Navtech is produced by Colibri Northwest. December 2-3, 2025, in Savannah, GA.
2025 SPEAKER BIOS
Captain Paul Amos
Columbia River Pilots
Paul was born and raised in Denton, Texas. In 1974 he permanently relocated to the Pacific Northwest where he was employed continuously in the tug and barge industry for 16 years. From 1980 to 1990 he worked as captain on towing vessels on the Columbia/Willamette/Snake River system. He has a wide range of experience on various types of towing vessels but the majority of those years were spent on grain barge tows between Portland, OR and Lewiston, ID.
For the last 35 years, beginning in 1990, Paul has been a Columbia River Pilot. As a member of the Columbia River Pilots (COLRIP) he served two years as treasurer and was vice president in 1999. He was re-elected as vice president in 2006. Shortly afterwards he became president and served in that position for 9 years. He was also deeply involved in developing COLRIP’s AIS-based navigation system with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, MA. He is a past president of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, a past chairman of the Lower Columbia Region Harbor Safety Committee and has served on a variety of industry related boards and committees.
Captain Alain Arseneault, MM MBA
Canadian National Center of Expertise on Maritime Pilotage
Captain Alain Arseneault is an active St. Lawrence River pilot. He is a graduate of Rimouski’s Maritime Institute. After being issued a master mariner certificate in 1998, and sailing as a master, he pursued postgraduate studies, being awarded an MBA in 2005. He entered the apprentice program on the St. Lawrence River in 2003 and was issued a pilot license in 2005. Within the Mid St. Lawrence Pilots Corporation, he held various management positions and acted as president from 2017 to 2021.
Fascinated by innovation and new technologies, Captain Arseneault participated in several technical maritime committees within his group and ultimately lead the technical committee of his national association (Canadian Maritime Pilots Association) in addition to being elected national vice-president for the Laurentian Region in 2017. Capt. Arseneault now serves as executive director of the Canadian National Center of Expertise on Maritime Pilotage, and he is actively involved in several technology innovation forum as a participant and speaker. He is also active at the IMO level on the Canadian delegation and IMPA delegation, on technologies related files (MASS). Lately he has been active on R-Pilot project from IMPA.
Capt. Arseneault serves on various boards. Among others, he is the VP of the board of the eastern branch of the Canadian Marine Service Guild (CMSG).
Meg Batchelor
OMC International
Meg Batchelor leads the Halifax branch of OMC International, bringing more than 15 years of expertise in maritime and systems engineering. Specializing in port operations and complex data modelling, she has worked on UKC systems, channel design, and system diagnostics. Meg has contributed to a variety of projects, including channel risk optimization and AI-based metocean forecasting.
Dr. Scott Beatty, PhD
MarineLabs
Dr. Beatty is a Canadian ocean tech entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in marine technology and R&D sectors. Under his leadership, MarineLabs has grown into a thriving company operating a North America-wide fleet of MarineLabs sensor nodes that provide real-time and predictive coastal weather intelligence that enhances safety and efficiency of port operations and vessel pilotage.
Dennis Bomholt
Trelleborg Marine & Infrastructure
Dennis Bomholt plays a vital role in Trelleborg Marine & Infrastructure, overseeing hardware development and support for navigation and piloting solutions. Dennis began his journey with the company (then Marimatech) in 1995, focusing on the production and support of hydrographic products. Since the year 2000, he has been actively involved in the development of portable piloting solutions, accumulating a remarkable 30 years of experience in the realm of electronics and GNSS.
Dennis’ extensive expertise in electronics and GNSS provides a strong foundation for the development of innovative products in this field. Over the course of his career, he has gained practical and theoretical knowledge through on-site commissioning and system servicing.
Dennis holds an academic background as an electronic engineer, solidifying his credentials in this dynamic industry.
CAPT David Boudreaux
AET Inc Limited
After graduating from the California Maritime Academy, David Boudreaux began his sailing career with Military Sealift Command (MSC) where he worked his way through the ranks on fleet oilers and ammo ships, all the way to reach master. Leaving MSC in 2012, to spend more time with his family, he took a brief role as a fleet superintendent/DPA and then became a salvage master with Smit Salvage Americas. He enjoyed a thoroughly exciting two years working on various salvage projects across the globe all the way from the Bering Sea to Argentina and Italy.
At the end of 2014, David put his extensive ship handling skills to work as a mooring master for AET. For the next 8 years, he safely and successfully conducted more than 400 ship to ship lightering operations in various locations ranging from Brazil, Uruguay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the US Atlantic Coast. In 2022, he was asked to take a shore side position in Houston, Texas as the head of lightering where he currently manages all AET’s lightering operations across the US and Latin America.
David holds a bachelor of science degree in maritime transportation and logistics from California Maritime Academy.
George Burkley
Maritime Pilots Institute
Mr. George Burkley serves as the executive director of the Maritime Pilots Institute (MPI) in Covington, Louisiana and is a partner in LOCUS LLC. MPI specializes in training, research and technical projects for maritime pilots. The institute operates both electronic simulation and physical modelling training and research facilities.
George is a 1989 graduate of the California Maritime Academy and completed his master’s work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He served as an aviator in the US Navy and sailed for Hawaiian Tug and Barge and Masters, Mates and Pilots as a ship’s officer.
Clayton L. (Clay) Diamond
American Pilots’ Association
Clay Diamond is the executive director-general counsel for the American Pilots’ Association (APA). Prior to that, he served 13 years as APA’s deputy director-associate general counsel. A 1989 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, he also earned a master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a juris doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. During law school, he earned the award for “Highest Proficiency in Admiralty Law.” In addition, he was a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies. He is admitted to the Ohio and District of Columbia Bars and is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the US.
As general counsel, he represents pilots and the piloting profession before Congress, federal agencies, and state and local legislative and administrative bodies. He also advises pilot groups and pilotage authorities on operations, practices, business structures, and oversight of pilots and pilotage systems. He has served on more than fifty US delegations to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and currently serves as a subject matter expert on US delegations to IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee; Subcommittee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue; and Subcommittee on the Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping. Mr. Diamond is also an instructor at the Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies, California Maritime Academy, and the Maritime Pilots Institute, where he teaches courses on the legal aspects of pilotage. As executive director, he manages APA’s office operations, membership services, and administrative activities.
Mr. Diamond regularly speaks on pilotage and pilotage law and has been published in professional trade and law journals, including as co-author of “Unique Institutions, Indispensable Cogs, and Hoary Figures: Understanding Pilotage Regulation in the United States,” University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal, 2010-11. He was also a contributing author for the book “IMPA on Pilotage” (2014 Witherby Publishing Group), and a contributing editor for a chapter in “The American Practical Navigator – Bowditch” (2017 Lighthouse Press).
In 2012, Mr. Diamond was appointed by the secretary of Homeland Security to serve on the Navigation Safety Advisory Council, a federal advisory committee that provides navigational safety recommendations to the commandant of the Coast Guard.
During his 20-year Coast Guard career, Mr. Diamond served aboard several Coast Guard cutters, culminating with command afloat. During these operational assignments, he was on-scene commander during the early hours of the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, participated in the seizure of more than $300 million in illegal drugs, the interdiction of hundreds of illegal migrants in the Caribbean, and the execution of heavy weather search and rescue cases in the North Atlantic and Bering Sea.
In the legal field, Mr. Diamond served as regional counsel for Coast Guard operations in the eight Great Lakes states, Coast Guard liaison to the State Department (where he was legal advisor to US delegations to IMO), and as the Coast Guard’s legislative counsel. In addition, following 9/11 Mr. Diamond was the first Coast Guard lawyer assigned to support the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Military Commissions, where he served as a special advisor to the DoD general counsel and assisted in preparing prosecution cases for some of the most significant terror suspects in US custody. Mr. Diamond also served on the faculty of the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies where he conducted maritime law seminars in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and was also appointed as a special assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
In 2002, Mr. Diamond was chosen by the American Bar Association as the “Outstanding Young Military Lawyer.” Other honors include two Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medals, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the State Department Superior Honor Award and the NOAA General Counsel’s Award.
Mr. Diamond and his wife Sharon have two grown children and one grandchild and reside in Burke, Va.
Dr. Catherine Edwards, PhD
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
Dr. Catherine R. Edwards is a physical oceanographer and associate professor at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and in the Department of Marine Sciences at University of Georgia, where she is a fellow in the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and adjunct faculty in the College of Engineering. She earned a BS in physics with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked as an ocean modeler at the US Naval Research Laboratory before earning her PhD in physical oceanography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With programs funded by the National Science Foundation, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Naval Research, and private philanthropic funding, Dr. Edwards’s research focuses on answering fundamental questions in coastal oceanography and fisheries sciences with autonomous underwater vehicles, developing novel ways to optimize their use with engineering principles and real-time data streams from models and observations. She was awarded a Senior Summer Faculty Fellowship by the Office of Naval Research in 2023, and has served as a member of the US Integrated Ocean Observing System Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee that provides guidance on ocean observation to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator and the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee, since 2021.
Joseph Faris
Texas A&M
As part of the 2011 Texas A&M University at Galveston graduating class, Joseph Faris is a native Galvestonian and has spent his life so far on the Gulf Coast. He set out to sea carrying out numerous types of maritime related activities. He had the privilege of working on dynamically positioned drill ships all over the world while being immersed in many other global cultures.
Soon after marrying his wife, in preparation for the arrival of their son, he and his wife decided he could best serve the maritime industry, while staying on dry land, by preparing a new generation of seafarers. In spring 2018 he joined the Maritime Transportation Department as a visiting assistant professor of the practice. During the past seven years as a member of the faculty, he has worked his way up to his current position as associate professor of the practice and assistant department head for the Maritime Transportation Department.
Joseph has taught terrestrial and celestial navigation, basic safety and lifeboatman and participates in the summer training missions onboard the training vessel. In addition to his normal courseload, Joseph is the lead instructor for the university’s approved Phase 1 Introduction to Dynamic Positioning accredited by the Offshore Service Vessel Dynamic Positioning Authority or OSVDPA.
RADM Tim Gallaudet, PhD, US Navy (ret)
Ocean STL Consulting, LLC
The Honorable Tim Gallaudet, PhD, Rear Admiral, US Navy (ret) is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting where he serves as a strategic advisor for a variety of tech startups, research institutions, and philanthropies. Formerly, he served as the acting under secretary and assistant secretary of commerce, acting and deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and oceanographer, hydrographer, and navigator of the Navy in the Pentagon.
Gallaudet serves on several boards in the ocean, weather, space, and technology sectors, and he is a member of the White House Ocean Research Advisory Panel, recipient of the 2019 Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute’s Champion of the Ocean Award, a fellow at The Explorer’s Club, a distinguished graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and recipient of the U.S. Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award. He has a bachelor’s degree from the US Naval Academy and master and doctoral degrees from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, all in oceanography.
Gallaudet’s book about leading NOAA during President Trump’s first term is titled Holding Fast in Heavy Seas: Leadership for Turbulent Times and will be published by Koehler Books in the Fall of 2025.
Jon Kjaerulff
MITAGS
Jon obtained his first license (as a Danish yacht master) at the age of 17, and subsequently attended the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. After graduating in 1983, he sailed in positions from deckhand to master aboard ships and workboats all over the world. After running a support vessel during the Exxon Valdez cleanup effort in Prince William Sound, Jon came ashore and founded Fremont Maritime Services in Seattle, Washington. Over the next 27 years, Jon established a reputation as a pioneer in the field of maritime safety, survival and firefighting training.
His company was one of the very first organizations in the US to obtain Coast Guard approval for STCW Basic Safety Courses, and from 2003 to 2015 Fremont Maritime was the only private company utilized by the US Navy to provide marine firefighting training to its military sailors. Over the years Jon and his team worked with tens of thousands of inland and offshore mariners, providing training not only at Fremont’s school in Seattle, but at customer locations in Alaska, Oregon, California, Florida, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean.
When MITAGS established the Pacific Maritime Institute in Seattle, Jon worked to forge a strong working relationship between the two schools.
In 2017, Fremont Maritime was purchased by MITAGS, and Jon came aboard as a marine safety training and business development specialist. At the beginning of 2021, he took over as director of business development.
R. David Lewald
Office of Navigation Systems, US Coast Guard Headquarters
David Lewald is a navigation systems and aids to navigation specialist for the US Coast Guard. He served for 30 years on active duty in the USCG with 25 of those years spent afloat aboard numerous cutters in all positions including command. He has been a USCG civilian employee since his retirement in 2014. David’s responsibilities include advisory and consultative services to USCG programs and managers on a broad range of navigation matters that involve legacy and future state technology. He serves as an advisor and subject matter expert to the director of marine transportation systems on digital and electronic navigation matters and systems, including electronic chart systems (ECDIS\ECS), automatic identification system (AIS), integrated navigation systems (INS), integrated bridge systems (IBS), navigation sensors (e.g., radar, GPS, etc.), and electronic aids to navigation. David serves as a navigation systems technical expert to standards development organizations such as International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), US councilor to the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA)(and chair of the IALA-ARM Committee), Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA), and Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) (Chair RTCM SC109-Electronic Charting Systems).
James Locke
NavSim Technology
Jim is the vice president of marketing and finance with NavSim. His marine experience spans more than 41 years and encompasses research, design, construction, and navigation work with numerous classes of commercial, naval, and government vessels. Prior to his appointment with NavSim, Jim spent 10 years in marketing and sales management roles with major marine manufacturers.
Captain Jim Mahlmann
New York Sandy Hook Pilots’ Association
Jim Mahlmann serves as president of the New York Sandy Hook Pilots’ Association, bringing more than 20 years of experience as a licensed pilot in New York Harbor, the East River, and Long Island and Block Island Sounds. Throughout his career, he has held multiple leadership roles on the Association’s Joint Board of Trustees and has chaired the Electronic Navigation Committee since 2016. After serving as vice president, he was elected president in January 2023, where he now oversees the strategic direction of the Association’s operational and financial activities.
A graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Jim holds a BS degree in marine engineering and marine transportation. Prior to joining the Sandy Hook Pilots, he sailed in both the engine and deck departments aboard various vessels. In addition to his work with the pilots, he serves on the board of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and is a member of the Marine Society of the City of New York.
Dale Marsh
AD Navigation AS
Mr. Dale Marsh is director of international sales and marketing for AD Navigation AS of Norway. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, and regularly travelling internationally, Dale is a regular attendee, exhibitor, and presenter at pilotage conferences worldwide. Dale first became involved with PPU systems and technology in 2016 and is passionate about collaborating with pilot groups to select PPU systems that deliver the accuracy, reliability, premium after sales support, and training required. A recreational sailor, in his pastime he enjoys sailing, and has chartered yachts and catamarans in the Vava’u Group, Tonga, French Polynesia, Whitsundays, and of course New Zealand’s stunning Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands.
Captain Sean P. Meagher
Hy-Line Cruises
With more than 40 years in the ferry and maritime sectors, Captain Sean Meagher has advised governments, private operators, and international developers on connecting communities through waterborne transit. He has consulted for numerous companies worldwide on ferry operations, fleet strategy, and integrating new technologies into legacy systems. He also convened a high-level panel in Monaco with the heads of the major classification societies to address how to implement emerging maritime technologies. A USCG master unlimited in sail and power and a maritime expert for the US Department of Justice, Sean now applies expedition-hardened systems and real-world operational insight to scalable, future-ready marine transit.
Captain Wesley Moore
Sabine Pilots Association
Wesley Moore is the current presiding officer of the Sabine Pilots Association, with more than a decade of service maneuvering all manner of oceangoing vessels upon the Sabine-Neches Waterway. Wesley is also the chairman of the American Pilots’ Association’s Navigation Technology subcommittee.
Before joining the Sabine Pilots in 2011, Wesley enjoyed a successful career at sea following his 1993 graduation from Texas A&M University in Galveston. Most of his time at sea was aboard tankers trading along the Gulf Coast, East Coast, Caribbean, and through the Panama Canal to the West Coast. During this time, he worked for various companies, rising to the level of master mariner and captain within Chevron’s fleet, where he also completed special assignments for the company ashore.
In conjunction with his professional pursuits, Wesley has a keen interest in technology and all things computer related. His background in coding and logic systems fuels his passion for both hardware and software, prompting his wife to jokingly refer to this affinity for adopting new technology as ‘Early Adopter’s Disease.’ This passion for technology and innovation has enabled him to assist in advancing the use of portable pilot units and other real-time navigational tools within the piloting community, both locally in his branch and nationally for other pilot groups.
Born and raised in the shipping town of Port Arthur, Texas, Wesley grew up immersed in the maritime industry, its history, and its progress.
William R. Orange III
Texas A&M
William Orange is a native Galvestonian who has spent his life thus far living, relaxing and working on the water. After graduating from Texas A&M University at Galveston in 2016, he spent the next nine years at Hornbeck Offshore working primarily on the HOS Strongline conducting support and flowback operations. He’s also gained experience in the company’s subsea construction and flotel vessel divisions as a mate and dynamic positioning officer. Having served on various vessels within the fleet he has been exposed to a variety of DP operations and systems including, L3, Wartsila Nacos Platinum, GE and Kongsberg.
In the summer of 2025, William made the transition back shoreside joining Texas A&M University as an assistant professor of the practice in the Maritime Transportation Department. The decision to come back to Texas A&M was not only to be home full time for his wife and daughter but to help prepare the next generation of mariners. During his first semester William taught the Basic Safety and Lifeboatman course and assisted in the Dynamic Positioning class giving insight from the offshore service vessel perspective.
Brendan P. O’Shea
American Pilots' Association
Brendan O’Shea joined the American Pilots’ Association (APA) as deputy director – associate general counsel in August of 2022. Prior to joining the APA, Brendan served in the US Coast Guard for more than twenty years with his last thirteen years practicing law. He has practiced law in a variety of roles, including in the general counsel offices of two federal agencies, as a trial attorney with the US Marine Corps and Department of Justice, intellectual property and business litigation, and as legislative counsel representing federal agency positions on legislation, federal authorities, and Congressional oversight issues to Congress.
Brendan advises pilot group members and pilotage authorities on legal issues, operations, business structures, oversight of pilots and pilotage systems, and advocating for the interests of state licensed pilots. He currently serves on the US delegation to the International Maritime Organization Subcommittee on the human element, training, and watchkeeping, and he is an instructor at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies where he teaches a course on the legal aspects of pilotage. Brendan attends Federal Advisory Committees of interest to pilots and the maritime community.
During his career with the Coast Guard, Brendan served in several operational and legal positions, including service aboard two Coast Guard cutters. During these operational assignments, Brendan was responsible for directing the operation of Coast Guard cutters and leading law enforcement teams. Brendan also worked in a mid-sized firm representing individual and corporate clients in civil litigation involving intellectual property disputes and business litigation. During this time Brendan continued to serve in the Coast Guard Reserves as a judge advocate (attorney).
Brendan is a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy with a BS degree in government where he was awarded the Dorothy Baker award for excellence in legal studies. He was awarded a juris doctor, cum laude from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and a Master of Law from Georgetown University Law Center. Brendan resides in Washington, DC with his wife and three children.
Peter Philips
Colibri Northwest
Peter and his team work with transit agencies, municipal administrators, elected officials and associations to develop policy, communicate policy to stakeholders and successfully implement public policy in the field. Areas of particular expertise include marine transit policy, industrial and urban land use, print communications and public relations. Peter has more than 40 years of experience in maritime publishing, conference production, industrial and marine lands policy, and advocacy for the maritime and commercial fishing industries. From 1999-2020 Peter was president of Philips Publishing Group and publisher of Fishermen’s News, Foghorn and Pacific Maritime Magazine, monthly magazines for the commercial fishing, marine transit, and maritime transportation industries.
Mark Reedenauer
National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA)
Mark Reedenauer is a seasoned marine industry professional with more than 25 years of experience spanning sales, customer support, and technical expertise. Mark joined the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) in 2011 and currently serves as president and executive director (2015 to present) serving US markets and the rest of the world. In this role, he drives membership growth, develops interface standards, and ensures proper training of marine electronics installers and technicians while maintaining strong personal relationships with all 1200 NMEA members, large and small worldwide.
Prior to NMEA, Mark built his professional career in the marine electronics industry working for Northstar GPS (1999-2004) and then Airmar Transducers (2004-2011). His understanding of electronics systems small and large, recreational to commercial helps NMEA provide training and standards that adapt to new technologies as they emerge.
Mark is an active member of the Whale and Vessel Safety Taskforce (WAVS), which is focused on vessel and marine mammal safety through the use of marine electronics technology. He has presented and been part of discussion panels in various sectors of industry and is thrilled to share his knowledge with the Navtech audience. His ability to blend technical product knowledge, field experience, and business acumen has made him a respected leader in the marine industry.
Outside of his professional career, Mark is recognized for his strong customer rapport, hands-on approach to support, and commitment to advancing marine sales and service standards.
Dr. Mark Risse, PE, PhD
Georgia Sea Grant
Dr. Mark Risse, PE, is the director of Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, and Georgia Power Professor of Water Policy at the University of Georgia. His expertise is in non-point source pollution management, water resources and storm water management, and extension/outreach to diverse audiences. Dr. Risse received his BS and MS degrees at University of Georgia in agricultural engineering and his PhD in biological and agricultural engineering at Purdue University. At the University of Georgia Mark has received recognition as a fellow in the International Soil and Water Conservation Society and is a Walter Bernard Hill Fellow, the University’s highest honor for public service and outreach.
Brian Tetreault
Woolpert, Inc.
Brian Tetreault is navigation program manager for Woolpert, Inc. Previously he was the marine transportation system program manager for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In that role he acted as senior USACE advisor to the US Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS) and USACE liaison to the US Coast Guard.
In his nearly four decades of work in the maritime world he has sailed on various Coast Guard ships on all the Great Lakes, as well as the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. He has been a vessel traffic services (VTS) officer and managed the USCG national VTS program. He has worked on projects to develop and implement navigation information systems, including the establishment of both the USCG and USACE automatic identification system (AIS) networks, and innovative use of AIS to communicate navigation safety information.
As the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed papers, he’s given numerous presentations on his navigation services work; served as US representative to several international navigation-related technical standards bodies.
A graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy, he also studied at the US Naval War College and the University of Washington.
He was once a country music DJ for a radio station in Alaska, writes a weekly blog about a Canadian crossword puzzle, and can recite the alphabet backward. He lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife Nina and two cats, who are also Orioles fans.
Carl Wegener
Artemis Technologies
Carl Wegener brings more than 25 years of experience in the maritime industry, spanning commercial vessel sales, engineering and strategic development. As senior vice president of North America at Artemis Technologies, he plays a key role in driving growth and advancing clean marine innovation.
Throughout his career, Carl has held senior positions across shipbuilding and marine technology, spearheading commercial expansion and overseeing the delivery of ferries, pilot boats, and crew transfer vessels. His career is marked by a consistent focus on leadership, innovation, technical excellence, and building strong industry partnerships.
Carl holds degrees in engineering and education from Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech and is widely regarded for his strategic insight and commitment to advancing clean maritime transportation.
Shawn Whiteside
Maritime Transportation System Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MTS-ISAC)
Shawn Whiteside is an accomplished cybersecurity and maritime risk executive with more than 27 years of leadership experience across both the public and private sectors. As the executive director of the Maritime Transportation System Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MTS ISAC), he oversees global collaboration among ports, terminals, shipping lines, and critical infrastructure operators to share actionable cyber threat intelligence and enhance maritime resilience.
In his concurrent role as senior vice president of commercial practice at OneZero Solutions, Shawn leads strategy and growth for the company’s commercial resilience, cybersecurity, and IT services portfolio, with a focus on maritime, healthcare, energy, and financial sectors.
A retired US Coast Guard officer, Shawn’s background includes command at sea and ashore, policy development, and national security assignments in Washington, DC. His cross-sector experience positions him at the intersection of cybersecurity, leadership, and operational continuity, helping organizations navigate complex risks in an era of digital transformation.
Shawn frequently speaks on maritime cybersecurity, AI-powered resilience, and leadership in critical infrastructure.
Captain Nick Wright
Crowley
Nick Wright is a US Coast Guard–licensed master unlimited with more than two decades of experience spanning both shipboard and shoreside operations. His maritime career began in the rugged waters of the Pacific Northwest, where he built a reputation for grit, technical skill, and an unwavering commitment to safety and operational excellence.
Now based in Southeast Georgia, Nick serves as a key member of Crowley’s LNG team, bringing deep seagoing experience and operational insight to the management of complex operations. His leadership is instrumental in strengthening safety culture, driving accountability, and fostering collaboration across teams. Under his guidance, Savannah has emerged as one of the busiest LNG bunkering ports in the world.
Recognized for his ability to bridge the gap between vessel operations and corporate strategy, Nick leads with integrity, purpose, and a people-first mindset. He remains dedicated to empowering mariners, mentoring emerging talent, and advancing operational excellence throughout the maritime industry.
Darren Wright
NOAA, Office of Coast Survey
Darren Wright is the Precision Marine Navigation (PMN) program manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Coast Survey. The PMN program aims to consolidate NOAA’s marine navigational information such as electronic navigational charts (ENCs), water levels, currents and marine weather forecasts into an internationally standard format (S-100) that is machine readable for easy access by navigation system manufacturers and other marine entities. Darren has been with NOAA since 1984 and has worked in operational oceanography and meteorology for more than 40 years. Prior to this position Darren worked at NOAA’s National Weather Service as their National Marine program manager where he sought to improve marine forecasting products and services. Before that he served at NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) as their Maritime Services program manager where he oversaw NOS’ Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS ® ), current survey, hydrodynamic modeling and meteorological programs.
Dr. Daniel Zitterbart, PhD
Whalespotter Corp
Dr. Daniel Zitterbart is an associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), where he leads the Marine Animal Remote Sensing Lab focused on conservation technology and ecosystem remote sensing using top predators such as whales and penguins. His team pioneered thermal-imaging and AI methods that automatically detect whale blows—day or night and at stand-off ranges—to reduce ship-strike risk and inform maritime operations. Zitterbart’s work spans ship-borne and land-based deployments and has shown superior detection rates versus traditional observers.
He is also co-founder and chief scientist of WhaleSpotter Corp, the commercial spin-out from WHOI that is bringing this technology into operational use aboard container ships, ferries, cruise ships and other large vessels. As part of a major collaboration with shipping company Matson Inc., the system has demonstrated real-time alerts to bridge crews, verified detections within seconds and operational use at ranges up to three nautical miles.