The Maritime & Transportation Security Expo will take place May 4-5, 2011 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Over the past 8 years, the event has served as a high-level conference with government, military, and industry speakers, connecting attendees within the maritime security sector with the experts in the field. Maritime TV (www.MaritimeTV.com ) has been there to webcast this important event, and will be there again this year!

Attendees can look forward to presentations and discussions on the Maritime arena's most pressing issues and hottest topics. This year's conference will take an in-depth look at how government and industry can work together to combat maritime terrorism and piracy during times of global economic crisis.

In preparation for this event, on April 6 at 2 PM ET, Maritime TV will feature a live special Maritime & Transportation Security Expo Pre-Event webcast, highlighting what attendees can expect at the show. As part of this live Pre-Event webcast, Maritime TV will produce a special Maritime & Transportation Security Forum Discussion during which on-line Maritime TV audience members will be able to email questions to the Forum's three distinguished panelists:

The Honorable Jayson P. Ahearn, Principal, The Chertoff Group

Deputy Maritime Administrator Orlando Gotay

Dr. John A C Cartner Managing Member at CARTNER & FISKE, LLC / SHIPMASTERLAW

Panelist Biographies

The Honorable Jayson P. Ahern, Principal, The Chertoff Group

Principal

Areas of Focus:

  • Homeland and Border Security Management
  • Global Commerce and Supply Chain Security
  • Crisis and Risk Management, Strategy and Implementation
  • Global Security and Capacity Building
  • Counter Narcotics Planning and Operations
  • Government Reorganizations and Merging of Agencies

Previous Government Service:

  • Acting Commissioner, U.S Customs and Border Protection (2009)
  • Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2007-2009)
  • Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2003-2007) and U.S. Customs Service (2002-2003)

On January 2, 2010, Jayson P. Ahern retired from 33 years of federal service to both the U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. At the time of his retirement, he had served for nearly a year as Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and was responsible for securing, managing and controlling our Nation's borders.

Since August 2007, Mr. Ahern served as CBP's Deputy Commissioner, the highest career position in the agency. During his interim appointment as Acting Commissioner, Mr. Ahern continued to serve as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the daily operations of CBP's 58,000 employee workforce and managing an operating budget of over $11 billion. Mr. Ahern's primary focus was keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country, while also carrying out CBP's other border-related responsibilities.

For five years, from June 2002 until August 2007, Mr. Ahern served as the Assistant Commissioner for CBP's Office of Field Operations, a position he also held with the former U.S. Customs Service. As Assistant Commissioner, Mr. Ahern managed all Field Operations in domestic and foreign locations, as well as critical national security and operational programs. In 2003, when the Department of Homeland Security was created, Mr. Ahern presided over the historic merger of personnel from three of CBP's legacy agencies and ensured mission continuity during the largest government reorganization in the last 50 years.

Throughout his career, which spanned over parts of four decades, he progressed through every rank in the field and held numerous senior leadership positions, including Director of Field Operations in San Diego, where he was in charge of all Customs activities at the Southern California ports of entry. He also served as the Area Port Director in Los Angeles and Miami, two of the Nation's largest and busiest operations. Mr. Ahern also served in senior counter-drug positions during two previous Headquarters assignments, overseeing planning and interdiction operations in the U.S. as well as conducting training assignments in many foreign locations.

In 2005, President Bush conferred the rank of Distinguished Executive on Mr. Ahern in recognition of his extraordinary leadership and management contributions to the United States government. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding service and contributions toward global maritime security. In November 2008, Mr. Ahern was awarded the Secretary of Homeland Security's Gold Medal in recognition of exceptionally outstanding leadership and service that is distinguished by achievements of national or international significance, reflecting great credit on the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Government by markedly improving the security of our homeland.
Mr. Ahern was a career member of the Senior Executive Service, a graduate of Northeastern University and a Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is married and has two sons.

Orlando Gotay
Deputy Maritime Administrator

Orlando Gotay was sworn in as Deputy Maritime Administrator on June 2010. He joined the Maritime Administration as Senior Advisor for Maritime Policy in late 2009.

As the Agency's Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Gotay assists the Maritime Administrator by overseeing the activities of the Maritime Administration and also by spearheading various important initiatives. Mr. Gotay was instrumental in the selection and appointment of the eleventh Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, and leads the Capital development strategy for the Academy.

In March 2010, he led the United States delegation to the Working Group 3 to the United Nations-sponsored Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. Mr. Gotay also lectures on a variety of maritime topics, such as the America's Marine Highway, and maritime security initiatives.

Prior to service in the Obama Administration, Mr. Gotay was Counselor to the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was the first General Manager of the San Juan Port Commission, a municipal entity created in 2007 to increase the city's maritime presence, foster the growth of a healthy maritime industry, and improve existing conditions at the port.

Mr. Gotay also worked as an advisor at the Puerto Rico House of Representatives.

Prior to relocating back to his native San Juan, Mr. Gotay had a private tax practice in San Francisco, California. He also worked as an associate at the state and local taxation department of the consulting firm now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mr. Gotay was an officer in the U.S. Navy. He is a 1987 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD and served in the engineering departments onboard the USS Valdez and the USS Belknap, flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, home ported in Gaeta, Italy.

After leaving the Navy, Mr. Gotay obtained a law degree and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Golden Gate University, San Francisco. He is a member of the California bar and is licensed to practice before the US Tax Court, and federal courts in the districts of Northern California and Puerto Rico.

Mr. Gotay is a technical diver, an amateur radio operator (WP4NPV); speaks four languages and is the U.S. Naval Academy information officer for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Dr. John A C Cartner

Managing Member at CARTNER & FISKE, LLC / SHIPMASTERLAW

September 1990 - Present (20 years 7 months)

CARTNER & FISKE, LLC / SHIPMASTERLAW is a law firm practicing worldwide. The firm speaks law with lawyers and explains engineering and speaks engineering with engineers and explains law. It serves the marine industry in its commercial and business needs including contentious and non-contentious matters. Its member and counsel practice maritime and law in the admiralty jurisdiction internationally; International financial law; the law of the shipmaster; Law of the Sea; arbitral law; trade law; the law of experts, the law of weapons import, export and transit; transborder crimes, transborder frauds, money-laundering, extradition; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; Insurance liability defense, cargo claims, charterparties and  bills of lading, letters of credit; Voyage Legal Planning [TM] services; commercial litigation; Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)litigation; CARTNER & FISKE, LLC /  SHIPMASTERLAW attorneys are experienced engineers and engineering-trained master mariners and senior retired naval officers in ships and their design, building, repair, conversion and claims thereon; marine structures and ocean engineering; marine operations; marine environment and pollutions; salvage and salvage engineering; naval engineering; naval architecture and marine engineering.

Dr. Cartner has been active in the maritime industry at sea and ashore for 46 years. He has held various Positions at companies and organizations in the industry worldwide and was founder, chairman & CEO of  Phillips Cartner & Co., Inc. prior to forming Cartner & Fiske / Shipmasterlaw.  He was educated in law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, LL.M; the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, The University of Maryland, J.D. (by conversion); the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, The Georgia State University, M.B.A.; the Graduate School of the University of Georgia, M.Sc., Ph.D. with  postdoctoral appointment at the U. S. Army Research Institute; and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, B.Sc. Dr. Cartner is certified by the U.S. Coast Guard as Master of Steam and Motor Vessels of any Gross Tons upon Oceans and has commanded several ships. He is Chartered Engineer (Naval Architecture) U.K. and European Engineer [European Federation of National Engineering Associations].

Dr. Cartner is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association and of the Law Society of England and Wales. He is an elected fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers; the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (U.K.); and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (U.K.). He holds mamberships in various U.S., U.K. and international law organisations. He recently was co-author of C.W.J. Cartner, J.A.C. Cartner & R. Fiske, Defending against Pirates: The International Law of Small Arms, Armed Guards and Privateers (2011) Intershipmaster Press and the principal author of John A. C. Cartner, R.P. Fiske, T.L. Leiter, The International Law of the Shipmaster (2009), Informa/Lloyd's www.shipmasterlaw.com. He is a regular columnist in Lloyds List, www.Lloydslist.com, commenting on matters of law and trhe maritime industry and in Sidelights, the quarterly magazine of the Council of American Master Mariners of which he is a member.