USCG Risk Mitigation Conference - Regulations and Electrification

Bruce Bultman has 23 years of experience in the marine industry, specifically in electrical system design, electrification, and advanced technologies.

Peter Chisholm has been in the engineering department at Mercury Marine for over 41 years and is currently the Product Safety Manager for the company. While in this position he has been involved in boating safety with a number of organizations. He is a member of the ABYC technical board, the Chair of SAE Marine Technical committee, is a member of the NASBLA Engineering Reporting & Analysis Committee. He has also served several terms on the USCG National Boating Safety Advisory Council.

Mr. Coté is a recognized authority on marine electrical systems, equipment and standards, lightning protection and corrosion control. He has performed or supervised hundreds of electrical surveys, corrosion survey, lightning surveys and forensic investigations and has assisted countless builders, surveyors, equipment manufacturers, boatyards, vendors and professional crews.

James is electrical engineering, a master's degree in business administration and is an IAMI Certified Marine Investigator, ABYC Master Technician and a NAFI Certified Fire Investigator. James is a member of ABYC, AMPP, IEEE, NAFI, NFPA, NAMS, SAMS and SNAME. He sits on the NFPA 302 (Motor Craft) and 303 (Marinas and Boatyards) committees, is Vice Chair of the ABYC Electrical Component Project Technical Committee, sits on the ABYC Electrical Project Technical Committee and ABYC Technical Board. He is an active participant in numerous ABYC Subcommittees related to such topics as battery systems, lightning protection, three phase power, cathodic protection, shore power systems and electrical safety. Coté is also an ABYC adjunct instructor.

Having over 25 years of Marine Industry experience, Chris has been with VETUS Maxwell America for over 16 of those years. He was hired as a Sales Manager and created lasting relationships with his customers. He was then promoted to Vice President of Sales and Marketing leading a team that covered all the Americas and Caribbean. Taking over the role as President in 2020, he has led the organization to its most successful year in 2022. He credits his success to building a great team for his organization and having great customers, both OEM and Aftermarket.
Chris was born and raised around the Chesapeake Bay into a boating family. Even though he received his degree in IT from the University of Maryland system and started his professional career in IT, his passion for boating brought him to the Marine Industry. Chris worked as a Yacht Broker for several years before being offered a position with VETUS Maxwell America to join their team.
With VETUS Maxwell Americas headquarters based in Maryland, this has allowed Chris to stay close to the Chesapeake Bay. Most weekends, when the Maryland weather permits, you can find Chris boating with his family and friends somewhere on the Chesapeake. When the weather doesn’t permit, you can find him dreaming of boating or traveling to someplace the weather cooperates.

David M. DiQuinzio PE has spent 30+ years helping owners and operators of mission-critical data centers achieve highly reliable performance of their power and cooling systems.  Early in his career, he and his industry colleagues were called upon to deal with failures of diesel engine-generator sets. Their clients installed these generators so that data centers could continue operating through electric utility outages. Operating them with no load to test their starting systems turned out to be the primary cause of the failures, and adding means to load them during testing proved to be an effective solution. Meanwhile, after progressing from a Sunfish to a 37' sailboat, he and his wife Sally Reuther had an opportunity to cruise to the Bahamas in the late '90s. After experiencing diesel engine problems aboard their boat which resembled those his data center clients had dealt with, David realized that prolonged running of diesel engines at low loads - typical for sailboaters - was the common thread. After returning from the Bahamas, David and Sally began exploring electric propulsion alternatives. They founded Annapolis Hybrid Marine in 2010. Today, after years of campaigning for electric propulsion to skeptical boat owners, the company is fast approaching its first $1 million year. After becoming dealers for several inboard system manufacturers and expanding into electric outboards, AHM has established itself as a respected authority in the emerging marine electric propulsion industry.

Richard “Rick” Gotwals is a Senior Engineer at Vectorworks Naval Engineering, LLC. He has sailed in various marine engineering capacities on US Flag container ships ending as Second Assistant Steam and Diesel, Unlimited Horsepower immediately after graduation. His career also includes 17 years in military, light commercial and pleasure craft marine systems design, with 15 years at Vectorworks Naval Engineering, LLC. The past 10 years he has specialized in electrical system design including Lithium Ion battery applications. He is currently working with a propulsion system integrator bringing HV automotive EV systems into the marine world.

Patrick started sailing at a very early age with his parents who designed and built their own 50ft sailing yacht from ferro-cement. He has over 25 years of diverse experience in the marine industry, from professional yacht racing crew, through to design and project management of high-performance carbon fibre sailing multihulls. Patrick currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with his wife and two young boys but has previously lived in Newport, Rhode Island, and in 2004 successfully completed the Yacht Design Program at The Landing School in Kennebunkport, Maine. Much of his current duties with ICOMIA and the ICOMIA Marine Engine Committee focus on the design, safety, and construction aspects of the recreational small craft sector including its impact on the marine environment.

Adam Holloway has been conducting fire investigations for the insurance industry since 2005; specifically, with Travelers Fire Investigation Team since 2008. Adam is a Certified Marine Investigator through IAMI as well as a Certified Fire Investigator through the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire, Arson and Explosion Investigation from Eastern Kentucky University. Additionally, Adam is an ASE Master Mechanic, ABYC Certified Advisor, and a FAA licensed Remote pilot (Unmanned Aerial Systems). He co-chairs the IAAI’s working group on Marine Fire Investigation Endorsement program and helped develop and now teaches the IAAI’s marine fire investigation training. 

Eric Johnson is an Engineer with the United States Coast Guard in the Product Assurance Branch of the Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety.  In this roll Mr. Johnson evaluate reported safety defects and non-compliances and prepares Coast Guard action response and correspondence.  Additionally he provides guidance on Federal statutes, safety regulations, and Coast Guard policy regarding recreational boat-building.  Mr. Johnson is a member of various Standards bodies including ABYC, NFPA, SAE, ISO, and UL.  In his free time Eric is an avid sailboat racer and Triathlete.

Sven Kirchhoff moved to Chicago from Starnberg, Germany, in 2008 to establish the technical branch of Torqeedo in the Americas, focusing on service and quality. He studied at the University of Technology Hamburg-Harburg, graduating with a Master’s of Science degree in Mechatronics. Sven is responsible for Torqeedo’s internal and external service networks throughout the Americas region as Director of Service and Quality. He leads the high-voltage service team, which installs, maintains and services Torqeedo’s Deep Blue electric and hybrid systems. Sven also works closely with the Service & Quality and the Research & Development departments at Torqeedo’s headquarters in Germany to ensure product quality and innovation worldwide.

Menno Ligterink has been a marine industry power conversion and storage specialist for 25 years. He has worked in various domestic as well as international sales management and application engineering positions, designing and selling advanced electrical systems in both 230V-50Hz and 120/240V-60Hz. For the last three years he has been also involved in power storage systems in the specialty vehicle and RV industry. Menno serves a position on the ABYC technical board and is closely involved with RVIA standards development subcommittees. Menno has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Zadkine Technology school in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 

Mark Maier is an electrical engineer with experience in vehicle electrification since 1992. He has also worked with automotive and military ground vehicles, lead acid, and lithium ion low and high voltage systems.

Dave Marlow has been employed by the Brunswick Corporation for the past 35 years as their Director of Product Integrity/Government Affairs.  He has held various positions within their marine division in engineering, sales, and customer service and currently works with Brunswick’s Law Department heading up product safety, compliance and government affairs. In addition to his current duties with Brunswick, Dave is very active in our industry and its associations. He is a Past Chair of the American Boat and Yacht Council, a member of NMMA’s Risk Management, Government Affairs and Boat and Yacht Certification committees, a US delegate for the development of marine standards in the EU as well as a member of the US Technical Advisory Group for ISO standards. He has a Master’s in Safety Engineering from UAB.

Craig W. Scholten has been actively involved in the recreational craft industry for more than 38 years.  His hands-on knowledge of small craft design, engineering, manufacturing, standards, and product certification provides a great resource of experiences.  Craig holds a Master Compliance Specialist Certification for small craft from Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology and a Master Technician Certification from the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC).  He has personally assessed and certified over 500 new boat models for the global marketplace. 

For over three decades Craig has served industry in multiple roles, including Director, Chairperson, Convener, Expert and Member of executive committees, technical committees, and boards of ABYC, National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Marine Certification Institute (IMCI), and the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA). 

Skilled in working group leadership and collaboration in both domestic and international committees, Craig demonstrates a thorough understanding of how the standards and certification processes work and have evolved over time. Extensive success in guiding the understanding of standards compliance, product testing, risk assessments, and product certifications in both the domestic and international arenas. Strong networking and leadership skills, detailed, organized, and ability to find the win-win, Craig’s leadership results in effective teams that produce valuable product.

Craig regularly shares his expertise with industry at seminars and professional conferences including ABYC, NMMA, IBEX, and METSTRADE.

Craig can be reached at:

• cscholten@abycinc.org
• (410) 990-4460 x120

Todd Sims has 15 years of experience in the marine industry specializing in electric powered boats. He started his marine electric journey in South Florida with his own dealership, EPowerMarine, that specialized in selling and servicing electric boats. Sims then went on to serve seven years at Torqeedo as Global Product Manager and Director of Project Sales where he helped build out this new segment of the marine market and drive the general acceptance of electric powered boats. Today, his passion for electric boating continues in his latest post as Director of Sales for Ingenity Electric, one of the Correct Craft companies. 

 
For over 25 years Phillip has been a noteworthy leader in the Powersport/Marine space. You may know him from his prior roles working at dealership or in the YAMAHA Motorsports development team, but Phillip can be credited with contributions to projects across the vast YAMAHA product lines. During his tenure at YAMAHA Marine as Product Planning Manager, he has helped the company concept and launch multiple new engine and future control systems and build the foundation of the YAMAHA Boat Power Systems team. He currently lives in Acworth, GA, with his wife and three children where he enjoys fishing tournaments and spending as much time on the water as possible. 

Clint Szumal's focus is on High Voltage power distribution system architectures leading the development of scalable power distribution systems for electric propulsion systems. He has 21 years of experience designing, validating, and releasing high voltage power distribution systems for automotive and commercial truck applications. For the last six years he has focused on the design and validation of high voltage fuel cells for General Motors Powertrain. Clint has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Central Michigan University and Masters in Business Administration from Lawrence Technology University with a concentration in Project and Risk Management.   

In 2012, John Adey became the President of the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC), having served in several staff positions since 2002. John has his MBA with a specialty in nonprofit organization management and is an ABYC Certified Master Technician.  John is a member of the USCG Boating Safety Advisory Council, a Red Cross certified lifeguard instructor trainer, US Masters swimmer and an avid Chesapeake Bay boater.  In his spare time he enjoys inventing new swear words while working on he and his daughters 24 year old jeep, Taylor ham egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches, dunkin’ donuts coffee and anything cooked on a weber charcoal grill.

Jeff Ludwig has worked for the Coast Guard since 2006, and currently serves as the Chief of the Recreational Boating Product Assurance Branch in the Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety. He is responsible for implementing the Recreational Boat Testing & Compliance Program (RBTCP), which ensures that recreational boat manufacturers comply with USCG safety standards. Prior to his current position, he was the Boating Safety Division’s Regulatory Development Manager, where he was responsible for the development of all boating safety-related regulations at Coast Guard headquarters. Before working for the Coast Guard, he was the Regulatory Affairs Manager for a major recreational boating trade association for five years.

Mr. Ludwig grew up boating in Florida and holds a USCG Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV) license. He served eight years in the United States Army Infantry, stationed in the U.S. and Germany, and earned a B.S. degree from the University of Maryland.