About
Summary
Marine Engineer + Certified Project Management Professional in shipbuilding, autonomy, R&D, and offshore energy projects in both the commercial and DoD/DoE contracting spaces. Building on top of a strong technical background, I am experienced managing engineering and developing strategy, proposals, processes, and reporting in start-up marine technology environments. Throughout my career I have adapted processes as companies matured, technologies advanced, and brand-new industries developed.
points of Pride
Construction vessel ops engineering for Block Island Wind Farm (first OSW farm in the U.S.)
HM&E design and construction for Navy's history-making Overlord USV prototypes
WindFloat R&D manager at Principle Power (leader in floating wind tech)
Development Manager for CIP/Vineyard Offshore's first U.S. floating OSW project
Background
My early work as the Mechanical Engineering Team Lead at MiNO Marine prepared me to manage multidisciplinary projects while accruing engineering experience. My time there included auxiliary mechanical and propulsion system design for lift boats, landing craft, hovercraft, battery-hybrid tugs and ferries, liquid natural gas (LNG) carriers, and exhaust scrubber systems (SCR). Later, I joined Leidos Gibbs & Cox, a premier naval engineering firm and critical partner to the US Navy. My stand-out success there quickly led to a promotion to Program Manager in the Engineering Group. I was selected to be the primary interface with our new Unmanned Systems division, a start-up within the company, and went to work on a historic project developing the first unmanned surface vessel (USVs) prototypes that would inform the Navy fleet’s future direction.
While the work was rewarding, I grew tremendously during that time and sought to break into the similarly nascent offshore wind industry, which was exploding in the U.S. at the time. In my role as a Senior Project Manager at Principle Power, I managed a core of international, multi-discipline, senior level engineers working to maintain PPI's global lead in floating wind technology. We completed two publicly funded innovation grants, a publicly funded pilot project, and won three rounds of a Department of Energy R&D prize totaling over ~$8MUSD, with the goals of maturing our technology readiness level (TRL) in new deep-water environments, digital-twin health monitoring, and mass-scale serialized production of floating wind turbines (FOWTs). These projects included strategic partnerships with government funders, universities, national labs, private industry, regulatory bodies, and established renewable energy developers.
As those projects ended, a natural next step was joining Vineyard Offshore as Senior Development Manager, leading a floating offshore wind project that was among the first of five on the U.S. West Coast. Unfortunately, my time at VO was cut short due to recent turmoil in the industry. I have happily found myself back in the naval shipbuilding world, supporting PMS 406 at Naval Sea Systems Command through Booz Allen Hamilton. There I’m implementing management processes in anticipation of contract awards for the next-generation of Navy USVs, building upon the program I was involved with before.
Some key takeaways from the above journey are that my experience cuts across various paradigms: featuring companies both large and small, from established players to start-ups (and even start-ups within established players). It includes my early technical background moving into extensive project management, ranges from new construction to conversion, and from R&D/prototyping to serialized production of assets. This has prepared me to drive excellence and profitability across a portfolio of programs of all kinds.
Education
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University in 2013 including electives in Aerodynamics, Vibrations, and Alternative Fuels. I completed my Master's Degree in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering at University of New Orleans in 2017, including classes in Project Management, Design of Fixed Platforms, Maritime Law, Systems Engineering and Human Factors. My thesis presented a feasibility study of the use of jetting technology from jack-up rigs to achieve cost-savings during offshore WTG monopile decommissioning.
In addition, I completed the University of Massachusetts Offshore Wind Professional Certificate in 2023, which provides 9 credit hours in technology, development, finance, permitting, stakeholder engagement, supply chain, logistics, law, and policy.
