Jason Zuidema

Executive Director/ General Secretary at North American Maritime Ministry Association / International Christian Maritime Association

Speaker

Dr. Jason Zuidema is Executive Director of the North American Maritime Ministry Association and General Secretary of the International Christian Maritime Association. He completed his PhD at McGill University in Montreal and was on staff for a number of years at the Montreal seafarers’ centre. Zuidema began his work with the NAMMA in 2013. NAMMA is an association representing seafarers’ welfare professionals in more than 55 ports around North America. The goals of the organization include professional development and networking for its members, but also providing a common voice for seafarers’ welfare to increase collaboration with port, government, labor, and the wider maritime industry.

Since September 2017, Zuidema also serves as General Secretary of the International Christian Maritime Association. ICMA is a free association of 27 Christian not-for-profit organisations working in ports around the world for the welfare of seafarers. ICMA was founded in 1969 to encourage ecumenical collaboration and mutual assistance among member organisations.

Zuidema produced the Ship Welfare Visitor Course online for the UK’s Merchant Navy Welfare Board and is a trustee of ISWAN. He is publisher of The MARE Report, a print and online journal for seafarers’ welfare professionals and administrator of MARE Training, an online training platform for seafarers' welfare workers. He is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.