WORK BOAT WORLD:
UK offshore infrastructure support vessel operator the North Star Group has appointed James Bradford as its chief technology officer (CTO) as the organisation scales up its onshore operations for further growth in the offshore wind sector across Europe.
Bradford has more than 30 years' strategic and operational experience in the maritime sector. He joins from ship management specialist the V. Group, where he was global head of technical.
His other significant tenures include almost five years at Gulf Marine Services where he was general manager for North West Europe before being promoted to chief operating officer in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to this, he was GM for operations at marine transportation company GulfMark for eight years, and at James Fisher also for eight years, where he climbed the ranks to technical director responsible for its tanker, offshore, and nuclear fuel fleets.
Bradford also has significant seagoing experience. As a chief engineer in his early career, he achieved Class I Unlimited certification, and project managed the ship construction team on a 16-vessel build over a two-year period.
Louisiana-based boat builder Metal Shark Boats has expanded its executive team with a newly recruited appointment from the US Navy and Department of Defense Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock (NSWC).
Jason Marshall joins Metal Shark following a 30-year career with NSWC's Combatant Craft Division (CCD). He most recently served as CCD's In-Service Systems Engineering Branch Head (2019-2023), managing the team of project managers and systems engineers responsible for the navy's sustainment combatant craft, high speed/high performance/advanced vessels, and unmanned surface craft. He also served as CCD's Senior Craft Design Manager from 2007-2019, and Naval Architect from 1993-2007.
As Metal Shark's Executive Vice President – Programs, Marshall will assume responsibility for the full realm of the company's program management efforts, from outward facing customer interactions to internal systems and programs personnel management, in support of all new builds across three Gulf Coast boat building facilities.
Key responsibilities during Marshall's career include PEO Ships PMS 325G Boat Program Office Lead Systems Engineer (2007-2019), responsible for technical management of multiple acquisitions programs including US Navy Riverine Craft, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, MK VI Patrol Boat and 40ft Patrol Boat (ACAT III) craft; PEO SHIPS PMS 325G Boats Program Office Team Lead for Acquisition Engineering Agent (2007-2017) supporting procurements for Surface Ships (SURFOR/PAC), Ashore (CNIC) and Expeditionary (NECC and NSW); USN Riverine Craft Lead Systems Engineer (2005-2007), providing program technical leadership, total craft/ship systems engineering and integration for assigned programs and serving as Technical Authority, Lifecycle Acquisition Agent, and Program Management Source Selection Technical Team Lead; USCG Boat Programs Technical Customer Advocate (2004-2006) supporting Response Boat – Medium, Deepwater LRI and SRP acquisitions; and Marine Corps Systems Command Lead Systems Engineer / Interim Program Manager for Small Unit Riverine Craft (1998-2006).
Fraser Moonie has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Rovco.
Moonie has over 25 years in industry experience in subsea sector service companies. A former chief executive of Decom North Sea, he also worked with Bibby Offshore.
Moonie joined Bibby as Commercial Manager and then spent his later years with the company as Chief Operating Officer.
Over the past 18 months, he was Regional Director for Mermaid Subsea Services UK, allowing the company to win major decommissioning contracts with North Sea operators shortly before he took up his new role with Rovco.
Marc Coull, who joined Rovco last year as Operations Manager, has been promoted to Director of Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM).
Coull's career spans 26 years in on and offshore roles supporting offshore operations. Since 2005, he has held senior coordination and management roles in the oil and gas and renewables sectors. For the past 11 years, he has specialised in delivering Diving Support Vessel (DSV) and ROV Support Vessel (ROVSV) IRM and light construction campaigns as primary contractor.
Craig Davis, formerly Global Account Director at Rovco, takes up the new role of Director of Site Characterisation, and will be responsible for leading the development of the company's dedicated new marine site characterisation business unit.
Davis has more than 25 years' offshore survey experience, the last 10 of these as party chief, covering a wide suite of survey disciplines. His onshore career has covered vessel and project management, as well as senior roles in commercial and business acquisition. Immediately prior to joining Rovco, he was key account director for a large Dutch contractor, responsible for principal clients' needs at a global level.
Mooring and anchoring specialist Mooreast Holdings has bolstered its presence in the global market with the appointment of a new Managing Director to spearhead its ambitious European operation.
Barry Silver has taken up the role as head of Mooreast UK and Ireland – a post which has seen him tasked with establishing and managing a subsea foundation production facility in Aberdeen.
Silver has nearly 25 years of business, technical, and operational experience in offshore energy markets.
Crowley has named Mark Coplen as vice president of project management for Crowley Wind Services. In his role, he will expand Crowley Wind Services' project management capabilities to support customers in its offering of engineering, procurement, and construction management for the offshore wind market.
Coplen joins Crowley with extensive expertise in the sustainable energy sector leading offshore wind services, operations, and technology. He previously served as president of Ventolines, an offshore wind consulting company, and as vice president of AdBm Technologies, a company that patented an underwater noise abatement solution for the foundations of fixed-base turbines to reduce impacts on marine life.
Coplen also served as a colonel in the US Army. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering and holds a master's in business administration from the Texas McCombs School of Business.
Anemoi Marine Technologies, a provider of wind-assisted propulsion for commercial vessels, has appointed Liam Campbell as Projects Director.
Campbell has extensive experience in the maritime industry working in senior and director positions in shipyards, classification societies and shipping companies.
He has managed large organisations and ship newbuild and refit programmes in four different countries for both shipyards and owners. He was also previously responsible for selection of concepts and delivery of the energy efficiency programme for two major shipowners.
Campbell is a Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering graduate from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, a Chartered Engineer, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects.
DNV has appointed Torgeir Sterri as new Offshore Classification Director for DNV Maritime. Lucas Ribeiro, former Area Manager for Iberia, Italy and Malta, will succeed Sterri as Regional Manager for West Europe.
In his new role, Sterri will be based in Norway, heading up the global Offshore Class organisation, comprising over 130 employees based primarily in Norway and Singapore. He succeeds Geir Fuglerud, who has been appointed CEO of DNV's Supply Chain and Product Assurance business area.
A naval architect, Sterri graduated from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and has held a variety of managerial positions in DNV, including assignments as Regional Manager for West Europe (since 2018), Greater China (2013 to 2017) and Central Europe (2010 to 2013).
Lucas Ribeiro assumes role of Regional Manager for West Europe. He has worked in DNV for the past 35 years, holding different positions in South America, Asia, and Europe.
Prior to his role as Area Manager for Iberia, Italy and Malta, Ribeiro headed the Quality and Production team in the Benelux region, and later was Area Manager for Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Brunei.
Effective June 1, 2023, Morten Axel Petersen will join marine pumps manufacturer the DESMI Group as Group CFO.
Petersen is an experienced Senior Executive and CFO. His experiences include, among others, CFO roles in both private equity owned and publicly listed companies.
From 2012 to 2019, Petersen worked with the private equity owned Bladt Industries as Group Chief Finance and Strategy Officer and since 2019 until May 31, 2023, Morten is the CFO of RTX.
Petersen started his career as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Petersen is replacing Jan Thaarup who joined DESMI as CFO in 2001 and has been a shareholder since 2003.
Former UK Royal Navy Vice-Admiral Sir Nick Hine has been appointed as the Babcock International Group's first Managing Director – AUKUS and International to lead the company's newly established division aiming to deliver key capabilities in support of the trilateral security treaty.
Hine joined Babcock in the UK from the Royal Navy, where he was the Second Sea Lord. He will lead a team split between Australia and the UK that will seek to coordinate and promote Babcock's capabilities and manage strategic dialogue with the Australian, US, and UK Governments.
SHIP WORLD:
Lomar Shipping, the shipping subsidiary of the Libra Group, has announced the appointment of Marius Bujor as its new Technical Director. Based in the company's Bremen office, he succeeds Stylianos Papageorgiou who has been promoted to the position of Managing Director of lomarlabs, a new venture to collaborate with deep-tech start-ups.
Bujor has been with Lomar for eight years, having joined in 2014 as a Technical Superintendent. He became a Fleet Manager four years later, and was promoted to Deputy Technical Director in late 2022. He will now lead the ship-owning and ship-managing company's global technical teams based in London, Bremen, Singapore, and China.
Before joining Lomar, Bujor spent seven years with HS Beerederungs in Germany, with five of those years overseeing the company's newbuilding projects in Europe and Asia, and two years as Technical Superintendent at the company headquarters in Haren/EMS. He spent his earlier career in various roles on shore and at sea, latterly as a Second Engineer.
Bujor holds a Master's Degree in Advanced Techniques of Marine Engineering and a BSc in Marine Engineering from the Maritime University of Constanta, Romania. He also holds a licence as a Chief Engineer STCW III/2.
Associated British Ports (ABP) has confirmed changes in senior roles to strengthen the strategic outlook and engagement of the business and to further boost the successful growth of its Wales and Short Sea Ports business.
After nine years as the Regional Director for the Wales and Short Sea Ports business at ABP, Andrew Harston will be taking up a new role as Strategic Adviser to ABP effective July 1, 2023. He will be drawing on 40 years of experience in the UK ports sector, accumulated through leadership roles all around Britain.
Harston has also been Chair of the East of England Offshore Wind sector group East Wind.
Julian Walker, ABP's Chief Commercial Officer, will formally take up the role of Regional Director, Wales and Short Sea Ports in addition to his role of Chief Commercial Officer from July 1, 2023.
Walker joined ABP in September 2019. Prior to this, he held the role of Chief Operating Officer at Cory Riverside Energy. He has also held senior roles at P&O Ports (now DP World), Euroports and, most recently Impala Terminals, which is part of the Trafigura Group, where he held the position of Chief Operating Officer.