Captain Frank Whipple - Chief Operating Officer
Captain Whipple has years of commercial experience in marine safety and port security and 28-years of experience with the US Coast Guard. He was formerly head of the US Coast Guard's Pacific Region headquarters, Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Response Division and had extensive experience in maritime safety, security, marine incidents and emergency response. He has spent 7 years working on various international security projects around the globe, helping businesses, countries, ports, and companies comply with the security regulations contained in the ISPS Code, the International Labor Organizations security practices, domestic regulations and supply chain security standards. He has conducted security assessments and developed security plans for a variety of organizations including container terminals, oil terminal, bulk loading facilities and chemical plants and ships of all types. Over the last three years he has been assisting companies in security audits to evaluate compliance with established security plans.
Captain Jerzy Kichner, PE - Vice President Engineering
Captain Kichner leads our efforts in safety, security, risk analysis and assessment, emergency planning and response, and regulatory compliance in the marine transportation and support sectors as well as to the US Government. He is currently very active supporting five major developers in the permitting of LNG Terminal and the transportation of LNG on the Gulf, West and East Coasts as well as to other offshore energy projects. Most recently Captain Kichner has been involved leading a major effort in conducting a comprehensive and very critical vulnerability and risk analysis and modeling for a US Transportation Agency as well as working with maritime ports to draft recovery and resiliency plans. Captain Kichner also provides services to large defense contractors that include Northrop Grumman, Mitre and General Dynamics as well as to federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies on national security issues.
Christina Birdsey - Program Manager
She has a Civil/Environmental Engineering background and serves as the engineering specialist for our port planning projects. She has been involved in master plan studies for large developments as well as cities within Los Angeles and Ventura County. The studies help determine the adequacy of their existing systems and help plan facilities to better serve its future customers through onsite investigations, current data and historical analysis. A portion of her reports included recommended improvements to security measures for the development of city's water supply. She has recently been involved in the development of a security plan to help a port transition to the new US Coast Guard Transportation Worker Identification Card usage. She also assisted in making adjustments to their access control plan and in turn their facility security plan.
Jake Gray - Security Specialist
Mr. Gray’s experience in the field of security has covered such a broad variety of areas of knowledge and expertise in Petro-Chemical, Bulk, and Container Terminals, as well as the type of ships and ground transportation used in the shipment of those commodities. This experience has placed him in the forefront of security expertise and experience. His incredible experience and expertise has proven to be an invaluable asset in providing the pillar of excellence necessary in conducting security and law enforcement related maritime security assessments in the United States and abroad.
William Uberti - Security Specialist
Captain Uberti is a specialist in Maritime Safety, Port Safety and Security, and Marine Environmental Protection with over 29 years experience in the U.S. Coast Guard. His Coast Guard career included two command tours where he served as Captain of the Port, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, and Federal On-Scene Coordinator for Northern California, and Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. His responsibilities included the enforcement of the newly established International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and the regulations published in 33 CFR 101-106.
Tom O'Brian - Container Security Specialist
Mr. O’Brien has more than thirty years experience in Customs and Cargo Security matters. He has worked on cargo processing, cargo security, risk management and port security programs in both the public and private sector throughout his career. He specializes in assisting clients who participate in the Customs – Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and working with foreign governments providing assessments and training of their Customs Organizations.
