Born on March 27, 1968, in Țițești, Argeș County, Romania, Vice Admiral Mihai Panait has served as Chief of the Romanian Naval Forces since August 15, 2020.

A graduate of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Naval Military High School (1986) and the “Mircea cel Bătrân” Naval Academy, Navigation Faculty (1991), he began his career as an Artillery and Naval Missiles Combat Officer on the minesweeper Remus Lepri. Over more than 30 years, he has held numerous command and staff positions, including Commander of the mine-layer Vice Admiral Ioan Murgescu (2001–2004), Chief of Operations and Deputy Commander of the 146th Minesweeper Division, and Commander of the frigate Regele Ferdinand (2009–2013).

With Regele Ferdinand, he represented Romania in major international missions: NATO’s Active Endeavour (2010, Mediterranean), Unified Protector (2011, Libya), the first real combat mission for the Romanian Navy after WWII, and EU’s Atalanta (2012, counter-piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, the Navy’s first mission in the Southern Hemisphere). Between 2013–2018, he served as Deputy for Operations and Training, as well as Chief of Staff of the Fleet Command, later becoming Fleet Commander in 2019.

He is an alumnus of the National Defense University in Bucharest (2001), the U.S. Naval War College (2009), and attended advanced leadership and strategic courses in Romania, the U.S., and NATO.

Vice Admiral Panait has been decorated with multiple national and international honors, including the Order “Maritime Virtue” (Knight, Officer, and Commander), the National Order “For Merit” (Officer, 2023), the EU CSDP Service Medal, and Portugal’s First Class Naval Cross Military Medal (2024). He has also been named “Officer of the Year” several times for excellence in operations and training.

He was promoted to Rear Admiral (one star) in 2017, Rear Admiral (two stars) in 2019, and Vice Admiral (three stars) in 2022. He is fluent in English.