Daphne Phinopoulos has a BA in Economics from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM). She worked for the Cyprus Ports Authority for 37 years, initially as Research and Planning Officer in the Finance Department and later as Port Manager in the Operations Department. She has also been the project manager of various EU financed projects for the improvement of the port system in Cyprus and the drafting of a master plan for a new industrial port while on a regional perspective, she has been involved in studies and discussions for the Motorways of the Sea in the East Mediterranean and on the setting up of a regional training, research and information centre. She won the first prize in an international competition organised by the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) on how to improve productivity in ports for her study “Operation of back-up areas: their importance in increasing port efficiency, with special reference to Cyprus” and the Director’s prize for her study “Assessment of the competitive position of Cyprus Ports for container transshipment and strategic options available to CPA to compete for this traffic”.