LEADERSHIP
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Ryan Libhart Pereyda - Principal and CEO
Ryan Libhart Pereyda became the Principal and CEO of Patriot Maritime | Patriot Contract Services on October 1, 2019. As CEO he is responsible for strategically managing the operations and resources of Patriot, making major corporate decisions, and seeking new business opportunities. Ryan is a California Maritime Academy graduate who sailed with Patriot not long after graduation. He has a strong background in the commercial maritime industry and deep technical knowledge, including a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from RWTH Aachen Technical University, in Aachen, Germany. Over the last 15 years, he has held positions of increasing responsibility with APL and Eagle Bulk Shipping.
Mark Handin - President
Mark Handin joined Patriot Maritime in 2024 as President, after a 27+ year career in various management, executive and corporate officer roles within Tidewater Marine and the A.P. Moller-Maersk group. He holds overall responsibility for the performance of Patriot, including the operational oversight of all vessels under Patriot management. Mark has broad experience in operational and commercial roles, and has lived and worked in 7 countries, managing vessels and related maritime activities across most major global markets. He earned a BA in Economics from Boston University, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and successfully completed the Advancement Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Mark is also a former licensed master of passenger vessels in the Boston area. He currently lives in Houston, Texas, and oversees the company’s operational office in the Houston area.
Boriana Farrar - Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Boriana Farrar brings seventeen years of legal experience to Patriot's senior leadership team. As the Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Boriana provides expert and strategic counsel to the officers and upper management team, advising on all legal matters. Prior to joining the Patriot Team, Boriana was a Vice President, Senior Claims Executive and Counsel at the American P&I Club in New York, where she handled variety of P&I claims with focus on personal injury crew and passenger claims, casualties, charter party and contract disputes. Before joining the Club, Boriana was a partner at Hill Betts & Nash LLP, a prominent New York maritime law firm. Boriana holds a master’s degree in Admiralty & Maritime Law from Tulane Law School and another master’s degree in International Law from the University of San Diego School of Law. She has a thorough international background, having pursued her legal studies not only in the U.S. but also in her native Bulgaria, the U.K. and the Netherlands. In addition to her native language, she is fluent in English, Russian and German.
Cindy Kumar – Chief Financial Officer
Cindy Kumar joined Patriot Maritime in 2020 and is our Chief Financial Officer. In that position, she manages the financial planning and analysis, accounting operations, government reporting and Treasury services. Cindy has over thirty years of financial management experience. She started her career as an auditor for KPMG Peat Marwick. She also worked as a finance manager for Pacific Bell Mobile Services when they were a start-up organization. And more recently she served as the Vice President of Finance for Coolsystems, Inc, a $47M medical device company. Cindy has a BS in Business with an Accounting emphasis from the University of San Francisco, and she is a California Certified Public Accountant.