ABS Realigns Americas Division to Pursue Expanding Opportunities

(Houston) ABS, a leading provider of classification and technical services to the global marine and offshore industries, announces the realignment of its Americas Division operations to create two new regions – Canada and Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. This realignment strengthens localized leadership to help ABS members and clients take advantage of expanding opportunities.

“ABS recognizes that the expansion of the Panama Canal, increased Arctic operations and growth in LNG markets present pivotal opportunities for our members and clients, and we are proactively realigning operations to strengthen our world-class service delivery to support them,” says ABS Americas President and COO James Watson. “Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean are areas of tremendous potential. In realigning our resources, ABS is better leveraging our global network and leading technology programs to assist owners and operators in these regions.”

Joseph Rousseau will serve as the Regional Vice President for Canada. Based in Ottawa, Rousseau will be the first ABS executive responsible for leading operations across the entire country, overseeing seven offices within Canada. He also will serve as the main liaison between ABS and Transport Canada, working closely with the ABS Harsh Environment Technology Center at Memorial University to align ongoing research efforts with Canadian industry needs.

During Rousseau’s 18-year career with ABS, he has served as Vice President of ABS Europe and held senior engineering positions across the organization, bringing a strong global background in the marine and offshore industries to his new role. Rousseau is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s. He began his career as a Naval Architect for a number of notable Canadian design firms focusing on both commercial and Canadian government vessels.

Homero Guerra will serve as Regional Vice President for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. In this role, he will oversee all company operations in Mexico, Central America, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and the Caribbean Islands. Guerra will be responsible for better leveraging ABS’ global experience to serve the company’s expanding member and client base in the region.

Guerra joined ABS 23 year ago as a Surveyor and has held numerous international leadership assignments in engineering, technology and operations. Guerra holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration in Technology Management.

About ABS
Founded in 1862, ABS is a leading international classification organization devoted to promoting the security of life and property and preserving the natural environment through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine and offshore assets.