ELEFTHERIOS A. PAPATRIFON, 35
BBA ’91, MBA ’94
CFO,
Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd.

At 35, Eleftherios Papatrifon is the youngest executive officer at Excel Maritime Carriers. As the CFO of this dynamic, publicly traded shipping company that’s in a period of tremendous growth (last year’s revenues exceeded $50 million, up almost 100 percent from the previous year), Papatrifon is surprisingly calm and comfortable in his new role. “I’m only 35 now,” he says, “but I started gaining work experience at age 20.” Papatrifon was head of investment banking for Geniki Bank of Greece for five years before being named CFO of Excel Maritime in January.

Greek-born Papatrifon came to New York in 1987 to study business at Baruch. In his sophomore year, he started working for a Wall Street brokerage firm. While earning his MBA, he took on increasingly responsible positions at the Prudential Insurance Company.

“Most people take some time off,” he says. “But I was very focused on getting my MBA quickly and joining the workforce. I had to make a lot of sacrifices—but you have to make sacrifices to reap the benefits later on.”

Though his hours are long (in Greece, it’s 11 pm when the market closes in New York) and the shipping industry is competitive (Greece owns about 20 percent of the world’s fleet), he is starting to reap those benefits. He and his wife, also a Baruch alum, are happy to be settled in Greece and raising their three-year-old twins. “The long hours are worth it,” says Papatrifon. “It’s a very exciting time in a very exciting industry. And I take nothing for granted.”

—Pam Widener

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