Chris J. Wiernicki has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at ABS, where he will report directly to ABS President and CEO Robert Somerville.
Wiernicki replaces Dr. Donald Liu who has retired after 38 years of service during
which he attracted worldwide renown for his industry leading achievements, particularly
in the development and application of the finite element method to ship design.
“The classification world is changing with more emphasis on complex structures, life
cycle management, unified standards and safety equivalencies,” said Wiernicki.
“ABS’ future technology strategy will be underscored by investments in areas that will
improve the integration of classification into both the design process and life cycle
operations while addressing safety equivalencies through greater emphasis on risk
and reliability methods.”
Wiernicki’s appointment moves him back to ABS from his most recent role as president
of ABS Consulting, the risk management affiliate of ABS. Under Wiernicki’s
leadership, ABS Consulting earned the distinction of being recognized as the number
one risk consulting firm in the United States as well as recognized worldwide for its
risk technology capability.
Prior to joining ABS in 1993, Wiernicki was president and chief executive officer of
Designers and Planners Inc., one of the leading naval architecture firms in the United
States. He began his career at the U.S.
Navy Research and Development Center working
on various ship design and advanced materials research programs.
Wiernicki is a registered Professional Engineer and has authored a number of papers
on the design and analysis of
marine structures, application of lightweight materials and
security risk management. He has lectured at the university level on topics ranging from
marine structure design to residual strength of damaged structures.
He received his BS degree in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University, MS degree
in Structural Engineering from George Washington University, MS degree in Ocean
Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and graduated from
Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.