M Ship Co
Charles (Chuck) W. Robinson
Charles (Chuck) W. Robinson, co-founder, who lives in the United States and maintains a residence in Venice, has been involved in ship design for most of his career.
He served for five years in the U.S. Navy during WWII as an engineering officer. Later, as president of an international iron-ore shipping and mining company, he sought to reduce the cost of ocean transportation as a means of expanding his markets for iron ore in Japan and Europe. He pioneered the design and construction of the largest bulk cargo ships as well as the development of combination ore-oil carriers. He also designed and constructed the "Panamax," the largest ship to transit the Panama Canal, and the first mineral tankers to transport iron ore in slurry form.
After three years in the U.S. government as Deputy Secretary of State with Henry Kissinger, Chuck renewed his interest in boat designs. From his participation in the development of San Francisco's sailboat for the 1988 America's Cup competition in Perth, Australia, he formed a company, DynaYacht, Inc., (now CBTF Co.) to advance this technology.
Chuck shares the concern of most Venetians regarding the serious damage to canal wall foundations caused by the wave generation of passing motorboats, as well as noise and air pollution. To resolve these problems he developed, and now has patent protection of, M-hull technology. M Ship Co., was formed to collaborate in the implementation of this breakthrough technology.
Bill Burns
Bill Burns, co-founder and chief designer, developed the M-hull Technology and created the M Ship team through a unique blend of creative design, naval engineering and business experience.
As Executive Director, he leads the M Ship office and is responsible for conceptualization, development and execution of innovative marine concepts for the military, commercial and recreational markets. Bill was the Designer and Project Leader for the revolutionary military craft, Stiletto, responsible for its development and construction.
Additionally, he has designed innovative concepts for a diverse range of organizations, including the Naval Research Lab, Office of Naval Research, Office of Force Transformation, Scripps Institute of Oceanography and America's Cup syndicates. He is also a founding member of CBTF Co., which designs high-performance sailing yachts featuring the patented canting ballast-twin foil (CBTF) appendage design. He has received numerous design awards including ones for innovation from Time Magazine, Business Week and Sailing World.
Bill and his M Ship team are creative not only with design, but also with management, implementing the Rapid Empirical Innovation (REI™) process for developing advanced hull forms and the Virtual Shipyard™ manufacturing process for high-performance ship building with new methodologies, faster build cycles and lower costs.
Bill graduated from the University of California San Diego with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and from San Diego State University's Executive Program with an MBA. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Industrial Design Society of America, and MIT Enterprise Forum, and is also a board member of the San Diego Chapter of AUVSI.
Daniel Casal
Daniel brings over thirty years of design and management experience to the M Ship team as Chief Engineer/Naval Architect.
Daniel’s prior experience includes Enginering and Naval Architecture for Swath Ocean Systems in San Diego where, as a member of the design team, he participated in the development and construction of the 72’ SWATH Pilot Boat for Houston Pilots; the 85’ Monohull Range Retriever Craft, 40’ SWATH Mine Hunter and 40” SWATH Area Search Craft all for the U.S. Navy, 50’ SWATH Pilot Boat for Houston Pilots, and a 65’ SWATH Yacht/Ferry demonstrator.
Daniel’s also worked as a Designer/Project Manager for Reichel Pugh Yacht Design of San Diego and Design Engineer/Project Leader for Catalina Yachts of Woodland Hills, California.
In 1974 Daniel received a Degree in Naval Architecture from the Escuela Nacional de Educacion Tecnica, San Fernando, Buenos Aires, Argentina and attended the University of Buenos Aires, School of Engineering, Department of Naval Engineering in Buenos Aires in 1976. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.
T.J. Perrotti
TJ serves as Senior Naval Architect for M Ship and brings over twenty-five years experience to the design table.
He served as the Performance Manager for the team Dennis Conner’s 2003 Stars & Stripes America’s Cup campaign, and has a total of five America’s Cup competitions under his belt. He has contributed extensively to restoration of the historic Twelve Meters Onawa and Columbia, and to the creation of the classically inspired (and Show Boats “Best Sailing Yacht”) 90’ carbon sloop, Savannah, which he co-designed while serving as Chief Designer at Pedrick Yacht Designs.
TJ is a graduate of Webb Institute of Naval Architecture where he received a BS in Naval Architecture and BS in Marine Engineering. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. He is also a former Trustee of the International Yacht Restoration School.
Johnny Smullen
Johnny joined the M Ship team in 2005 as Project/Construction Manager of the M80 Stiletto.
In 1981, Johnny was trained at Dun Laoghaire Technical Institute as a boat builder and joined Fitco Marine Engineering, Dublin, Ireland where he serviced his internship and continued with his boat building training. Since 1988, he has been involved with the growth and development of composite building techniques and materials used in the construction of high technology racing yachts and commercial/recreational vessels. He is a trained composite yacht construction specialist with over twenty-five years of hands on experience in hi-tech yacht construction for the Americas Cup, Whitbread, and Volvo Ocean Races.
1988 he was also a team/crew member on "NCB Ireland" for the Whitbread '89/'90 around the world yacht race challenge, and since then he has also completed in many competitive regattas and ocean races.
From 1990 through 2005, he worked on several Whitbread and America's Cup's teams most extensively for Team Dennis Conner, and most recently he was the Shore Manager for the Green Dragon Racing Team for the '08/'09 Volvo Ocean Race.