Offshore infrastructure support vessel operator North Star has appointed James Bradford as its chief technology officer.
In the newly-created role, based in Aberdeen, he will accelerate the company’s sustainability strategy by delivering a technological roadmap to drive performance and innovation investments, as the firm progresses towards its fleet decarbonisation target of 2040.
Bradford has more than 30 years’ strategic and operational experience in the maritime sector.
He joins from ship management specialist V Group, where he was global head of technical. While there, he played a key role in the company’s innovation agenda, which redefined the industry’s fleet cell model for technical management.
Bradford's other significant tenures include almost five years at Gulf Marine Services, where he was general manager for North West Europe, before being promoted to chief operating officer in the United Arab Emirates.
Prior to this, Bradford was general manager for operations at marine transportation company GulfMark for eight years, and at James Fisher also for eight years, where he climbed the ranks to technical director responsible for its tanker, offshore and nuclear fuel fleets.
Bradford also has significant seagoing experience. As a chief engineer in his early career, he achieved Class I Unlimited certification, and project managed the ship construction team on a 16 vessel build over a two-year period.
“Since securing four long-term charters for its new hybrid propulsion service operations vessel design, North Star's prominence has rippled across the offshore wind market, opening up multiple new opportunities for the business and its next fleet,“ he commented.
“Ensuring the business continues to invest in the best innovations to hasten its sustainability goals across its existing ships and implemented into new forthcoming SOV designs, is a very exciting time to join as CTO.”
North Star chief executive Matthew Gordon said: “James has an exceptional track record for delivering results across all aspects of new fleet constructions for on time delivery.
“He is also very tuned in to the latest technical developments which will help guide our executive team to identify and leverage new opportunities to maximise future investment and deliver value to our shareholders.
“His strong leadership and managerial skills will also add another layer of expertise as we expand our team and makes him the perfect fit for our organisation.”
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