WORK BOAT WORLD:
Roger Kelly has been promoted to Vice President of Contracts and Pricing at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division. He succeeds Matt Mulherin Jr., who has been appointed Vice President of Supply Chain and Strategic Sourcing at NNS.
Kelly will have overall responsibility for contracts, pricing, and export/import licencing and compliance for NNS. He will report to Don Godwin, NNS Vice President of Business Management and Chief Financial Officer.
Starting his career with the company in 1999 as a nuclear engineer, Kelly supported the Virginia-class submarine program. Since then, he has held positions of increasing responsibility across business management, most recently serving as director of contracts and pricing, overseeing all new construction contracts at the shipyard.
Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and an MBA, both from Old Dominion University.
Burger Boat Company of Wisconsin has named Ron Cleveringa as its new Senior Vice President – Product Portfolio Management.
In his new role, Cleveringa will lead Burger Boat’s product development efforts across the company’s main segments, namely, custom yachts, commercial vessels, military vessels, and repair and refit.
Cleveringa has worked with Burger Boat for more than 25 years. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Superyacht Society and as a member of the Technical Committee of Lloyd’s Register. He is a licenced yacht broker in Florida.
Bollinger Shipyards has appointed Heath B. Jones as Vice President of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships.
In this role, Jones will help sustain and expand Bollinger’s relationships with key government customer agencies, including the US Coast Guard and the US Navy, while also advancing new opportunities across Bollinger’s expansive commercial customer base.
Jones had served more than 30 years in the US Coast Guard until his retirement earlier this year, rising through the ranks to become the 14th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard in 2022. He holds both a bachelor and a master of arts degree in organisational management with a specialty in human resource management.
SHIP WORLD:
The Port of Tyne in the UK recently welcomed two new appointees to its board as Non-Executive Directors, Judith Hartley and James Wroe.
Hartley is an experienced finance professional with more than 30 years’ expertise spanning corporate banking and national business finance initiatives. She has held senior leadership roles at the British Business Bank, including serving as CEO of its commercial investment division. Earlier in her career, she worked in corporate banking with Barclays and Bank of Scotland.
Hartley is Chair of the Alumni Advisory Board at Durham University’s Hazan Venture Lab, a Non-Executive Director for NEL Fund Managers, and a trustee of the Point North Community Foundation.
Wroe brings more than 20 years of experience in the ports and shipping industries. He is currently Managing Director for Ports and Logistics at InductEV, a provider of wireless charging technology for electric vehicles. Prior to this, he worked for Maersk across Europe and Asia, including roles as COO for Asia Pacific in Singapore, Head of Hub Port Investment in the Netherlands, and leading marine operations across Northern Europe.
A Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Logistics and Transport, Wroe began his career with P&O Nedlloyd.
Tanker operator DHT Holdings has appointed Svein Moxnes Harfjeld to its board of directors.
Harfjeld currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of DHT Holdings, a position he has held since 2010 and will continue to hold. He has over 30 years of experience in the global shipping industry.
Caverton Marine, the shipping arm of Nigeria’s Caverton Offshore Support Group, has appointed Pauline Sessou-Diop as its new Chief Commercial Officer. Her role will consist of defining the commercial and business development strategy focusing on fleet expansion in oil, gas and bulk marine transportation worldwide, with a particular emphasis on the West African market.
Sessou-Diop brings more than 21 years’ experience of the tanker industry with much of her career spent with tanker owner Euronav. Her last appointment was General Manager of Euroonav’s London-based commercial office, including representing the company in the Tankers International VLCC pool.
At Caverton Marine, Sessou-Diop will be tasked with identifying potential markets, evaluating expansion options, and negotiating strategic alliances and acquisitions to deliver growth. She will also represent Caverton in the Unity Shipping Worldwide joint venture set up between Caverton, Stena Bulk, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Sessou-Diop holds a bachelor of science degree in international business from Neoma Business School in France and a Bachelor of Art in European business studies from the University of Lincoln in Hull, UK, majoring in economics, international finance, marketing and management. She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and obtained an advanced diploma in ship sale and purchases and shipping business.
The Port of Seattle has selected Christopher Wimsatt to serve as its new Chief Financial Officer. Wimsatt joined the port after most recently serving as the Assistant Director of Airports for the Sacramento County Airport System.
As the new CFO, Wimsatt will oversee the Port of Seattle’s financial reporting and management of its annual operating budget and five-year capital plan.
Wimsatt previously held roles as the Deputy Director and CFO at the Sacramento County Airport System, and as the Division Manager and CFO of the Department of Aviation for the City of Dayton, Ohio, as well as spending time in the financial and banking sectors.
FISHING BOAT WORLD:
Matt Kramer recently joined the Center for Aquaculture Technologies (CAT) as Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing.
Kramer will lead CAT’s expanding global portfolio of genetic improvement services, particularly in commercial-scale genome editing for aquaculture.
He joins CAT following senior roles at QIAGEN, ThermoFisher, Element Biosciences, and Psomagen. His expertise spans sales, marketing, and product management, with emphasis on a strong foundation in genomics, molecular diagnostics, and next generation sequencing technologies.
