Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2020)

INTERVIEW GeorGe WHittier, FAirBAnkS MorSe

Five Minutes with

GeoRGe

WHITTIeR,

Ceo, Fairbanks Morse

Last month Fairbanks Morse won an order by Huntington Ingalls Industries to build and deliver the four main propulsion diesel engines that will power the

U.S. Navy’s newest Landing Platform/Dock (LPD) ship, LPD 31, the second of 13 in the LPD Flight II class of ships. We caught up with George Whittier,

Ceo, for his insights on this contract, COVID-19 and business overall.

By Greg Trauthwein

How long have you been at the helm at Fairbanks Morse? How has the COVID-19 pandemic materially impacted

I returned to Fairbanks Morse in January where I previously Fairbanks Morse’ operations?

served as CEO from 2009 to 2012. I am proud to have the op- Because of our work for the U.S. military, we were consid- portunity to once again lead one of America’s great companies. ered an essential business and we have been fortunate to be

Fairbanks Morse solutions and services are mission critical for able to continue operations during this time. We implemented the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, nuclear power plants, hos- safety protocols early on to ensure the safety of our workforce. pitals, and other commercial businesses. We have an amazing During the lockdown, we encountered instances in which some team that is laser focused on taking care of our customers, and of our suppliers were shut down and we had to creatively solve our investors are deeply committed to the long-term success of problems so that we could take care of our customers. As a

Fairbanks Morse. result of the pandemic, we will evaluate our process for select-

Photo: USS New York (LPD 21) 30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • July 2020