ABS Names Wiernicki Chief Technology Officer

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.