The past few weeks have seen a spurt of major changes to the teams of a number of the world’s top brokerage firms, including Northrop & Johnson, Camper & Nicholsons and West Nautical.
Photo: Charl van Rooy / SuperYacht TimesIn early April, Northrop & Johnson announced the rejoining of the well-known industry veteran Cromwell Littlejohn to the team as the new Commercial Director US. Coming from his role as Commercial Director at Camper & Nicholsons, Littlejohn previously worked at Northrop & Johnson as well as spending 15 years in the sales and charter departments of Merle Wood & Associates.
Photo: Northrop & JohnsonSpeaking of returning to the brand once more, Littlejohn says: “I am elated to once again be part of the Northrop & Johnson team; I truly missed the camaraderie and family spirit of the company. Additionally, it will be fantastic to return to a functional, modern, forward-thinking and progressive work environment with broker-friendly systems and ample marketing power at our disposal. I’m really excited about my decision to come home to Northrop & Johnson and couldn’t be happier to be a NoJo again. Northrop & Johnson is in an incredible position right now as the top brokerage in the world for 2017 — who doesn’t want to work with the best? It’s a dream come true to be working with the U.S. sales and charter teams to continue to elevate our presence not only in the United States but also around the world.”
West Nautical also announced a new Commercial Director for the brand, with the introduction of Kurt Fraser. Fraser comes from the position of Director of Marketing and Executive Committee Member of Camper & Nicholsons. Fraser’s first tasks in the new position will be to finesse the brand, introduce an innovative new commercial approach to supporting superyacht owners, and expand the company’s sales brokerage and retail charter services.
Speaking of his new appointment, Fraser says: “What excites me most about West Nautical is that we have a deep roster of operational, technical and regulatory specialists and supporting staff that are functioning as part of a very happy and collaborative team, with a great reputation. We have a unique opportunity to model ourselves as a next-generation professional services firm, driven by one goal – to relentlessly pursue the best interests of each and every client. And because we are free of the costly operational structures of many other more traditional firms, we have the freedom and flexibility to use our pool of experts in innovative new ways. We are thinking boldly as to how we provide superyacht owners with tailored services, structured in financially appealing ways, that provide tangible benefits and maximum value.”
The final big brokerage announcement came from Camper & Nicholsons Asia, who announced their new Commercial Director, Bart Kimman. Kimman was previously the Managing Director of the Northrop & Johnson Asia franchise and is one of the leading experts and professionals on the superyacht industry in Asia.
“We are delighted to welcome Bart to the Camper & Nicholsons Asia team,” comments Camper & Nicholsons Asia Managing Director, Carmen Lau. “Bart has an extensive experience in superyacht brokerage, charter and new build. This is all enhanced through his extensive knowledge of the Asian market garnered over 20 years. He is a great addition to our dynamic executive team, creating a true customer-oriented service for the Asian market where he will also help us to speed up in reaching the full potential of Camper & Nicholsons in this market.”