The Board
The IQARB Board comprises of industry experts from the major marine interest groups, ship builders, owners and flag Administrations, but also different geographic regions. The Board members have no current affiliation with the Recognised Organisations.
Nicolaas Dirk van Wijk
Board Member Since 3rd December 2024
Nico joined IQARB in November 2023. Nico has some 40 years working experience in the maritime industry in both private and public sector. After a career as marine engineer serving on merchant ships of various types, he started working in 1989 as a surveyor for an independent marine survey company based in Rotterdam. In 1999 he joined the Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate where he was, amongst others, involved in the monitoring and oversight of classification societies acting on behalf of the Netherlands. In 2004 joined the Lisbon-based European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) where he was responsible for the inspection and assessment programme of classification societies recognised by the European Commission. Nico retired from EMSA in 2021.
Peter John Williams
Board Member Since 3rd December 2024
Peter is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of both the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology and The Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He began his career as a seagoing engineer, obtaining his Extra First Class Certificate of Competency in 1989. He then worked for the UK MCA, in various roles including Surveyor and port State control inspector. As the agency’s first Quality Manager, he secured ISO 9001 certification in 1995 and was responsible for the implementation of the ISM Code on UK ships. Later, as Head of Quality Shipping, he promoted the UK flag as a quality register and represented the UK at the IMO in developing the MSAS. In 2004, Peter joined IACS as Quality Secretary, managing the Quality System Certification Scheme, overseeing audits, and managing the transition of audits to Accredited Certification Bodies. He was instrumental in establishing the RO Code and IQARB.
Luisa Puccio
Board Member Since 3rd December 2024
Luisa is a Senior Director for Shipping Policy and Communications at European Shipowners|ECSA. She is responsible for all topics related to the competitiveness of the industry, transport and logistics policy, trade and market access. Luisa also oversees the Communications strategy of ECSA and manages the day-to-day communication activities of the association together with ES|ECSA’s communications team. Prior to joining the association in 2020, Luisa worked for 10 years as an EU affairs specialist focusing on maritime transport, sustainability, and circular economy. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Economics and Management of Government and International Organizations from Bocconi University in Milan.
Karl Lumbers
Board Member Since 3rd December 2024
A former Master Mariner and Company Director Karl has over 47 years of experience in the marine
industry. He came ashore from a major British shipping company in the 1980’s to join a London based Marine Consultancy in the Middle East. During his time in the Middle East he became involved in Port State, Flag State, Classification, Shipowner and Underwriter surveys.
He returned to the UK in the late 80s to join a major P&I Club, becoming Director, holding responsibility for the quality management of ships within the Club’s portfolio. In this capacity, he led a team of risk assessors, comprised of former Masters and Chief Engineers and oversaw the completion of approximately 900 ship audits annually. In addition to his auditing responsibilities, Karl played a key role in analysing the Club’s insurance claims. He was also charged with monitoring the global network of surveyors and consultants engaged in the investigation of these claims.
The Secretariat
The Board has appointed an Executive Secretary to manage the assessment and certification of the Recognised Organisations; a Company Secretary to oversee IQARB’s corporate operations; and an Administration Manager.
Anantha Padmanabhan
Executive Secretary
Ananth joined the company on 15 June 2020. He has a wealth of experience in all aspects of Ship Classification Societies and the Statutory services of Recognised Organisations (RO), having worked for three different Class Societies in his career. He has been involved in Quality Management for the past 22 years in various roles and capacities. He represented all three Class Societies in the Quality Committee of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) for 15 years and served as its Vice-Chairman for 3 years. He was also the GL representative in the RO Group that established QACE (now IQARB since January 2025). In the year immediately prior to joining QACE (now IQARB), he worked as an auditor for three different Accredited Certification Bodies involved in the certification of Class Societies/ROs.
Lukasz Korzeniewicz
Secretary
Matina Biniakou Nikolaou
Administration Manager
Matina joined the company in September 2021. She has extensive experience across various business areas, supported by a Bachelor’s degree in Maritime Business and a Master’s degree in Financial Trading. She is responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day administrative and operational activities of IQARB (previously QACE).
IQARB Assessors
IQARB contracts Assessors to execute the assessment programme. The Assessors are experienced maritime professionals drawn from different geographic regions.
Tim Ho
IQARB Assessor
Tim joined the company in 2015. He has extensive experience with the IACS QSCS scheme and with Statutory and Classification survey, Management System audit, and advisory services. Tim has devoted most of his time in training activities, lecturing at University, practical training for Flag Surveyors and PSCOs, and seafarers’ training based on the STCW Convention and IMO model courses.
Captain Hartmut Nickel
IQARB Assessor
Hartmut joined the team in 2014 from the German flag State Administration. Hartmut has long and varied experience most recently as a German flag state surveyor, senior Port State control officer, ISM / ISO 9000 lead auditor and MLC inspector to the German Ship Safety Department. He has been involved with RO oversight for the Administration.
Abhay Shah
IQARB Assessor
Abhay joined the team in January 2020 following 20 years with Lloyd’s Register where he held senior governance, assurance and improvement positions at both a global and regional level. Abhay has a background in technical performance highlights include responsibility for a transformation programme that helped improve ship maintenance and awareness of common deficiencies, through pre-arrival checklist booklets, now widely used by the marine industry. He was heavily involved with internal and external audit and was responsible for introducing both risk-based and remote ISO audit methods.
Priyabrata Patnaik
IQARB Assessor
Priyabrata (Pat) Patnaik joined the company in 2022 with 45+ years of experience with compliance, risk and consultancy services in the marine industry. He worked with Lloyd’s Register (LR) across a range of their global offices over three decades. He leveraged his expertise in class and statutory services to serve as the chairman of the Devolved Classification Executive of the Americas chapter and as LR’s Technical Performance Manager (TPM) for the Americas and an internal auditor. As the TPM, he was responsible for ensuring the services delivered met LR’s quality objectives as well as IMO, various flag state and other regulatory requirements. Trained as a naval architect, he has experience in ship design, ship building, classification and statutory compliance, and all technical aspects of new building projects. He is an experienced ISM/ISPS/MLC auditor
Chen Wang
IQARB Assessor
Chen Wang joined the team in November 2022 upon retiring from the China Classification Society. He has extensive experience with the IACS QSCS scheme, with EU Reg.391/2009, and with Statutory and Classification survey for new constructions and ships in service, and chaired IACS Statutory Panel from Jan 2008 to Dec 2010.
Chitta Dash
IQARB Assessor
Chitta joined the company in 2022 with 42+ years of experience in maritime industry, areas of expertise being Classification and Statutory Survey & Certification, Audit/Assessment, Training, Consultancy services, New Construction Project Management, Operations and Quality & HSE Management. He worked with Lloyd’s Register (LR) for over 30 years and was LR’s Area General Manager and Marine Business Manager for South West Asia Area. He is an experienced ISM/ISPS/ISO Auditor. A marine engineer by profession, Chitta sailed as Chief Engineer on Merchant ships. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Marine Engineers (India) and Member of The Indian Society for Nondestructive Testing.
Frankie Ho
IQARB Assessor
Frankie joined the company in 2022 after retiring from DNV. His roles in his 41 years in DNV included site survey, site audit, operation management and quality & safety management roles. Frankie focused particularly on quality & safety in his later career, and was the global head of quality & safety in DNV Maritime. He has worked in Norway, Denmark, Japan, Greater China, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
Steve Blair
IQARB Assessor
Steve joined the company in 2023, following a twenty-year career with a major classification society culminated in the position of Director, Business Development – Management Systems Certification. Prior to this Steve was Head of Management Systems Certification, from 2000 to 2015. During this time, he was accountable for the certification of client companies and their ships in meeting the requirements of the ISM Code, ISPS Code, ISO 9000, ISO 14000, ISO 45001, and ISO 50001 standards. Steve is an ex-student of the College of Nautical Studies, Warsash, Southampton, and is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute and a Freeman of The Honourable Company of Master Mariners.
Nico van Wijk
IQARB Assessor
Accredited Certification Bodies
IQARB, as part of its certification process, utilises the services of the following Accredited Certification Bodies (ACB) to audit the quality management systems of the Recognised Organisations: