SOCIETY STORIES

Monaco Grants SeaKeepers Formal Not-for-Profit Status

The SeaKeepers Society just became a little more “international” thanks to the approval in September of its formal status as a not-for-profit association in the Principality of Monaco.

With the official approval of the Monegasque government, SeaKeepers now has a business address in Monaco at the luxurious Port Palace Hotel opposite Quai Kennedy in Port Hercules. Lotfi Maktouf, owner of the Port Palace, has generously offered to provide the new entity with the formal address and services necessary to conduct business in the Principality. Maktouf also serves as Board President for SeaKeepers in Monaco. He is joined on the founding board by two prominent Monaco-based yachtsmen, Gildo Pastor and Gerald Mackie. Agreeing to join them on the new board is the Society’s newest member, Donatella di Filippo Campioni, owner of the Benetti motor yacht Siram.

The location of the Port Palace Hotel for SeaKeepers’ offices in Monaco is extremely appropriate, notes John Englander, CEO, as the hotel occupies the site of the first International Hydrographic Bureau (now the United Nations International Hydrographic Organization), which was founded in 1921.

“This approval is a huge step forward for us,” said Jim Gilbert, board president. “Monaco has always provided an important base for us. We were launched in Monaco at the ShowBoats Rendezvous in 1998, and we have been blessed from the start with the support and the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II.” Don Tomlin, board chairman, said the establishment of offices in Monaco also recognizes the Society’s commitment to being an international organization. “While we draw our existing
membership from 14 different countries around the world, we need to expand the global reach of SeaKeepers,” he said. The problems facing the world’s oceans know no political boundaries, and the challenges faced by the decline of the seas will require support on a truly global scale. We are excited to be able to offer our growing number of European-based supporters a prestigious base of operations.”