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May 2012, Petten

Member Spotlight


  Mr. Jason Petten
  Employer and position:
GVA North America – Principal Naval Architect

Education:
BEng (Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering), 1996 – Memorial University of Newfoundland

Location:
Houston, TX

SNAME Section:
Texas

SNAME Positions:
Section Membership Chair

Jason Petten

Born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland where no trip from the house was complete without a drive down by the harbor or along some section of the coast, Jason completed his engineering degree in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at Memorial University.

After a short stint with a marine surveying company that focused on Great Lakes bulk carriers, Jason moved to Houston where he has built a diverse career in the offshore industry. After eight years at ABS, where he worked in both the engineering and survey departments, Jason took a position as Naval Architect at Noble Drilling. He is currently employed by GVA North America, a naval architecture and offshore engineering firm that focuses on floating offshore units.

Jason has recently become more involved in SNAME after participating on the fringes for much of his career. He relates to those members who annually question the value of keeping up their membership; however, he has found that his increased involvement with the Section (serving as the Texas Section Membership Chair), the OTC paper committee and the SNAME OTC Mentor-for-a-Day Program has made his own membership and more valuable, interesting and challenging. “I am getting more out of it now that I am actually putting into it,” he states.

He feels that the offshore industry needs naval architects and marine/offshore engineers who understand the marine environment. Similarly, SNAME requires involvement from the professionals in the offshore industry who know what it requires and where it is going.

Jason lives with his wife, Cathleen and their two daughters, Madison and Makenzi in the city of Pearland, south of Houston.