Q&A with Brittney, program manager

Brittney Blokker joined the Green Marine team as Program Manager in September 2021. She is one of two team members now based in Seattle, Washington. Prior to joining Green Marine, she worked at Holland America Group as a maritime investigations program manager, leading incident analyses and continuous improvement efforts. She holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering with a Minor in Architecture and Urbanism from Smith College.

Her role at Green Marine primarily focuses on the development and review of the environmental certification program’s requirements, especially as it relates to ship owners, as well as providing support and assistance to Green Marine’s participants throughout the United States. She also leads the Great Lakes Advisory Committee.

Q: What led you to work in the maritime industry, and more specifically to its sustainable development?

A: I fell into the industry, and I am so glad I did! During college, environmental work was especially important to me personally, so it was an easy decision to pursue this work professionally after graduation. Without a doubt, studying Engineering and Architecture has enriched my work in this space. I use skills from my Engineering courses to take both technical and creative approaches to problem-solving, and skills from my Architecture courses to consider how people may interact with proposed solutions, similar to how I would consider how people would interact with a physical space that I designed. After spending time on the East Coast and in the Midwest, I moved back home to Seattle and started looking for a job that would have a positive environmental impact. By happenstance, I landed one at a cruise line where I came to know the maritime industry’s sense of community, local and global reach, and capacity for further sustainable development.

Q: How do you think you can your experience from the cruise industry benefits your role at Green Marine?

A: That experience was essential! On a foundational level, my colleagues at Holland America Group taught me a tremendous amount about ship operations, particularly about various technical systems on board, and I cemented a lot of that knowledge through multiple ship visits. At Holland America, I specifically worked on maritime investigations, which is strikingly similar to Green Marine’s mission. Both strive for continual improvement, function with multi-purpose teams, and find innovative solutions to immediate issues. All the knowledge and skills I gained in the cruise industry is certainly helping me as I lead working groups to update the ship owner’s program requirements. More personally, I found several uplifting mentors at Holland America Group who helped me to build my confidence to be successful in the maritime industry, which will be invaluable to me throughout my career. I know my experience working with a cruise line and now as a Green Marine Program Manager is serving me well in providing good  support to our ship owner participants as they endeavor to drive continual environmental improvement within their operations.

Q: Green Marine is about to complete the 14th round of its participant certification process, which happens to be your first in your role as Program Manager. What is your impression of this process and the work of the parties involved as someone with a fresh take on this?

A: Most notably, I have been wowed by the dedication of our participating members to environmental excellence. They don’t just go through the motions of getting certified each year. They’re actively implementing program requirements within their operations for meaningful improvements. I knew coming into Green Marine that participating members would be committed to the program as it is voluntary, but there is so much more engagement and camaraderie within this network than I anticipated. It is inspiring to see participants actively helping other members, often across great distances and even borders, to improve each other’s environmental performance. Of course, I would be remiss not to mention the substantial work that goes on behind the scenes at Green Marine to keep the certification process running smoothly. The team here uses remarkable organizational skills to manage the dozens of meetings and to control the vast number of documents while prioritizing top-notch member support.

Q: Four months after you started working here, you were tasked with organizing Green Marine’s first-ever Ferries Forum. Can you tell us more about the working group’s purpose and/or goals, along with the anticipated challenges?

A: The guiding vision of the Ferry Forum is an informal roundtable for our ferry operating participants to network, share lessons learned, and discuss current sector-specific issues. Green Marine prioritizes supporting our maritime community, and this is another venture to create a resource for a specific portion of our membership! As with the entire Green Marine program, ferry operators are integral to setting the agenda here. We are still in the initial stages of establishing how to make this new resource beneficial. We held our first meeting on April 14  there is much interest and excitement from our ferry operators. It will be a challenge to accommodate all Ferry operators, with such a diversity in size and location, and make each session valuable for all who attend. Although, I know we can overcome that challenge because Green Marine has proven how its program is scalable and can successfully account  for such differences in operations and inclusive of all industry members.

Q: You joined the Green Marine team in the midst of the pandemic when so many of us had to work from home…. What helped you to settle into your new role despite the unusual circumstances for starting a job? And what are you looking forward to?

A: Even without a pandemic, I will always have to do some of my work virtually online to overcome geographical distances. Five of my colleagues are based in Eastern Canada, which is at least three hours ahead of Seattle time, and our membership is spread across North America. Knowing this before I started my new role made it easier for me to commit to developing new strategies to be successful in this working context. That being said, it’s still a challenge. However, I have never integrated into a new team that already functioned so well, and my colleagues were a huge help as I settled in. They were each supportive, flexible, and patient as I was getting on board with things.  They also shared their own indispensable tips on remote work. I particularly enjoyed some informal meeting time to get to know everyone on a more personal basis, which I think is so crucial for team success. It should not be a surprise then that I am most looking forward to meeting the whole team in person at GreenTech this June!

Q: As you have not yet had the chance to visit participating members in person, which one would you like to visit first?

A: I would love to visit any participant! I have enjoyed getting to know our members online, but there really is no substitute for an in-person connection. I know each visit will be a unique learning opportunity for me. I guess if I had to pick, I would put Washington State Ferries at the top on my list. I am originally from Seattle and have spent my whole life using this incredible ferry system to transit Puget Sound and visit the San Juan Islands. It would be special to get a behind-the-scenes look at their vessel, terminal and maintenance operations after spending so many years as a passenger.