 |
William Hughes Watson President – The AdvanFort Company Vice President & Governor, Maritime Security Council Member – Board of Advisors, National Maritime Law Enforcement Academy |
 |
Will Watson is President of The AdvanFort Company, a leading global Private Maritime Security Company that provides a full range of security services to ports, terminals, vessels and the oil and gas industry. Will also serves on the Board of Advisors to the National Maritime Law Enforcement Academy and in Vice President and Governor of the Maritime Security Council, the world’s premier organization dedicated solely to the security of the maritime industry. He also serves on the Administrative Board of the Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America, the Roman Catholic ministry to the people of the sea.
Prior to joining AdvanFort, Will was Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs in the Office of the Maritime Administrator of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. He also served as maritime security liaison with International Registries, Inc., which operates the Marshall Islands Registry and represented the Marshall Islands at the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.
Before that, Will was a senior editor with Fairplay, the London-based weekly magazine dedicated to the commercial shipping industry. Will was most recently Deputy Editor – Americas at the magazine, which was founded in 1883.
Will is an alumnus of the University of South Carolina and served honorably in the US Air Force, USAF Reserve and the South Carolina Air National Guard. He is an active member of the Council of American Master Mariners (CAMM), the US Naval Institute, the Propeller Club of the United States and the American Legion. He has lectured at the Global Maritime And Transportation School (GMATS) at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS), the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta and at American University and has appeared as an expert on maritime issues on CNN and other television, radio and print venues.
