Northrop & Johnson has announced the promotion of Daniel Ziriakus to the position of President & Chief Operating Officer. Before taking on his new role, Daniel was the company’s Chief Operating Officer for five years. With this appointment, he will have ultimate responsibility for global operations, effective immediately. The firm’s current President and shareholder Kevin Merrigan will remain CEO in a strategic board-level role.

During his time as COO, Daniel helped the firm grow from a primarily US-focused medium-size yacht sales company to a full-service global yacht brokerage business with offices around the world. Northrop & Johnson has evolved into the largest US superyacht brokerage house, adding more than 80 staff and producing double-digit growth in revenue every year since Daniel acquired the COO position. Offices opened during his tenure include Newport Beach, California, Los Angeles, California, and New York, New York, in the US as well as Antibes, France, Queensland, Australia, and a new European flagship office in Monaco.

In addition to overseeing the firm’s expansion, Daniel has been integral in revitalizing the company’s brand and reorganizing the marketing and sales departments to position the company for growth. He is responsible for the setup of the company’s marketing structure, the creation of a new technology department as well as a re-engineering the global N&J infrastructure and staffing, which included an expanded operations team, a restructuring of the accounting team and an overhaul of all vendor relationships. Daniel oversaw two major website rebuilds, both of which have continued to increase Northrop & Johnson’s online footprint, ensuring yachts in the brand’s fleet are extremely visible. Also, Daniel brought on a variety of agencies, including digital and SEO, to further enhance the brand’s digital presence and attract high-profile partners such as NetJets, Northern Trust, Corcoran, EMBARK Beyond and others.

Originally from Germany, Daniel is bilingu