John Dane III is president and CEO of Trinity Yachts, LLC. Trinity Yachts, based in New Orleans, LA is one of the world's leading builders of mega-yachts ranging from 72 feet to 300 feet. Mr. Dane founded Trinity Yachts in 1988 as a division of the Halter Marine Group. Mr. Dane along with partners acquired Trinity Yachts in 2000 after Mr. Dane retired as Vice Chairman and president and chief operating officer of Friede Goldman Halter Inc. (NYSE: FGH). The Gulfport, Mississippi-based company was formed through the November 1999 merger of Friede Goldman International and Halter Marine Group, of which Mr. Dane had served as Vice-chairman, president and chief executive officer. Friede Goldman Halter at the time was a world leader in the design and manufacture of equipment for the maritime and offshore energy industries with over 10,000 employees and 22 shipyards. Its operating units are Friede Goldman Offshore (construction, upgrade and repair of drilling units, mobile production units and offshore construction equipment), Halter Marine (construction and repair of ocean-going vessels for commercial and governmental markets), FGH Engineered Products Group (design and manufacture of cranes, winches, mooring systems and marine deck equipment), and Friede & Goldman Ltd. (naval architecture and marine engineering).

Mr. Dane began his career with Halter in 1974 as a program manager, and in 1980 formed his own shipyard, Moss Point Marine. Halter Marine Group's predecessor, Trinity Industries later purchased the Moss Point Marine yard in 1987, and Mr. Dane was named president of Trinity Marine Group. Mr. Dane then spun the Halter Marine Group off from Trinity Industries as a new public company (AMEX:HLX) in September 1996.

In addition to Trinity Yachts, Dane is also currently the majority owner of Gulfport, MS-based United States Marine,Inc. which builds high tech patrol boats FROM 26 FT. TO 90 FT. for the U.S. Navy and other navies around the world. USMI currently employs over 200 employees building patrol craft in both Gulfport, MS and New Orleans, La.

Mr. Dane is a member of the Navy League, board member of the U. S. Coast Guard Foundation and recently retired from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, serves as a board member of Tulane University's Presidents' Counsel and as an advisor to the School of Engineering. He is also a member of the Society of Naval Architects, , an active member of the World President's Organization and a member of the Advisory Counsel of the American Bureau of Shipping. He served as a member of the Ocean Research Advisory Panel for the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, is a member of the Board of Directors for the Olympic Sailing Association of New Orleans, and has been Commodore of the Pass Christian Yacht Club. Mr. Dane was selected as the Propeller Club-Port of New Orleans' "Maritime Man of the Year" for 1998 and the Tulane University Engineering School's "Outstanding Alumni of the Year" for 2004.

Mr. Dane holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans, where he was a three-time All-American Sailor, Intercollegiate Sailor of the Year in 1968 and was recently inducted into the Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame. Mr. Dane has also won numerous National and International sailing championships and recently won the rights to represent the United States in the 2008 China Olympic Games in the Star class sailboat.

Mr. Dane is married to Leslie Weatherly and they have seven children and two grandchildren.