The GSL leadership team is committed to putting the United States at the helm of environmental shipping solutions through the proven concept of utilizing short sea shipping. Our leaders’ vast experience in shipping and finance and their shared vision of a better transportation infrastructure are a unique element to GSL.
Leadership Team
Percy R. PYne
Chairman, CEO, and Founding Partner of Green Shipping Line
Percy R. Pyne is a founding partner, Chairman and CEO of Green Shipping Line (GSL). He hails from a family with a legendary history in marine transportation. The Pyne family legacy began with their arrival on the Mayflower, and generations later they would grow to own and operate one of the largest ocean fleets of Yankee Clippers in America (Rainbow and Sea Witch). Their efforts helped integrate the rail and bridge networks in metropolitan New York City, which created the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Percy’s family legacy is carved into the history of American marine transportation and is a driving force behind his dedication to Green Shipping Line.
Percy R. Pyne has been involved in the shipping world for more than thirty years. He has invested his time and resources towards recreating the U.S. short sea shipping/feedering system that existed prior to 1956. Prior to Green Shipping Line, Percy R. Pyne co-founded American Feeder Lines (AFL), which operated a short sea feeder service between Halifax, Portland, and Boston. The enterprise provided invaluable experience and insight into the challenges facing the emerging short-sea shipping industry. AFL was awarded one of the first eight America’s Marine Highway project designations to operate in the United States.
As Green Shipping Line’s founding partner, Percy R. Pyne has received two additional America’s Marine Highway project designations (for a total of three), successfully transported the first and only new OEM cars to Europe through container shipping, has had two vessel designs pre-approved by ABS and received wide union support for ongoing efforts to revive marine transportation in the U.S., as it’s the most efficient and cost-effective green transportation method in our nation.
Concurrently, Percy R. Pyne has worked for more than 40 years in marine transportation property acquisition, dispositions, development, ownership, management, complex ground-lease negotiations, joint ventures, and consulting. Percy R. Pyne has advised on major U.S. and international commercial transactions for Mobil Oil, USX Corporation, Chemical Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and the Republic of Korea.
Percy R. Pyne has been featured, quoted, and published in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Thomas Reuters, Commercial Property, CNBC, Fox Business News, Financial Times, Boston Globe, National Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Weekly and other trade publications. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Gary Aldridge
Chief Financial Officer and Board Member of Green Shipping Line
Gary K. Aldridge is the Chief Financial Officer for Green Shipping Line (GSL) and a member of its Board of Directors. Gary is an MBA, CPA, CVA, and CFE and has over 25 years of experience as a CFO and as a senior financial executive in privately held businesses including industries like telecommunications, hospitality, nonprofit, manufacturing, distribution, solar energy, healthcare, and transportation, including the trucking industry. These companies and clients range from $300k to $120 million in revenues.
Gary is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Tennessee and Mississippi. He is also a licensed Certified Valuation Analyst through The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner through the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
For more than a decade, he has supported several civic associations and held board positions such as treasurer and president of the Neighborhood Christian Center. Gary was a former treasurer for the In His Steps ministry and for New Life ministry. He has also been a volunteered on several missionary trips to countries like Ukraine, Belize and Turkey. Gary graduated from the University of Mississippi with a BBA in Banking and Finance and from the University of Alabama with an MBA, with a concentration in Accounting.
Donald (DJ) Kurz Jr.
Vessel Operations Director of Green Shipping Line
Donald (DJ) Kurz Jr. is the Vessel Operations Director at Green Shipping Line (GSL) and a Board Member. Donald is a fourth generation leader of the founding family of Keystone Shipping Company, and is also currently their Director of Business Development. Keystone has been in the marine transportation business for more than 100 years, manages a worldwide fleet of more than 20 vessels (including Jones Act compliant vessels for the U.S. government) and has been chosen to be the operator of all vessels for Green Shipping Line.
DJ has had increasing responsibility while working for Keystone Shipping. He has managed contract renewals and asset acquisitions for fleet expansion projects. In his role as Director for Business Development, he has expanded the company’s business into offshore wind farm as well as short sea shipping of containers.
Keystone Shipping Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a global provider of innovative marine transportation solutions. Keystone is a full-service shipping company which provides a wide range of services, from ship construction and maintenance, to accounting and purchasing, to chartering and safety training. Keystone Shipping has close relationships with BP, Shell, and the United States Government. In fact, Keystone manages the RoRo vessels in MARAD’s Ready Reserve Fleet and has managed vessels for the Military Sealift Command. The company has won MARAD’s highest achievement, the Merchant Marine Medal for Outstanding Achievement, as well as numerous other accolades.
DJ graduated from Villanova University with a degree in English Language and Literature and holds an MBA from Boston College.
Colleen Robertson
Managing Director and Board Secretary of Green Shipping Line
Colleen Robertson is the Managing Director and an owner of Green Shipping Line (GSL). She has worked for the company for five years on various initiatives to help revive marine transportation in the U.S, including the transportation of cars through container shipping, offshore wind farm equipment transportation, the fabrication of new vessels in the United States, and on three successful America’s Marine Highway applications.
Prior to Green Shipping Line, Colleen worked for several private companies as a consultant, as well as for the Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company for nearly 20 years. Her experience spans several activities, including engineering, manufacturing, warranty, marketing, finance, and strategy. While at Purdue University she was nominated by the engineering school as a co-operative engineer and began working with Ford Motor company. After completing the Ford College Graduate program, she was offered a position at Ford Motor Company in the finance department where she was responsible for present and future vehicle line financials, profit reporting, fleet administration, and the formation and management of Covisint, a B2B joint venture between Ford, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Renault-Nissan, and their suppliers. Her last assignment was in the Office of the Chairman and Chief Executive, working directly for Alan Mulally and Bill Ford on corporate strategic initiatives. Colleen assisted Mr. Mulally in his transition to his CEO position and facilitated the implementation of his strategic plan (One Ford), which overhauled Ford Motor Company toward a team management approach.
Colleen holds an Interdisciplinary Engineering degree from Purdue University with minors in Spanish and Business as well as a Masters in Engineering Management from the University of Michigan. For years, she served as vice president on the Purdue University Engineering Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Patrick "pat" Roche
Owner of Divergent Logistics, LLC AND
Trucking and Logistics ConsultANT for GREEN SHIPPING LINE
Pat Roche has been in the logistics sector for over 35 years. In 1984, he joined the US Navy aboard the USS PENSACOLA LSD-38,(1984-1988), achieving the rank of E-5 prior to discharge. Following this, he began his driving career, graduating to class 8 trucks by 1990. Having worked for many companies in the food, aggregate, equipment, recyclables, and many other consumer commodities industries, he holds over 2 million safe driving miles in his credit. Between 2001 and 2013, he directed all traffic for a large metals recycling company, where he was very involved in international logistics. As part of his role, he leveraged industry networking and conducted network alterations to triple monthly shipping and reduce the annual transportation cost by several million dollars.
Currently, he owns and operates a trucking company and continues to advise companies on how to save money and make their supply networks greener.
Board of Directors
Percy R. Pyne
Chairman, CEO, and Founding Partner of Green Shipping Line
Percy R. Pyne is a founding partner, Chairman and CEO of Green Shipping Line (GSL). He hails from a family with a legendary history in marine transportation. The Pyne family legacy began with their arrival on the Mayflower, and generations later they would grow to own and operate one of the largest ocean fleets of Yankee Clippers in America (Rainbow and Sea Witch). Their efforts helped integrate the rail and bridge networks in metropolitan New York City, which created the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Percy’s family legacy is carved into the history of American marine transportation and is a driving force behind his dedication to Green Shipping Line.
Percy R. Pyne has been involved in the shipping world for more than thirty years. He has invested his time and resources towards recreating the U.S. short sea shipping/feedering system that existed prior to 1956. Prior to Green Shipping Line, Percy R. Pyne co-founded American Feeder Lines (AFL), which operated a short sea feeder service between Halifax, Portland, and Boston. The enterprise provided invaluable experience and insight into the challenges facing the emerging short-sea shipping industry. AFL was awarded one of the first eight America’s Marine Highway project designations to operate in the United States.
As Green Shipping Line’s founding partner, Percy R. Pyne has received two additional America’s Marine Highway project designations (for a total of three), successfully transported the first and only new OEM cars to Europe through container shipping, has had two vessel designs pre-approved by ABS and received wide union support for ongoing efforts to revive marine transportation in the U.S., as it’s the most efficient and cost-effective green transportation method in our nation.
Concurrently, Percy R. Pyne has worked for more than 40 years in marine transportation property acquisition, dispositions, development, ownership, management, complex ground-lease negotiations, joint ventures, and consulting. Percy R. Pyne has advised on major U.S. and international commercial transactions for Mobil Oil, USX Corporation, Chemical Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and the Republic of Korea.
Percy R. Pyne has been featured, quoted, and published in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Thomas Reuters, Commercial Property, CNBC, Fox Business News, Financial Times, Boston Globe, National Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Weekly and other trade publications. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Eleanor B. Ford
Founding Partner and Board Member of Green Shipping Line
Eleanor B. Ford is a founding partner of Green Shipping Line (GSL) and a member of its Board of Directors. Eleanor’s love for entrepreneurism and America can be traced back to her family, who revolutionized the automotive industry and the U.S. transportation system. Since a young age, Eleanor has been involved with her family’s legacy, the Ford Motor Company, which has fueled her interest in finding innovative ways to improve America’s infrastructures, both on land and sea. Following in her family’s legacy, Eleanor has always had an interest in supporting innovative and environmentally friendly ways of bettering our country. This drive led her to become a founding partner of GSL and an integral part of its inception and growth.
Historically, the Ford Family has played an important role in developing the U.S. marine transportation industry. Until 1986, Eleanor’s forbearers maintained the largest commercial lake shipping fleet in the country. These ships served as the primary means for distributing Ford cars and truck parts throughout the eastern half of the United States. The Ford pedigree in marine transportation goes further back to the First World War, when Henry Ford, Eleanor’s great-great-grandfather, was a member of the U.S. Shipping Board where he developed and built a fleet of 60 Eagle-class Patrol craft (PE boats) for the U.S. Navy.
Eleanor sits on the Board of Directors of The Josephine Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health System Foundation, The Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, The Henry Ford Estate-Fairlane, the Detroit Institute of Art, Clarence Livingood Fund of Detroit, and the Hobe Sound Historical Society. She is also involved in several civic organizations, not only in the metropolitan Detroit area, but in other areas of the country as well. Many of these civic activities, with the help of the AFL-CIO and other seafaring unions, will help to revitalize the strategic U.S. marine transportation industry by creating jobs in U.S. yards and putting U.S. mariners back to work on Green Shipping Line ships.
Gary Aldridge
Chief Financial Officer and Board Member of Green Shipping Line
Gary K. Aldridge is the Chief Financial Officer for Green Shipping Line (GSL) and a member of its Board of Directors. Gary is an MBA, CPA, CVA, and CFE and has over 25 years of experience as a CFO and as a senior financial executive in privately held businesses including industries like telecommunications, hospitality, nonprofit, manufacturing, distribution, solar energy, healthcare, and transportation, including the trucking industry. These companies and clients range from $300k to $120 million in revenues.
Gary is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Tennessee and Mississippi. He is also a licensed Certified Valuation Analyst through The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner through the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
For more than a decade, he has supported several civic associations and held board positions such as treasurer and president of the Neighborhood Christian Center. Gary was a former treasurer for the In His Steps ministry and for New Life ministry. He has also been a volunteered on several missionary trips to countries like Ukraine, Belize and Turkey. Gary graduated from the University of Mississippi with a BBA in Banking and Finance and from the University of Alabama with an MBA, with a concentration in Accounting.
Colleen Robertson
Managing Director and Board Secretary of Green Shipping Line
Colleen Robertson is the Managing Director and an owner of Green Shipping Line (GSL). She has worked for the company for five years on various initiatives to help revive marine transportation in the U.S, including the transportation of cars through container shipping, offshore wind farm equipment transportation, the fabrication of new vessels in the United States, and on three successful America’s Marine Highway applications.
Prior to Green Shipping Line, Colleen worked for several private companies as a consultant, as well as for the Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company for nearly 20 years. Her experience spans several activities, including engineering, manufacturing, warranty, marketing, finance, and strategy. While at Purdue University she was nominated by the engineering school as a co-operative engineer and began working with Ford Motor Company. After completing the Ford College Graduate program, she was offered a position at Ford Motor Company in the finance department where she was responsible for present and future vehicle line financials, profit reporting, fleet administration, and the formation and management of Covisint, a B2B joint venture between Ford, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Renault-Nissan, and their suppliers. Her last assignment was in the Office of the Chairman and Chief Executive, working directly for Alan Mulally and Bill Ford on corporate strategic initiatives. Colleen assisted Mr. Mulally in his transition to his CEO position and facilitated the implementation of his strategic plan (One Ford), which overhauled Ford Motor Company toward a team management approach.
Colleen holds an Interdisciplinary Engineering degree from Purdue University with minors in Spanish and Business as well as a Masters in Engineering Management from the University of Michigan. For years, she served as vice president on the Purdue University Engineering Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Lauren Brand
Board Member of Green Shipping Line
As a board member of Green Shipping Line, Lauren Brand brings her vast intermodal transportation and shipping expertise, deftly married with her solid leadership experience. Currently, Laura leads two industry associations and recently retired from the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) where she was a member of the Senior Executive Service and served as the Associate Administrator responsible for Port and Waterways programs within the Maritime Administration (MARAD). Since January 2015, Lauren had directed a national port infrastructure modernization program of more than $2 billion, which provides federal assistance for planning, funding and financing port and intermodal infrastructure projects. She was responsible for the continued development of America’s Marine Highway initiative as well as the Agency’s offshore energy licensing projects.
Previously, Lauren was the Director for the Agency’s Office of Marine Highway and Passenger Vessels. During her tenure, she advanced the vision for waterways to become a routine logistics option in a multimodal freight plan, negotiated a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the European Union’s Ministry of Transport addressing Short Sea Shipping initiatives and developed a strategic plan for the North American Short Sea Working Group with leaders from Canada and Mexico. She joined MARAD July 2008 as the South Atlantic Gateway Director for MARAD, focusing on ports and intermodal connectors in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
For 13 years, Lauren was the Senior Director for Business Development at Port Canaveral, FL. There, she was part of the management team that worked to change the port from a niche cargo port to one of the top cruise ports in the world. In the mid-1980’s, Lauren developed the International Trade-Customs Practice for Arthur Andersen & Co., serving as the U.S. Practice Director and Worldwide Coordinator. She has also worked as a licensed U.S. Customhouse Broker and freight forwarder and served as the Import Manager for Hitachi Metals America in New York City. Lauren has a degree in Transportation from Niagara University, earned a U.S. Customhouse Broker license in 1987 and, in 2000, earned a Professional Port Manager Certification from the American Association of Port Authorities.