Sperry Marine Managing Director will promote the organisation’s work in standards and regulation that support application of innovative technologies

Sperry Marine Managing Director James Collett has been elected President of the Comité International Radio-Maritime (CIRM), the organisation dedicated to developing and sharing global standards for shipborne electronic equipment and systems.

Collett has served as a board member at CIRM since 2019 and chairs the subgroup reviewing the organization’s strategy. He has led Sperry Marine as Managing Director for the last five years, advancing the company’s position as a provider of advanced, safe and reliable navigation systems to commercial and navigation customers.

He joins the organisation at a time when its work on developing standards for interoperability and supporting regulatory development is increasingly important to advancing digitalisation in the maritime industry. 

“I am honoured to have been elected President of CIRM, an organisation which plays a central role in helping the shipping industry safely adopt new digital technology,” says Collett. “The expertise within CIRM is world class, with a broad and deep knowledge base that will be increasingly important for the wider maritime community as it adopts new systems, procedures and practices.”

As the principal international association for standards and regulation, CIRM represents the interests of manufacturers, suppliers, system integrators, ship service providers, and other related business, acting as a consultative body at the International Maritime Organization.

“We are delighted to welcome James as President of CIRM; he has already proven to be an asset to the organisation and his skills are a great addition to our advocacy and strategy efforts,” says Frances Baskerville, Secretary-General, CIRM. “At a time when standards for data and system design are increasingly important to the industry, CIRM and its member companies have a critical role to play in ensuring the delivery of the highest quality, safest and reliable technology to the maritime environment.”

Collett spent 13 years with Inmarsat supporting the roll-out of digital maritime connectivity and the launch of the FleetBroadband service followed by three years with Intelsat, bringing disruptive new ultra-high bandwidth solutions to maritime users. For the past five years he has been Managing Director of Sperry Marine, the leading provider of digital bridge navigation systems.