The IMEC secretariat is based in London and is a specialist organisation created to provide administrative support to international trade and employer associations in the maritime sector.

The Secretary General is Giles Heimann

Giles officially became Secretary General of IMEC on 2nd October 2009 upon the retirement of David Dearsley.  Giles joined IMEC on 1 September 2008 as Deputy Secreary General.

Giles is an approved MCA, PST and PSCRB examiner and trainer, and a qualified ISM, ISO 90001 and ISPS Lead Auditor and has significant experience of working at sea in a senior position with P&O Cruises Ltd, who he joined in 1990 after serving aboard cargo ships.

Giles subsequently came ashore and joined Cunard Line and Seabourn Cruise Line in 1999 as Manager, Marine and Technical Personnel, Recruitment and Training where, as Head of Department
he was responsible for the personnel, recruitment and training functions of a fleet of luxury cruise vessels including a running of a large cadet training programme and the start up function for th Queen Mary 2.

In 2004 he moved to Carnival Corportion (UK) as Head of the Fleet Training and Compliance Department with respnsibility for overseeing staff involved in training and certification of a fleet of 30 technically advanced cruise ships covering the Cunard, Princess, P&O, Occean Village and P&O Austalia brands.

Immediately prior to joining IMEC Giles spent a year and a half running the London office of the LISCR, the world's second largest flag state registry.

The Personal Assistant to the Secretary General is Melanie Foard.

Melanie joined IMEC in October 2005 having spent nearly 19 years in the Construction Industry working for one of the largest Consulting Engineers in the world.

Her duties during that time included Personal Assistant to the Marketing Director in her early years being promoted later to Marketing Manager for their software house, selling and supporting the software written in house to internal departments and external companies.

In 2002 the emphasis and management of the company changed and her role evolved to incorporate not only marketing but also business development and Personal Assistant to the Managing Director.

Her expertise covers the usual PA duties as well as office management, administration, customer management, marketing, financial management and IT support for software and hardware.