Kirsi Tikka moves on from ABS

Dr. Kirsi Tikka

Dr. Kirsi Tikka has stepped down as Executive Vice President and Senior Maritime Advisor at American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

Effective September 2, 2019 she will become an independent non-executive director of Hong Kong based Handysize and Supramax dry bulker specialist Pacific Basin Shipping.

Under her service agreement with Pacific Basin, Dr.Tikka will receive HK$650,000 (about US$83,000) annually.

Dr. Tikka worked at ABS from September 2001 until July 2019. She started as Vice President, Engineering, and subsequently held roles that includedVP, Global Technology, Business Development and Special Projects (2005-2011); VP and Chief Engineer, Global (2011-2012); President and Chief Operating Officer, ABS Europe Division, Executive Vice President, Global Marine (2016-2018); and Executive Vice President and Senior Maritime Advisor (2018-2019).

Prior to joining ABS, Dr. Tikka was professor of Naval Architecture at Webb Institute from 1996 to 2001, prior to that, she worked as a naval architect, operations planner and analyst for Chevron Shipping from 1989 to 1995, and for Wärtsilä Shipyards from 1980 to 1983. Her maritime career spans nearly four decades living and working in New York, London, San Francisco and Turku, Finland. Dr. Tikka holds a doctorate in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering, and master’s degrees in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and Mechanical Engineering, Solid Mechanics and Naval Architecture from the University of Technology, Helsinki. She is a Fellow of both the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects 9RINA”), founded in 1860. In 2012, she was awarded SNAME’s David W. Taylor Medal, its highest technical honor for naval architecture and marine engineering.

In 2018, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of science by the Webb Institute, New York. She is currently also a Foreign Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the U.K. Women in Maritime Task Force.