Dimitrios Panagiotopoulos is the head of shipping and corporate banking of Proton Bank, a Greek private bank, where he has served since April 2004. From January 1997 to March 2004, he served as deputy head of the Greek shipping desk of BNP Paribas and before that for four years as senior officer of the shipping department of Credit Lyonnais Greece. From 1990 to 1993, he worked as chief accountant in Ionia Management, a Greek shipping company. He also serves as a director of FreeSeas Inc., a publicly traded shipping company. He holds a degree in economics from Athens University and an MSC in Shipping, Trade and Finance from City University of London. He served his obligatory military duty as an officer of the Greek Special Forces and today is a captain of the reserves of the Hellenic Army.