Speakers
Chair
Rajnish Kelkar is a Houston, TX based Maritime executive. He has international experience in management, operations, assurance and safety roles in Oil, Gas, Energy and Maritime industries. He is currently the Global lead for Environmental, Energy and Regulatory Programs at Excelerate Energy, Texas, USA, where he is engaged in various new FSRU terminal development projects and in managing environmental, energy management & global maritime regulatory compliance programs and initiatives in the FSRU fleet and Regas Terminals. Prior to this he was the Marine Projects Manager for the Jordan Cove LNG Marine export terminal in Coos Bay Oregon. His main accountabilities were to lead the marine team and manage the JCLNG project marine interfaces and budget by working with the EPC contractor, the local, National & International stakeholders, Government Agencies, LNGC Owners/Operators, and other contactors.
After completing his Marine Engineering training at the Indian Maritime University, Rajnish served on large ocean going tankers, initially with Chevron Shipping Corporation, USA before joining Vancouver based Teekay Shipping Ltd., where he rose to the rank of a Chief Engineer. In his career till 2009 with Teekay, he also served in various management roles ashore in Teekay’s Vancouver (Canada) based headquarters. During this time, he was accountable for Fleet Performance Management, Maintenance Management, Condition, Risk and Reliability Improvement programs, Maritime Safety and Legislation, Oil Spill and Emergency Response and various Safety, Quality and Environmental programs, projects, and budgets for a fleet of over 150 vessels (oil, product, and LNG).
From 2009 to 2016 Rajnish was the Director, Maritime and Global Shipping HSSE, Asset Integrity and Risk Management at BG Group in Houston, TX. In this role he was the Functional Head of Maritime, HSSE, and process safety disciplines, with an accountability to provide leadership, SME input and assurance for all maritime activity across BG Group globally. This role spanned over marine operations in 10 different BG locations, projects and countries and covered ~150 different sites/assets including 28 LNG Carriers, 8 terminals, 10 oil and DP Shuttle tankers, 100+ offshore vessels including LSVs and tugs/barges.
Rajnish is a Chartered Engineer and holds a Class 1 Marine Engineering Officer international license equivalent to a BS degree in Marine Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (FIMarEST-UK) and the Vice Chair of its US Gulf Coast Branch. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (FIE) and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in business administration (project management) from the Henley Business School, Oxfordshire, UK.
His passions outside of work include travel, raising funds for local charities, theatre, and music.