Thanos Pallis is a Professor in Port and Maritime Economics & Policy, at the Department of Maritime Studies, University of Piraeus, Greece. In 2020 he was re-elected President of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME). He is the Vice-Chair of the global Port Performance Research Network (PPRN), and founding member & co-director of PortEconomics. He has worked in shaping ports and maritime logistics on all different continents, via projects of UNCTAD, OECD, Cruise Europe and other international organisations. He is currently the chief consultant of the UN program on “COVID-19 Response on Transport/Connectivity and Trade” and a member of the International Association of Ports & Harbours (IAPH) Risk and Resilience Committee. A regular advisor of the European Commission, national governments, and European ports on port issues, he was Secretary-General of MedCruise (2013-17), the association representing more than 100 cruise ports in 20 countries in the Med. Thanos served as General Secretary for Ports & Port Policy, at the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping, Hellenic Republic, and as Member of the National Council for the Development of State assets. In academia, Thanos was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, New York, US (Centre for Energy, Marine Transportation & Public Policy), and held professorships in Greece (University of the Aegean; National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Belgium, Canada, and Colombia. Thanos won twice the “Palgrave Maritime Economics & Logistics Best Paper Award” leading research on private entry in cruise terminal operations and container port concession agreements respectively. He is the co-author of the book Port Economics, Management & Policy.