Carnival Cruise Lines has appointed four highly esteemed maritime and transportation industry experts – Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby, Rear Admiral Joseph F. Campbell, Ray Valeika and Dr. John K. Lauber — to the company’s new Safety & Reliability Review Board.
Announced in April as part of Carnival’s comprehensive fleetwide technical enhancement program, the review board was created to provide independent third-party perspective and to drive continuous improvement across the line’s fleet. The core objectives of the board are to review Carnival Cruise Lines’ current policies, practices and performance and to guide the company in incorporating best practices from other relevant fields and industries. The four new board members are:
• Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby will be retiring from the U.S. Navy on August 1 after a 34 year career as a Surface Warfare officer. For the past three and a half years, he commanded the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC), responsible for the operation and maintenance of 112 civilian manned logistics, support, special mission, and prepositioning ships operating around the globe. A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Buzby has served extensively at sea in destroyers, cruisers, and a hydrofoil. He commanded five times including destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64), Destroyer Squadron 31, Surface Warfare Officers School, Joint Task Force Guantanamo, and MSC. Ashore, Rear Admiral Buzby has served several tours on the Chief of Naval Operations staff and the Joint Staff. As a Flag officer, he served as Deputy for Surface Ships, Deputy for Expeditionary Warfare, and Deputy for Surface Warfare. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Global Force Management and Joint Operations at U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. Rear Admiral Buzby has been awarded a number of decorations including the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and numerous other unit and campaign awards. He brings a wealth of fleet-level operational expertise to the Board.
• Rear Admiral Joseph F. Campbell was an engineering duty officer in the U.S. Navy for more than 32 years. He served in various waterfront maintenance tours and commanded Norfolk Naval Shipyard for two separate periods from 2003 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2013. Upon promotion to Rear Admiral, he served on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations as Fleet Maintenance Officer at U.S. Fleet Forces Command and at the Naval Sea Systems Command as Deputy for Industrial Operations and Maintenance. During his Navy career Campbell was awarded the prestigious Distinguished Service Medal along with other personal medals and numerous campaign and unit awards.
• Ray Valeika is an internationally recognized aviation operations expert with more than 40 years of experience in managing large airline maintenance operations. After retiring from Delta Air Lines as senior vice president – technical operations, Valeika works as an independent consultant for global maintenance and engineering firms. During his esteemed career, Valeika has directed staffs of more than 10,000 professionals, and advised major companies in aviation and technical matters. His leadership at Delta resulted in continuous improvement of the human factor processes in aviation maintenance, with Delta’s Technical Operations division consistently ranking at the top of the industry for performance benchmarks in the areas of safety, quality, productivity and reliability. Under Valeika’s leadership, Delta achieved STAR level, the highest safety rating awarded by the national Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Voluntary Protection Program. Delta also received the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Diamond award, its highest award for maintenance technician training safety. Valeika was also a member of the FAA’s special Airworthiness Directives Compliance Review Team. In addition, Valeika was the recipient of the Air Transport Association’s Nuts & Bolts award for his leadership and achievement in furthering safety and quality standards in the commercial aviation industry.
• Dr. John K. Lauber previously served as senior vice president and chief product safety officer for Airbus SAS in Toulouse, France, and also was vice president – safety and technical affairs for Airbus North America in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Airbus, he was vice president of corporate safety and compliance at Delta Air Lines. Dr. Lauber has received numerous awards, including NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Award, the Flight Safety Foundation/Aviation Week Space Technology Distinguished Service Award and the Boeing/Flight Safety Foundation Aviation Safety Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently, he received the Joseph T. Nall award from the International Aviation and Transportation Safety Bar Association. In 1985, Dr. Lauber was nominated by President Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term as a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board. In 1990 he was re-nominated by President Bush and confirmed for a second term at the NTSB, where he served until 1994. He has been a member of many other advisory committees and boards, including the Workshop on Assessing the Research and Development Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, and the Committee on the Effects of Commuting on Pilot Fatigue. He is a member of the MITRE Aviation Advisory Committee and serves as vice chairman of the Puget Sound Harbor Safety Committee.
“In April, Carnival Cruise Lines announced a major initiative encompassing technical, safety and reliability enhancements,” said Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. “That initiative encompasses a $300 million investment to significantly enhance emergency power capabilities, introduce new fire safety technologies and improve the level of operating redundancies across our entire 24-ship fleet, as well as the formation of a Safety & Reliability Review Board. All of these measures serve to position us as an industry leader in operational best practices as we move towards the future,” Cahill added.
In addition to these external members, the Safety & Reliability Review Board will also include the following technical experts from within Carnival Cruise Lines:
• Martin Landtman, senior vice president marine operations, who oversees all aspects of marine operations for the line’s 24-vessel fleet and joined Carnival in February 2011. Prior to joining Carnival, Landtman was president of Aker Yards/STX Finland, Inc., one of the world’s largest shipbuilders. He also spent several years in senior management positions at Kvaernar Masa-Yards, a leading Helsinki-based shipbuilder, and 10 years at Wartsila Shipyards in a number of technical operations posts, including head of machinery design.
• Richard J. O’Hanlon, vice president – nautical and safety operations, who joined Carnival in May 2013 and is responsible for all aspects of nautical and safety functions across the Carnival fleet, including bridge procedures and nautical operations, as well as firefighting and lifesaving systems. O’Hanlon is a former rear admiral in the U.S. Navy with nearly two decades of government and private sector executive experience in maritime operations, maintenance and logistics. O’Hanlon was previously commander of the Naval Air Force Atlantic and deputy chief of staff for logistics and training for U.S. Fleet Forces, both based in Norfolk, Va.
• Mark Jackson, vice president – technical operations, who joined Carnival in April 2013 and oversees all technical marine functions across the Carnival fleet, including repair and maintenance, refurbishment projects, and related technical services. Jackson is a 24-year veteran of the United States Coast Guard with extensive experience in nautical engineering, maritime repair and refurbishments, and ship operations. Prior to joining Carnival, Jackson was commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard base in Miami Beach, FL. He was also commanding officer of the Naval Engineering Support unit in Miami overseeing a team of 100-plus engineers and served as lead instructor for shipboard stability and firefighting at the U.S. Navy Warfare Officers School.
Carnival’s Safety & Reliability Review Board is in addition to parent company Carnival Corp. & plc’s board-level Health, Environmental, Safety and Security Committee as well as multiple regulatory agencies which provide extensive cruise industry oversight.
