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Anil Sharma
Founder, President and CEO
GMS
Dr. Anil Sharma is the Founder, President and CEO of GMS, the world's Largest Buyer of ships and floating offshore assets sold for recycling.
Originally from India, Dr. Sharma moved to U.S.A. where he earned his Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) & a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA). Prior to establishing GMS (Global Marketing Systems), Dr. Sharma spent the first ten years of his career in Academia, as a Professor and the Chairman of the Business Department at a State University in the U.S. Dr. Sharma moved to Dubai in 2008 after spending about 27 years studying, teaching, working and establishing GMS in USA.
Since its formation in 1992, GMS has steadily grown to become the world leader in the industry. In 1992 the company started by buying obsolete vessels from US Maritime Administration (MARAD) and immediately became the largest buyer of MARAD vessels. In 1993 the Russian government invited Dr. Sharma to buy obsolete Russian vessels. In 1994 GMS became the largest buyer of Russian Naval vessels. Interestingly, these achievements came even while Dr. Sharma was holding two jobs; teaching and working from his home.
In 1996, Dr. Sharma resigned from academia to focus full time on the expanding operations of GMS. The company started to gain strong reputation in the maritime world and grew rapidly. Today the company handles about 30% of the total volume of ships recycled in the Indian sub- continent about 20% more than the nearest competitor. So far, more than 3,100 ships have been negotiated. As the company continues to grow, GMS has increased its' footprint beyond buying ships for recycling, to ship ownership, ship financing and investments in shipping companies and offshore maritime assets. GMS has a global presence with offices in U.S.A, Germany, Greece, Dubai, Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan and representative offices in India and Bangladesh.
In recognition of his contribution, Lloyd's List ranked him as the 59th most Influential Person in the Shipping industry for 2016. In fact, Dr. Sharma has been in the Top 100 list for the last seven years in a row. This is the first and only time any industry association or publication has recognized a personality from the Ship Recycling Industry.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning how Dr. Sharma was the only non-governmental person invited by IMO as a "specialist" to assist the IMO during the development of the now well-known Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.
Dr. Sharma played a momentous role in the transformation of the ship recycling industry.
Notably, Dr. Sharma has been a tireless campaigner for the development of green ship recycling programs and has invested over USD $1 million in the education and promotion of a Green Ship Recycling program. At the same time, he is invited to speak and participate at about 20 international conferences every year. He has either published or has been written about in
30 articles only last year. He has been interviewed by both shipping (e.g. Seatrade, Lloyds List, Tradewinds, Hellenic Shipping News, etc.) and mainstream media like Bloomberg.
Furthermore, the Government of Dubai has selected Dr. Sharma to participate as a Member of the Dubai Maritime City Authority council (DMCA) for the term 2016 - 2017.
Last, he is the happy recipient of many Awards and nominations every year that confirm the appreciation and recognition of his hard work by the maritime community at a global level.