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KPI Bridge Oil, a specialist broker and trader of marine fuels, lubricants and risk management products, has announced the promotion of Jesper Rasmussen [pictured] to the role of Managing Director KPI Bridge Oil North America with responsibility for the Miami, New York and Seattle offices.

Up until today's announcement, Rasmussen has been working as Sales Director for North America with responsibility for the New York, Seattle and Miami offices. Prior to this, he was based in KPI Bridge Oil’s London office as Senior Key Account Manager.

Rasmussen joined KPI Bridge Oil in March 2011, having previously worked for leading global marine paint and coating supplier, PPG Protective and Marine Coatings, as Regional Director for South Europe between August 2008 and December 2010. Prior to this, he worked in Oslo as Regional Manager for Sigma Coatings - a brand of PPG - between October 2004 and August 2008.

He has spent more than 20 years in shipping, working in various locations such as Denmark, Russia, UAE, Netherlands, UK, USA, Norway, Greece.

Rasmussen, a Danish national, speaks Danish, English, German, Norwegian, Dutch and Greek. He holds a degree from Copenhagen Business School and has completed various business courses at Management Centre Europe in Brussels and Cranfield University in the UK.

Rob Atkinson, Vice CEO, said: "Jesper’s in depth knowledge of the shipping industry and in particular of larger shipping companies combined with a substantial international sales and leadership experience will no doubt be a great asset to our American operations as we continue our ambitious and exciting development strategy for the region. Our dedicated and professional teams in the Americas have always played a crucial part in KPI Bridge Oil’s global success and our offices there enable the group to operate on a truly global scale and to service our customers across all time zones 24/7."