JAMES FERGUSON

After attending the Royal Military College of Canada, James Ferguson served with the Royal Canadian Navy initially in destroyers. In 1970, he volunteered for submarine service and served in Canadian naval submarines as well as well as on exchange with the Royal Navy. In 1978, he passed the Royal Navy Submarine Command course and assumed command of the 2400 ton submarine, HMCS Okanagan, winning the Maritime Commander's Award for operational efficiency in 1980. In 1980 he also qualified for Destroyer Command and obtained his Master Mariner qualification.

Mr Ferguson resigned from the Navy in 1981 and joined ISE. In 1982, he commanded the commercial submarine Auguste Piccard which was involved in the search and salvage of the sunken Spanish treasure ship San Jose, off Cartagena, Columbia. In late 1982, Mr. Ferguson was appointed as a Vice President of ISE for the development and sale of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.

In the past 25 years, Mr. Ferguson has been responsible for the development or upgrade of over 30 undersea vehicles ranging in weight from 50 to 9600 kg, depth capability to 5000 meters and range up to 1400 km. Between 1982 and 1998, he was also responsible for the life-cycle maintenance and upgrade of the Canadian Navy Pisces IV and SDL-1 manned submersibles.

Mr. Ferguson has co-authored many journal and conference papers on the subject of underwater vehicles. Between 1986 and 1993, he was an advisor to the Minister of National Defence and from 1992 to 1996, a Director of the Canadian Manufacturing Association. Since 2004, he has been the Vice Chair of the Engineering Council on Ocean Resources’ Special Panel on Underwater Vehicles. He was elected as a Director of this council in 2008. Mr. Ferguson is also a member of the Marine Technology Society, the IEEE Oceanic Society and the AUVSI.