Abi McGrath

In the superyacht industry, there are people who build products and people who build communities. Abi McGrath has done both — first with ACREW, the crew platform she founded, and now as COO of YATCO, the industry's leading technology marketplace.

The thread connecting both chapters is the same conviction: that the yachting industry's greatest asset is not its vessels. It is its people.

Building ACREW

Abi founded ACREW to solve a problem she saw firsthand. The superyacht industry lacked a professional platform that truly served crew — not just as job seekers, but as professionals deserving of community, recognition, and a voice.

Over 15 years, she built ACREW into something the industry had never had: a genuine crew ecosystem. More than 50,000 captains and crew joined. Over 1,000 onshore specialists connected through the platform. The ACREW Awards, which Abi launched to recognise excellence in crew, became one of the industry's most respected ceremonies.

ACREW was never just a jobs board. It was an advocate for professional standards, a networking platform, and — for many crew members navigating career transitions — a lifeline of practical support and peer connection.

The Move to YATCO

Abi's appointment as COO of YATCO was a natural evolution. YATCO — the Trusted Global Marketplace of Yachting — serves the entire industry ecosystem: brokers, builders, owners, and now, through the ACREW integration, crew.

At YATCO, Abi oversees operations across the platform, with a particular focus on integrating people-first thinking into a technology-driven business. The combination of ACREW's crew expertise with YATCO's data and marketplace infrastructure creates something neither organisation could achieve alone.

Leadership

Abi is known for being direct, practical, and deeply committed to raising professional standards. She is equally comfortable on stage at industry conferences as she is in one-on-one conversations with crew members navigating their next move.

Her track record speaks for itself: built a crew platform from zero to 50,000 members, created an awards programme that became an industry fixture, elevated crew welfare as a board-level priority, and brought that perspective into the C-suite of the industry's most important technology company.

For an industry that has historically celebrated hardware over people, Abi McGrath has spent 15 years making the case that the people matter more. The industry is better for it.