Petr Golikov

I am the Vice President, Logistics and the de facto head of Russian relations. I have an intimate knowledge of the expedition industry and expedition vessels, and liaise closely with our ship owners and navigate the political waters involved in operating in the Arctic and Antarctica. I graduated from the Far Eastern Marine Academy in 1970 and began my employment with the Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) in Vladivostok, Russia. By the mid-’80s, I was chief mate aboard the Arctic icebreaker Ermak, and was promoted to captain of icebreakers at FESCO, serving until 1991 aboard Erofey Khabarov, Moskva and Admiral Makarov as master. I was introduced to Quark Expeditions when I was master of the FESCO icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov from 1992 to 2004, and the ship came under charter hire by Quark Expeditions. I’ve had many memorable voyages and “Quark firsts,” including 2 circumnavigations of Antarctica, one of which was the first-ever passenger voyage, in 1996.