CEO blog

So what happened to 2014? It went by like a whirlwind and I find myself shortly to celebrate my first year in office, which I find unthinkable.

Of course at the end of the year it is natural to look back and to assess the highs and the lows and to review the events that shaped the year. Fortunately for me, there have been many more good times than bad times.

So the top ten achievements that the IIMS team has delivered during 2014 (in my opinion) and in no particular order of importance are as follows;

Continue reading “Out with the old; in with the new”

Meeting IIMS members face to face is always pleasurable. It seems I can find out much more about what members like, their gripes and even pick up some great ideas when meeting face to face as I go out and about. Somehow email exchanges rarely bring the same result. And so it was when I joined the Small Craft Working Group two day training session at Rosneath west of Glasgow. On the first day I gave a short presentation on head office activities. It was clear that some of what I was saying was news and of interest to them. Yet again I question the true value of email. All of the information had been made available by email, yet not seen by most. My challenge for 2015 is to find other ways to effectively communicate with the membership.

Continue reading “Out and about”

When I took the role of CEO with the International Institute of Marine Surveying, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer variety of the work. Of course we are engaged in membership services, but then there is the area of our education programme and finally our specialist work as an MCA approved Certifying Authority – each quite different and demanding in their own way.

Last week, the MCA came to our offices for the annual audit, Clearly this was on the back of an indifferent audit in 2013. So it is pleasing to report that we have been given a much improved report and praised for the strides we have made in the past year. Well done to Carol (CA Administrator) and the CA committee for their sterling work.

Continue reading “Variety is the spice of life”

Most weeks at IIMS head office are eventful! But this week has been more eventful than most it has to be said.

After some hiatus with edexcel, the awarding body for the IIMS HNC and HND in Marine Surveying, we finally had a flood of HNC certificates arrive. Well, I am exaggerating slightly. But it was pleasing to be able to forward HNC certificates to half a dozen successful students, the first crop to qualify through this education programme.

On Tuesday I chaired a meeting of the Registered Marine Coatings Inspectors qualification stakeholder’s group. There were 8 of us present and the purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the first pilot course, run at Portchester several weeks ago. It turned out to be a most productive meeting and we are now moving forward to deliver the first course for real from 6-10 December in Amsterdam.

Some weeks ago I had accepted a kind invitation from Roger Daniells, Chairman of the British Association of Cargo Surveyors to attend their luncheon. Thursday arrived and I made the trip to the historic city area of London. The venue was superb, the turnout excellent, Continue reading “An eventful week”

Sometimes meetings are a necessary evil. We all know that! But in the past couple of weeks I have been involved in meetings that have not only been pleasurable, but also informative too.

It started with the IIMS strategy meeting with the head office team. We disappeared to a quiet location to talk about how we could improve what we did, the way we deliver it to the membership and so on. We considered the strengths of the organisation as well as the weaknesses, threats and opportunities too. The outcome was that we have a basis on which to produce a strategy later in the year to be implemented for the 2015 year ahead.

Continue reading “So many meetings”

It is holiday time in the UK. Sadly mine has been and gone already! Things have got very quiet generally as IIMS members (and head office staff too) have headed away for their annual breaks. This has allowed me to devote a little time to the activities of the Marine Surveying Academy Ltd (MSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of IIMS that we launched earlier this year.

MSA’s reason for being is primarily to provide training courses for IIMS members and commercial marine based educational opportunities for third party organisations.

For some months now, IIMS has been responsible for marking and handling the examinations for The International Registered Marine Insulation Inspectors course (IRMII for short) as well as providing accreditation for those who have passed. The course is aimed at a highly niche market comprising subsea insulation inspectors and is run, organised and promoted by Wood Group Integrity Management. Around 70 people have now passed and been accredited. Although very specialist in nature, this is an interesting subject. My involvement has been minimal thus far. But that has changed recently when I oversaw the development of a simple IRMII web site. Here we are able to showcase the course and its content, but more importantly it is a place where we can provide a dedicated listing for those who have successfully qualified. This group of specialists now have their own home.

Continue reading “Getting to know my IRMII from my RMCI”

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the President (Trevor Osborne) and President to be (John Fletcher) of The Institute of Corrosion, otherwise known as ICorr. They have splendid offices set in the University buildings overlooking an expanse of green parkland in the UK Midlands industrial town of Northampton, not known for its natural beauty it has to be said! Anyway I digress.

The reason for our meeting was to finalise the basis of our partnership as we prepare to launch and roll out the Registered Marine Coatings Inspector (RMCI) course and education programme, initially aimed at those involved with inspecting coatings for superyachts. This has been a tricky bit of work to get right. The course programme and syllabus has taken far longer than expected to develop and we are behind schedule. ICorr personnel have contributed to the development of the materials. But finally there is light at the end of the tunnel. Also with a vested interest in this project are ICOMIA, SYBAss and paint manufacturer Akzo Nobel.

Continue reading “Let’s talk corrosion”

I am Mike Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer of the International Institute of Marine Surveying and author of the CEO blog. This is my first post.

It is not my intention to blog on a daily basis  and I certainly do not intend to post too much unnecessary trivia here either. But if there is something I believe to be worth saying, I’ll say it. In essence, I hope my blog will give IIMS members and other interested parties a behind the scenes look at the side of life at the IIMS that one does not normally see or hear about.

So as we start to approach high Summer in the UK, there is a feeling of ‘it’s all new’ today in the office and no, I am not just referring to this blog.

Continue reading “There’s a feeling of ‘it’s all new’”