IMCA DP Conference Speakers

Conference Moderator

Following his award-winning TV chat show in Scotland, Paul moved to London and opened Channel 4 as the first voice on air. He has presented shows for BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, hosting news and discussion programmes, travel shows and quiz programmes.

Paul has hosted his own shows on BBC network and local radio, as well as commercial stations LBC, Smooth, and Radio Clyde. He regularly facilitates at global conferences, fronting events for companies, The Pope, and heads of state. He also hosted The Special Olympics in front of a 50,000 crowd.

Paul was voted Scottish Radio Personality Of The Year. He is also a recipient of the BBC Gillards award, The Broadcast Critics Award, Webby award, and the Rose D’Or Montreaux.

Anglo Eastern/Independent

Captain Áine Hyde is currently working as a Master of a Dive Support Vessel. 

She started her sea going career in 1992 on container ships, ro-ro’s, and cargo/bulkers. 

In 1997 she started work on one of her first DSV’s as a Trainee DPO/2nd Mate, progressing  

to her current position, and has gained experience in diving, ROV, construction and flexi-lay operations, on both DP class 2 and class 3 vessels, including the construction of a new build DP class 3 dive support vessel. 

Captain Hyde is a council member of the Irish Institute of Master Mariners, has guest  

lectured in stability and ship board operations, and is studying for a Masters in International  

Maritime Management. 

Aleks Karlsen has been with DNV since 99. He currently holds the position as DNV Senior Principal Specialist on Dynamic Positioning Systems and is working at the DNV head office in Norway.

Aleks is responsible for DNV classification DP rules and standards and has been leading the development of new rules and standards such as: Dynamic Positioning Systems with Enhanced Reliability – DYNPOS-E and -ER, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis – FMEA, Enhanced System Verification, including Hardware In the Loop testing – HIL, the new DNV DP capability standard, and the rules for data-driven-verification (DDV).

Aleks holds a bachelor’s degree in control systems and a master’s degree in Electrical systems from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim Norway.

Before Aleks joined DNV he was the owner of and skipper on a 95 feet trawler, fishing in the Norwegian and Barents Sea.

Aleks is a member of the IMCA DP committee and a member of the MTS DP Guidance and Standards Sub Committee.

Aleks was in 2014 awarded the MTS DP committee’s “Distinguished Achievement Award”.

A Chartered Engineer with over 25 years’ experience in the marine & offshore industry. Dan holds a certificate of competency for steam and motor vessels and is a graduate of marine technology from Liverpool John Moores University. Dan also holds a BA in Law & Business and a MSc in Business Analytics and Big Data.

Dan started his career at sea as an engineering officer before joining CEGELEC (now GE power conversion) working on dynamic positioning, automation, and diesel electrical propulsion projects. Dan then moved into an operational role as fleet manager for a ship manager and commercial management for a marine services company.

In 2014 Dan founded ALL OFFSHORE developing digital solutions for dynamic positioning and continues to work with industry professionals providing systems engineering input on a global basis for oil majors and vessel owners utilising dynamically positioned vessels.

Started offshore 1982 as ordinary seaman, worked my way “up the hausepipe”

Master DP 1/2 vessels – 1988 to present

DP supt/asst ops manager, Nigeria – 2010-2013

DP Assurance – North America/Caribbean 2013-presnt

NI Instructor – 1982 to present (40 yrs)

IMCA DP Committee since 2021

DPO since 1996 – NI certificated 2000 # 1958

Master of AHTS, DP Research, Diving, Special Projects 1997 -2000

First DP Vessel “RV Dickerson Tide” 1996 North Sea, Western Australia, SE Asia, US, Mideast.

Plank-owner – Damon B. Bankston Jan 2000 to Sep 2009

Graeme started his career in 2008 as a Graduate Electrical Engineer with Noble Denton Consultants conducting DP assurance work whilst also dabbling in cargo loading system FMEAs. 

Graeme then joined Subsea 7 in 2011 as a DP/ Electrical Engineer supporting the fleet of vessels before moving to the murky depths of the ROV department in 2014 where he supported the new build ROV programmes and worked closely with trying to improve the performance of ROV umbilicals. Following re-organisation he moved to a broader equipment electrical engineering role which supported all project equipment. 

A return to his natural habitat in the DP/ Electrical department was realised in 2017, where he went on to become DP, Electrical and Controls Technical Authority where he operates today. Graeme has been a participant in IMCA workgroups and latterly the DP committee since 2018. 

Kongsberg

Captain Harry Verhoeven has been Vice-chairman IMCA Marine DP committee since 2015. Harry joined Kongsberg Maritime in December 2011 as Product Manager DP and Manoeuvring, after having sailed for 40 years as deck officer, Senior DPO, Captain and OIM.In January 2017 he was appointed as Product Advisor DP with focus on Maritime Operations.He obtained his 2nd mate certificate in 1973 and sailed worldwide for the merchant marine. And joined the offshore industry in March 1983 and sailed as first mate/senior DPO and Night Master on several Diving Support Vessels. In March 1986, he joined Allseas and was part of the team which build and put into operation the PLV “Lorelay”. Appointed as Master of the DSV Stena Mayo in January 1988 and as Captain/OIM on the semi MSV Amethyst in October 1988.In 1997, he joined Smedvig Offshore as Captain/OIM on the DP3 rig West Venture and moved to South Korea in 2006 as marine engineer and Captain/OIM on a Seadrill newbuild project for two DP3 deep-water drilling rigs. In 2009 appointed as rig leader in the Asia-Pacific area.

Jakob Nielsen is currently Director of H&S at Vattenfall Offshore Wind, one of the leading developers and operators of offshore windfarms. Over the past 15 years he has been working in senior HSE positions in the renewable industry for Siemens Wind Power, Siemens Energy and the Dutch grid operator, TenneT. Originally he is from Denmark but has worked more than three years in the Netherlands and currently lives in Hamburg Germany. Jakob is also Chairperson for G+, the global health and safety organisation for the offshore wind industry and is a well known speaker from international conferences. 

Currently working as a Marine Assurance Manager for Scottish Power Renewables (subsidiary company of Iberdrola) across sites globally. Master Mariner with senior DPO experience in both O&G pls Renewables sectors. Holds management & operational experience on board varying vessel types including large heavy-lift/jack-up vessels and 220T BP AHTSs. Looking forward to attending IMCA’S DP Conference and drawing knowledge from this fantastic opportunity with regards to DP vessels and marine assurance.  

Managing Director, M3 Marine

Joey Fisher, IEng IMarEng MIMarEST AVI, has 25 years of offshore marine engineering experience and is highly regarded in the DP FMEA authoring and DP Vessel Assurance fields. He is a Class 1 Marine Engineer and an IMCA Accredited DP Trials and Assurance Practitioner.

Joey is a member of the IMCA Marine DP Committee and the MTS DP Sub Committee for Guidance and Standards. He is also the Chairman of the DP Asia Technical Committee. He devotes much of his spare time to assisting with the development and review of DP related guidelines.

At M3 Marine Expertise, he leads a multidiscipline team of dedicated, solution driven project engineers and marine consultants.

Joey has developed and managed the concept design of complex DP vessels in recent years and has also worked in the capacity of expert witness in legal cases related to DP vessel design and DP FMEAs.

In 2022, Joey was presented with “The Howard Shatto Distinguished Achievement Award” by the MTS DP Committee, for his work towards improving dynamic positioning safety.

Captain John Lloyd has been Chief Executive of The Nautical Institute since May 2017 having formerly been Chief Operating Officer.

Previously he was Professor, Maritime Training at the Australian Maritime College (AMC). In 2014 he inaugurated a new maritime college in Angola following a two-year development programme developed in conjunction with the City of Glasgow College and Sonangol Shipping.

Prior to this he held appointments as: Chief Executive Officer of the Vanuatu Maritime College in Santo, Vanuatu; and senior posts at Flagship Training Limited and Warsash Maritime Centre.

John is a Master Mariner and served as a Marine Pilot in Namibia from 1994 – 1995. He is a Master of Business Administration, a Freeman of the (UK) Honourable Company of Master Mariners a Younger Brother of Trinity House and a Chartered Master Mariner.

He travels extensively representing the work of The Nautical Institute and sharing his passion for safer shipping and professionalism in the maritime sector.

His ambition is to grow the membership and influence of The Nautical Institute as the leading professional body for mariners. In doing so he Chairs the Human Element Industry Group of NGOs from the IMO and works on initiatives to develop the Institute’s contribution to professional standards.

Kerrie’s18 year professional career has been dedicated to both onshore and offshore roles within various maritime industries. He is an industry Consultant and CEO of the Workboat Association -“The trade association for Workboat Owners, Operators, Stakeholders and Professionals” and Non-Executive Director of Maritime UK-“The collective voice for the UK’s maritime industries”. Once a workboat vessel Master, he has offshore experience within Offshore Energy, Survey, Dive support, Civils and Dredging markets. Kerrie spent a number of years managing a fleet of workboats for an Internationally operating company based in the Netherlands and has gained his experience from working across the globe. With a strong background in nurturing a well-accepted safety culture, responsible work ethics and cross organisation understanding, he has designed and created a number of maritime management systems; including Operational and QHSE documentation, processes and controls to ISO/OHSAS/IMO certification. He has also played a part in significant incident and accident investigations both internally and externally. Though specialising in vessels below500gt, he is an ISM lead auditor with experience inspecting, auditing and training on board larger convention vessels. Currently living in Rotterdam NL, Kerrie actively represents the Workboat Industry and wider Offshore Contracting Sector speaking at and Chairing working groups and conferences, providing guidance and research to many National and International publications, campaigns and Government strategies. Motivated in supporting all industry stakeholders from Regulators to Apprentices.

Maarten is the continuous improvement manager for Ampelmann Operations, a company in which he has had various roles over the past eight years. Ampelmann is the pioneer and market leader of the walk to work industry and currently operates over 60 systems worldwide. Maarten has been a member of the Renewable Energy commission at IMCA since 2017 and was part of the walk to work subcommittee that created the IMCA M254 Guidelines for walk to work operations.

With his background of navigating warships for the Royal Netherlands Navy and a general interest in technology and innovation he was well placed when Ampelmann had a new role to fill in their joint venture with Damen – OceanXpress.

As a personal goal he aims to master wing-foiling this year, but has been remarkably unsuccessful so far.

“Matt is a Naval Architect and Engineer that has worked with Dynamic Positioning for more than 20 years, building, maintaining, operating and upgrading a wide range of DP vessels for the subsea construction and survey markets.  As a vessel and docking superintendent he has spent thousands of hours under the floorplates keeping DP vessels operational and preparing them for new challenges.  As an EPCI project and operations manager he has employed those same diving, pipelay, survey and ROV vessels in aggressive offshore construction environments. 

Matt holds a Masters degree in Marine Technology and has a particular interest in redundancy and the continuing relevance of first principles, especially considering the constant push towards integrated systems, the growing need for cyber security and the rapidly developing frontier of uncrewed vessels.  As DP Authority for Fugro, he also addresses the unique challenges of applying traditional DP thinking to a predominantly DP-1 fleet.” 

I started my career in the maritime industry 25 years ago. After completing maritime college I joined the merchant navy and sailed on general cargo ships, chemical and LPG tankers. The most part on the latter. In 2003 I made the switch to the offshore oil & gas industry where I worked on drilling units, multi-purpose vessels and a flotel. The majority of the time on DP class 3 MODU’s, but also on moored units. I started as DPO and eventually worked my way up to Chief Officer and ended my career at sea as Master/ OIM. 3 years ago in 2019 I started working in the office as Marine Coordinator/ Company DP Authority with DEME Offshore. Giving support to the offshore vessels on matters such as ISM compliance, vessel assurance/ marine warranty, marine incident investigations and DP related business. 

Having started his offshore career with various roles onboard Platform Supply, Construction, Drilling, Dive Support and Well Intervention, Pawel Panka then joined TechnipFMC as a Chief Officer onboard Pipelayer CSO Apache.  He subsequently took command of the DSV Orelia, before being promoted to Marine Superintendent.

In 2018, he became Fleet Operations Manager for TechnipFMC, responsible for the Marine, Security and DP Operations, driving the implementation of data driven trials and liaising with industry bodies and regulators on Marine and DP matters.

Based in Aberdeen, Pawel holds a BSc in Nautical Studies from Maritime University Szczecin and an MBA in Oil and Gas Management from Robert Gordon University.

“North Star’s SOV Operations Director, Steve Myers, is an experienced marine professional in the renewables industry with responsibility for the contract execution and operation of North Star’s fleet of vessels, servicing the offshore renewables industry. He believes in strong leadership when it comes to safe and efficient offshore operations, advocating the open and honest communication of learnings that can help shape industry best practice and guidance. 

Steve has around 20 years’ experience in the marine sector, having spent his career at Sea as a Deck Officer in the merchant navy, before moving ashore into ship management and safety roles in the renewable industry; becoming a lead auditor, and more recently completing his MBA alongside work and family life.” 

Steven began his career in the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen Scotland when he joined Gearhart Wireline Services in 1984. In 1999 he joined consultants Poseidon Maritime as an electrical engineer working on newbuild DP vessel projects and DP System FMEAs.  

Following the acquisition of Poseidon in 2007 he became Technical Authority for DP in what eventually became Noble Denton marine services and is now a Vice President within DNV Energy Systems.    

He has a Phd in Electrical Engineering from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and over the years, has co-authored several works of industry guidance for IMCA, OCIMF and MTS. 

In October of 2012 he received the Marine Technology Society, DP Committee’s Distinguished Achievement Award for his work on DP FMEAs and the MTS Fellow award in 2017. 

His interests include spoiling his four-year-old grandson and maintaining a wooden Folkboat he never has the time to sail.  

Sujit is an experienced Master Mariner with 35 years of operational and command experience in the maritime, oil and gas industry and more recently the renewables industry. ​

His experience ranges from Marine Superintendence, Operations, Marine Warranty Surveys, Marine Consultancy to Management including leading multi-disciplined teams. With a proven track record of managing multiple projects and services portfolio delivering traditional and innovative solutions for clients comprising of operators, ship owners and installation contractors, he is recognised in the Industry.​

Sujit sits in DNV’s Technical Standards Committee, as Technical Authority of Specialist Marine Vessels and MOU and as Technical Correspondent for Moorings and Towage operations. He was involved in the harmonisation of the legacy Noble Denton guidelines and DNV VMO guidelines to the new DNV ST N001 and N002 standards for Marine Warranty and Operations. He is involved in technical consultation and advise for management of any deviations to these standards on global projects in his discipline. He also undertakes Safety Case Review, Assessments and Inspections for the Irish regulator,  Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU formerly CER).  He is also the Noble Denton marine service  Global Practice Lead for Marine Surveys​

With extensive experience in conducting audits, vetting and suitability inspections and condition surveys of vessel representing underwriters including P&I Clubs and operators and as Lead Mariner on various projects, he has contributed to the Industry with his participation with IMCA through its committees and now sits in the IMCA eCMID steering committee and the Marine Division Management Committee as Vice Chair. ​

Sujit was extensively involved in the development of the eCMID and eMISW to where it stands today. Since joining the committee in 2016 he has been at the forefront of the development of the eCMID/eMISW programme. He is also an assessor and trainer for the accreditation scheme. 

Director, OneStep Power Solutions

Sarah Whiteford is a founding director of OneStep Power Solutions.

Sarah has a diverse offshore engineering background, spanning from subsea construction to civil construction claims and salvage, Her focus is on system reliability and project streamlining. After providing support for the delivery of new-build DP-3 rigs, Sarah developed a track record for the successful completion of client acceptance trials, which lead to her co-founding OneStep Power Solutions Inc. Sarah received her Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Petroleum Engineering from the University of New South Wales.

She has spent time offshore in different project roles in Australia, Asia, and the United States.

MO4

Representing MO4 in the Quickfire Round

Mark Paalvast has a background in marine engineering and offshore operations and is a co-founder of MO4.

Representing KOTUG in Quickfire Round

Capt. Willem van Woercom worked in the offshore installation industry (Heerema Marine Contractors) for 28 years as captain, towmaster and operations manager.

The last 4 years he his working as operations director for Kotug Int. which is a worldwide marine service provider.

Marine & Quality Manager

Mark joined the IMCA secretariat in February 2012 from Charles Taylor Consulting, where he worked as a senior surveyor and divisional director in the safety and loss prevention department. His work involved carrying out ship condition surveys prior to and during entry into P&I insurance cover, writing various technical and safety articles for the safety and loss department publications.

Mark worked for over 25 years as a marine engineer on bulk carriers and diving support vessels, ultimately sailing to the rank of chief engineer. He has worked as an engineer superintendent for a product tanker company which involved dry dockings, general repairs and the daily running of the fleet and also as a consultant marine engineer, specialising in FMEAs and retro-fit specifications.

Mark leads IMCA’s Marine Technical Division and our integrated quality management system with ISO Certification in both 27001 and 9001.

Technical Adviser – Marine

Graeme joined IMCA as Technical Adviser, Marine in May 2018 and since then has been involved in developing the DP Accreditation scheme, updating many of the key DP guidance documents, supporting IMCA’s technical seminar programme and implementing IMCA’s quality management system gaining ISO accreditation in late 2018.

Graeme started his career as an electrical engineering apprentice in a papermill before moving into the Marine and Oil & Gas industry. During his 25-year career in oil and gas, Graeme has worked with ABB, Poseidon Maritime, Noble Denton and Germanischer Lloyd in a range of technical and senior management positions. Between 2010 and 2016 Graeme focused on establishing and developing his own marine assurance, consulting and technical recruitment businesses which he sold in late 2016.

Graeme has worked at technical, management and board level during his career primarily focusing on the DP and Marine consulting sector.

Technical Adviser – Marine

Richard joined IMCA in June 2021 having gained 25 years of experience in the DP related industry.

Richard started his career as a cadet engineer with P&O Containers where he stayed until obtaining his Class 2 Engineering certificate. He then moved into the offshore industry first on seismic survey, followed by pipelayers and then onto DSVs during which time he gained his Class 1 Chief Engineers Certificate.

Richard worked for a number of years at Trinity House Lighthouse Authority and was involved in their new build programme.

Richard came ashore to work for an Aberdeen based DP Consultancy, PML, which was acquired by Noble Denton and then DNV. He spent 13 years as a DP Practitioner producing FMEAs on all types of Dynamically Positioned vessels as well as incident investigations and FMEA analysis on mission critical equipment, specialising in closed bus FMEAs utilising advanced generator protection systems and hybrid battery systems.

Technical Director

Stephen joined IMCA in January 2022 as Technical Director bringing with him over 25 years technical and management experience.

Stephen has held senior positions with Wood Group and KBR following earlier career roles at GE and British Gas and was the regional director for integrity management and digital solutions at Oceaneering.

Stephen is a mechanical engineer with a first class BEng degree from Newcastle University and has significant experience in managing a diverse range of technical teams.