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Ex-Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. Chief Financial Officer(CFO) Ziad Nakhleh has been appointed CFO of Greek drybulk shipping company DryShips Inc., a role that has been held by Chief Executive George Economou on an interim basis, Reuters reports.

Nakhleh joins Dryships from leading bunker supply firm Aegean. He was named CFO of Aegean in 2005 and served as a member of the board of directors from June 2005 to December 2006. He was employed with the company until the end of August 2008, when Aegean reported that he had left the company to pursue other interests. Current Aegean CFO Spyros Gianniotis was Nakleh's successor in September 2008.

Prior to joining Aegean, Mr. Nakhleh worked as an external audit manager at Ernst & Young from October 2002 to December 2004.

From January 2000 to September 2002, Mr. Nakhleh was employed at Arthur Andersen as an audit manager. Prior to that, Mr. Nakhleh worked as a financial officer at a private international company.

Nakhleh is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Richmond.

Dryships is a Marshall Islands registered company that was formed in September 2004.

According to the Dryships website, the company strategy is to "create shareholder value by acquiring and operating second hand drybulk carriers across the size spectrum, including large (Capesize), medium (Panamax) and small (Handymax and Handysize), and employing them in a combination of spot charter, and period time charter contracts and pools."

DryShips is reported to have been battling debt issues and is said to be currently looking to obtain waivers from some lenders on credit terms.