John McDonald Takes the Helm as Chief Operating Officer at ABS

Longtime ABS executive John McDonald will become the company's Executive Vice President and COO at the end of this month, taking over from Tony Nassif, who has announced his plans to retire on December 31.
 
"Tony has been an exceptional COO and operational leader across ABS and our wholly-owned subsidiary, ABS Group of Companies, Inc., for 40 years," said Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "I would like to thank Tony personally for his contributions to ABS, especially as we navigated through a global pandemic."
 
McDonald will take on the head operations role on July 26. Like Nassif, McDonald has extensive experience at ABS: he joined the class society in 1996 as a surveyor and served in frontline operational roles in Korea, the Northern Europe and Africa Region and the former Americas Division. He held the position of Vice President of Occupational Health and Safety for both ABS and ABS Group, and he led the former ABS Divisions in Europe and in the Pacific. 

McDonald also held operational leadership roles, including SVP of Western Hemisphere Survey Operations and (most recently) SVP of Global Business Development and the Global Marine market sector. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering from Maine Maritime Academy and an MBA from Texas A&M University.
 
"John will be a strong leader for our dedicated men and women on the frontlines and will help strengthen our global operations and client-centric approach," said Wiernicki.