Dr. Kirsi Tikka has significant shipping and offshore industry experience. For almost 20 years she held several leadership roles at the American Bureau of Shipping. She led efforts in a variety of important regulatory and forward-looking technical topics including sustainability and setting the course for a low-carbon shipping future. Prior to joining ABS, she had a combined industry and academic background as a professor of Naval Architecture at Webb Institute in New York and working for Chevron Shipping Company in San Francisco, as well as Wärtsilä Shipyards in Finland. She is currently an independent director on shipping and technology company boards. She is actively involved in environmental and sustainability projects. She recently chaired the Committee on Oil in the Water IV: Inputs, Fates, and Effects for the US National Academies, and she was an advisor to the Maritime transitions project which launched a report Practical Playbook for Maritime Decarbonization during the UN Oceans Conference in June 2022.

Dr. Tikka holds a Doctorate in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture from the University of Technology in Helsinki. She is a Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. In 2012, she received SNAME’s David W. Taylor Medal, and in 2019 she received the Seatrade Award: Integration of Women in Maritime Sector. She has an honorary doctorate from Webb Institute, and she is Foreign Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. She serves on the UC Berkeley Engineering Advisory Board and on the Board of Trustees of Webb Institute.