Evangelos Marinakis was born on 30th July 1967 in Piraeus, Greece. He is the chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corporation. In addition, Mr Marinakis is also the owner of the Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest football clubs and an elected member of the Piraeus city council. He is the son of Pontus-born, Yspilantis family descendent Irini Marinaki and member of Greek Parliament and prominent shipowner Miltiadis Marinakis.
After completing his high school education in Piraeus, Greece, Evangelos Marinakis studied in the UK, gaining a BA and a master’s degree in International Business Administration and International Relations respectively, graduating from the American International University in London. He then followed in his father’s footsteps, venturing into the world of international shipping after graduating.
Evangelos Marinakis worked as a commercial manager for Capital Ship Management Corporation. In this role, he helped to ensure the success and growth of many businesses that now form part of the Capital Maritime group of companies. Mr Marinakis founded the Capital Maritime & Trading Corporation in 2005. The global shipping company has grown considerably over the years, and today manages a fleet of container ships, tankers and dry bulk carriers.
From 2007 to 2014, Mr Marinakis served as Capital Product Partners LP’s chairman of the board. He also founded the Crude Carriers Corporation, a company that went on to merge with Capital Product Partners LP in September 2011.
A long-time supporter of his home team, Olympiacos Football Club, Mr Marinakis was fortunate enough to purchase a majority share in the club in 2010. Throughout the course of his seven-year tenure as club president, Mr Marinakis led Olympiacos to seven consecutive championship title wins.
In 2017, Evangelos Marinakis acquired Nottingham Forest Football Club, gaining the approval of the English Football League for ambitious plans to restore the club to its former glory. These plans included extensive redevelopment of the team’s historic home ground, culminating in the creation of the East Midlands’ largest stadium and a venue boasting world-class facilities.
Mr Marinakis won the Piraeus city council election in 2014 with the independent Piraeus Winner alliance, a party he co-founded with Olympiacos Football Club vice president and then mayor of Piraeus, Yannis Moralis. The Piraeus Winner alliance focused on improving the standard of living for local people in Piraeus, upgrading local infrastructure and putting Piraeus on the map as a thriving tourist destination.
In addition to his roles with Capital Product Partners LP and the Capital Maritime & Trading corporation, Evangelos Marinakis also served on the board of several other prominent companies. He is the owner of Alter Ego Media SA, Abisso Holdings Limited and One Channel.
Mr Marinakis has leveraged his position as a public figure and business leader to achieve a positive impact on society. On behalf of Olympiacos Football Club, Mr Marinakis donated €168,590 to ‘Greek Debt Free’, a charity website launched to eliminate Greece’s national debt. In 2013, he played an integral role in establishing a partnership between Olympiacos Football Club and the children’s charity UNICEF, a collaboration that helped to raise vital funding for child immunisation schemes across the developing world.
Evangelos Marinakis has used his personal finances to fund redevelopment schemes in his home city, Piraeus, as well as providing financial support for programmes designed to create new jobs and businesses across this important port city. Under Mr Marinakis’s stewardship, the Capital Maritime & Trading Corporation has won several awards for its sustainability and environmental impact efforts. The company was the proud recipient of the Port of Long Beach in Southern California’s Green Environmental Achievement Award in 2014, 2015 and 2018, as well as receiving the GREEN4SEA Excellence Award in 2015.
