit Kirtland has enjoyed a 36-plus-year career in yacht brokerage. He is the third generation of his family in the maritime industry — his father was a broker and the head of Merrill-Stevens’ Shipyard. Whit began his maritime career working every shop at Merrill-Stevens. He has brokered yachts of all sizes and builders ranging from power and sailing brokerage yachts to Dutch, Italian, French, Turkish and Danish new yachts. As an active member in the industry, Whit has served on the Board of Directors and as President three times for the International Yacht Brokers Association, as a Board Member for the International Superyacht Society and as a Certification Advisory Council Board Member for the Certified Professional Yacht Brokers.

TEL. +1 305-793-5886
WHIT@WKYS.NET

Robb Maass is a shareholder and president of Alley, Maass, Rogers & Lindsay, P.A., a full­-service · 1aw firm with offices in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Maass heads the firm’s Maritime Department, which specializes in yacht transactions. He and the other lawyers in his department represent a broad spectrum of the marine industry, including yacht owners, crew, manufacturers, dealers, brokers, and vendors. He was recently reappointed as a director of the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands, which includes the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry.

TEL. +1 561-659-1770
ROBB.MAASS@AMRL.COM

As brokerage sales and sizes of boats increased, the need for chartering became apparent and a charter department was soon established with a MYBA membership. During this period of success, Lon was invited to serve on the International Yacht Broker’s Association (IYBA) board of directors. During his 8-year tenure, with 2 serving as president, the board was instrumental in passing the FL sales tax cap, creating standardized brokerage agreements and worked with federal lawmakers on duty issues for larger yachts. The IYBA gave Lon notoriety amongst peer brokers and a platform to build the international support of cooperation amongst its members.

TEL. +1 954-758-2628
LON@FRASERYACHTS.COM

Michael T. Moore is the Founder and Chairman of Moore & Co., a law firm specializing in marine, aviation, and art law. For more than a decade he has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America and was inducted into the Florida Daily Business Review’s Hall of Fame for having obtained several multi-million-dollar verdicts in his Clients’ favor. In August 2015, Mr. Moore was successful in obtaining all legal requirements and permits for the first commercial vessel charter to Cuba in over 5 decades. Since then his firm has provided legal support for over 240 yachts which have travelled to Cuba.

TEL. +1 786-473-0755
MICHAEL@MOORE-AND-CO.COM

Bob Saxon’s career in the megayacht industry spans four decades and has touched on virtually every aspect of the industry, including sales, charter, crew and yacht management. Bob is the current president of the International Yacht Brokers Association (IYBA), founder and four-term president of the International Superyacht Society (ISS), and recipient of the coveted ISS Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob also has been inducted into the Charter Yacht Brokers Association’s International Charter Hall of Fame. These awards acknowledge the impressive scope of his work in yachting industry at large, as well as his many contributions.

TEL. +1 954-224-5307
BOB@BOBSAXON.NET

Gary is the President of SYS Yacht Sales, a business founded in 1986 formerly known as Sarasota Yacht & Ship. He is the current Vice President and a two term former past president of the International Yacht Brokers Association. He is a lifetime and active boater, a diver and an aircraft pilot, he grew up on the Louisiana waterways. Gary is an alumnus of Louisiana State University, conducting high school recruiting assistance in the area. He has owned several different yachts himself from 43 to 62 feet. Gary was one of the early supporters of the CPYB program, and formerly sat on the Certification Advisory Committee and currently sits on several committees including the Ethics Committee within the IYBA. He has been involved intimately with contract reconciliation between broker to broker, and broker to client disputes as well as commission related dispute resolution with an underlying theme of equity to the parties involved.

TEL. +1 941-321-1705
GARY@SYSYACHT.COM

Jeff started his yacht brokerage career soon after graduating from Florida Institute of Technology in 1979. He grew up on the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound where boating was always a part of his life. He and partner Joe Majcherek started Gilman Yachts of Ft. Lauderdale in 1999 as a branch of the long-established Gilman Yacht Sales. Serving as President of Gilman Jeff remains active in brokerage averaging about 30 closings per year. This places him in front of a large number of buyers and sellers and affords him a very nice following of loyal clients and referrals.

TEL. +1 954-249-0360
JEFF@GILMANYACHTS.COM

An independent neutral and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), Jo Colbert Stanley, Esq. is a Florida Supreme Court qualified arbitrator, and certified mediator who also holds a Diploma in International Maritime Arbitration from CIArb. Jo serves as a Public Arbitrator, hearing financial services-related disputes nationally for FINRA, and is a Registered Mediator for Florida’s Department of Financial Services. Jo is also an Associate (Class of 2023-2025) of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and an appointed member of the Marine Advisory Committee of Broward County. During her 20-plus years as a litigator in private practice, Jo has focused on commercial litigation, employment, and insurance law. Jo is active in national and local volunteer Bar associations, currently serving as an officer on the board of the Federal Bar Association (FBA) Admiralty Law Section and as Immediate Past Chair of the FBA’s ADR Section. She is also serving her third term as Chair of the Broward County Bar Association Admiralty and Maritime Law Section and serves on the Admiralty Law Committee of The Florida Bar. She is a member of the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, the Port Everglades Association, and the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (where is Co-Chair of the Yachting Committee). Jo is also a Board member of the Fort Lauderdale Mariners Club. In addition to regularly presenting continuing legal education seminars and writing articles on dispute resolution and maritime topics, Jo is currently working on her Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

TEL. +1 954-224-6999
JO@LAWSTANLEY.COM

Carol Waxler began her legal career in the courtroom, having started as a probation and parole officer. She started and ran the Pretrial Intervention Program for the 19th Judicial Circuit. After graduating law school, she worked for three years for the Florida State Attorney’s Office. She also has served as a civil litigator for a small firm in Stuart, Florida, doing numerous commercial transactions and loans, litigation arbitration and mediation. She founded and for 10 years managed a law firm in Stuart that built a niche with local boat builders. Carol later served as house counsel for Allied Marine, handling all legal issues related to a brokerage house- and marine-related matters. She left Allied Marine after eight years to become a partner at Alley, Maass, Rogers & Lindsay, P.A., where she handles complex maritime transactions, yacht construction projects and international charters.

TEL. +1 772-287-4404
CWAXLER@AMRL.COM