The Towing Vessel Inspection Bureau has a new president.
The organization, which provides Subchapter M audit services to the inland marine industry, named Tava Foret to the top spot, and Lauren Jeppson was promoted to executive vice president.
Foret replaces Chris Parsonage, who is retiring from active daily participation in TVIB, but will continue providing consulting and advisory assistance as needed.
“Tava has demonstrated her passion and deep knowledge of the towing industry for many years,” Parsonage said. “Her foresight in working to develop both Quality Auditing and TVIB led to the creation of the large pool of geographically dispersed, well trained auditors and surveyors the industry enjoys today. Without her efforts to provide training and guidance to the auditors, vessel operators and others within the towing industry, the TSMS option would not have developed into the viable option it has become for many as their path to compliance with Subchapter M.”
TVIB is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with a satellite office in Baton Rouge.
Foret is one of the founding members of TVIB and has led TVIB’s audit and surveying operations since the Coast Guard’s approval of TVIB as a Third-Party Organization in January 2017. She previously served as the chair of the Houston Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee and has served on the board of directors for the American Waterways Operators.
Foret also served on the Towing Safety Advisory Committee’s (TSAC) Subchapter M Workgroup and chaired the TSAC Subchapter M Audit Subcommittee throughout the development of the regulation.
She has more than 27 years’ experience working in the operations side of the inland towing industry and maintains active credentials for auditing and surveying.
The Towing Vessel Inspection Bureau was founded in 2010 as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit professional trade organization of marine auditors and surveyors. TVIB educates, develops audit and survey tools and certifies marine auditors and surveyors to perform consistent, objective and independent audits and surveys of marine operators. TVIB is a Coast Guard approved ThirTPO and has issued TSMS Certificates to more than 90 towing vessel operators throughout the United States.
