Costas
Eliopoulos
A C-suite operations executive with more than thirty years of leadership across marine, manufacturing and industrial sectors. Most recently Chief Process Officer at Gulf Craft Group — one of the world's largest composite-yacht builders — leading the group-wide ERP transformation, Lean rollout and the operational restructure that scaled the new lagoon facility to 250+ vessels per year. Now operating independently through IONAIRE, advising principals across the GCC and open to fractional, interim and executive mandates.
An operator, not an observer.
Costas Eliopoulos has spent his career inside factories, shipyards and boardrooms — carrying operational accountability at industrial scale rather than commenting on it from the outside. His remit as a general manager and then as chief process officer covered production, quality, planning, procurement, ERP, Lean, capacity, compliance and the workforce culture that ultimately decides whether an operation performs.
At Gulf Craft Group, he owned the transition from an established yard to a 480,000 sq ft lagoon facility, took group production from ~80 to 250+ vessels per year, and led the enterprise-wide Microsoft Dynamics 365 rollout that cut reporting cycles by ~40%. His work is externally documented in The National, on the Ben Taylor Podcast and in successive Gulf Craft press releases as the operational lead behind the group's Maldives export-fleet expansion and lagoon-shipyard scale-up.
Through IONAIRE, he now advises marine and industrial principals across the GCC on operational excellence, ERP transformation, capacity expansion and strategic market entry — bringing the same principal-side discipline he applied inside the operations he once ran.
Thirty years, one operating line.
- Aug 2025 — PresentFounder & PrincipalIONAIRE L.L.C-FZIndependent advisory practice serving marine and industrial principals across the GCC; current engagement structuring a new marine-technology market entry.
- Aug 2024 — Aug 2025Chief Process OfficerGulf Craft GroupLed group-wide Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP transformation and Lean rollout at the new lagoon facility; reporting cycles cut ~40%.
- Dec 2020 — Aug 2024General Manager of ProductionGulf Craft Group$100M+ P&L, 2,200 workforce; delivered the 480,000 sq ft lagoon transition, scaling capacity from ~80 to 250+ vessels per year.
- Oct 2017 — Dec 2020Quality Control ManagerGulf Craft GroupBuilt the group QA/QC function end-to-end against RINA and CE standards; warranty claims reduced ~25%.
- Nov 2016 — Oct 2017Ship Repair Manager / ConsultantEmirates Inflatable Boats Libra Est.Directed new-build and repair programmes across commercial, technical and financial dimensions.
- Oct 2014 — Apr 2015Yacht Surveyor ConsultantHenderson InternationalPre-purchase, condition, valuation and damage surveys; port-development advisory at Dubai Maritime City.
- May 2011 — Sep 2011Assistant Project ManagerSpanopoulos ShipyardSupervised design and construction of a 44 ft aluminium sailing yacht.
- Nov 2005 — Dec 2010Managing DirectorAthens Kart ShopFounded and ran retail and wholesale karting business; led in-house race team to Greek and SE European championships.
- Sep 2001 — Sep 2002Insurance BrokerBritish Providence (Inchcape)Coordinator and salesperson, Toyota retail insurance channel.
Where he creates value.
Six capability areas, refined by three decades of principal-side responsibility across production, quality, systems and scale.
P&L Leadership
$100M+ operational budgets and a 2,200-strong workforce, run with cost-efficiency discipline and procurement rigour.
ERP Transformation
Group-wide Microsoft Dynamics 365 rollout; reporting cycles cut ~40% and executive-committee cost transparency materially improved.
Lean & Operational Excellence
Lean and Kaizen at industrial scale: ~18% operational-downtime reduction and ~25% delivery-timeline improvement.
Quality Systems
Group QA/QC built from the ground up; warranty claims down ~25%; ISO 9001:2015, RINA and CE compliance.
Capacity Expansion
Delivered the transition into a 480,000 sq ft lagoon facility; annual capacity scaled from ~80 to 250+ vessels.
Engineering & Marine Compliance
Mechanical-engineering background, UK Engineering Council MarEngTech and Lloyd's-trained marine surveyor.
Trained where the standards are set.
- MSc, Marine SurveyingMiddlesex University (in progress)
- Diploma, Marine SurveyingLloyd's Maritime Academy
- STCW CertificationAspropyrgos Merchant Marine Academy
- Certified Engineering Technician (MarEngTech)UK Engineering Council
- MCA Approved Engine CourseEmsworth Navigation School
- Quality StandardsISO 9001:2015 · RINA · CE
- SystemsMicrosoft Dynamics 365 · Lean / Kaizen
- LanguagesGreek (native) · English (full professional) · Italian (working)
Documented in public record.
- 01The NationalFeature interview, February 2025
- 02Ben Taylor PodcastGuest — Quality at Scale, August 2025
- 03Gulf Craft Group Press ReleasesMaldives export-fleet launch and lagoon-shipyard scale-up
- 04Building NationsDocumentary, Episode 4 — Apple TV
- 05Master Mechanic & Engine TunerProfessional recognition
- 0615× Greek Karting Champion2× South East European Karting Champion (team principal)