Windward Taps New CRO to Steer AI Expansion in Turbulent Seas

LONDON and WASHINGTON – January 20, 2026 – Maritime AI™ leader Windward announced today it has appointed Jon Goldman as its new Chief Revenue Officer, a strategic move designed to accelerate its global expansion as demand for advanced maritime intelligence reaches an unprecedented peak. Goldman, a veteran of scaling high-growth technology firms, will take the helm of Windward's global revenue organization, tasked with deepening its footprint across defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors.

The appointment comes as the maritime world grapples with a complex web of challenges, from heightened geopolitical tensions disrupting key shipping lanes to increasingly intricate sanctions regimes and the persistent threat of illicit activities at sea. In this high-stakes environment, the need for real-time, predictive intelligence has shifted from a competitive advantage to an operational necessity for governments and global enterprises alike.

A Strategic Response to Global Maritime Volatility

Windward's decision to bring in a seasoned growth leader like Goldman underscores the company's ambition to capitalize on this surging market. With over 25 years of experience, Goldman most recently served as President of Exiger's Commercial Business, where he was instrumental in scaling its AI-powered platform across regulated industries and global supply chains. His expertise in executing go-to-market strategies for mission-critical solutions is seen as a direct match for Windward's current trajectory.

"Maritime operations today demand intelligence that is continuous, predictive, and built for action," said Ami Daniel, CEO and Co-Founder of Windward. "Jon is a proven growth leader with deep experience scaling mission-critical, AI-powered platforms across commercial and government markets. As Windward expands our U.S. footprint and advances toward more agentic, outcome-driven Maritime AI, Jon's leadership will help us accelerate adoption, strengthen our go-to-market execution, and deliver even greater operational value to customers worldwide."

This sentiment reflects a broader industry shift. The market for maritime surveillance alone was valued at over $24 billion in 2024 and is projected to nearly double to $47.3 billion by 2034. This explosive growth is fueled by governments bolstering national security and commercial operators seeking to protect assets, ensure crew safety, and maintain supply chain integrity in the face of piracy, smuggling, and regional conflicts.

Capturing a Multi-Billion Dollar AI Market

Windward is positioning itself at the nexus of this demand, leveraging a platform that fuses satellite data, vessel signals, and proprietary AI models. The opportunity spans both public and private sectors, each with pressing needs.

On the government front, Windward is already an established contractor for U.S. federal agencies, providing its platform to enhance maritime domain awareness for organizations like the United States Fleet Forces Command. Its technology helps enforce sanctions, combat illegal fishing, and secure borders by identifying high-risk vessels and anomalous behavior that would otherwise go unnoticed in the vastness of the open ocean.

Simultaneously, the commercial maritime analytics market is on a steep growth curve, projected to expand from approximately $1.47 billion in 2025 to $2.58 billion by 2031. For commercial shippers, insurers, and financial institutions, AI offers a powerful toolkit for mitigating risk and boosting efficiency. AI-driven fuel optimization can cut consumption and emissions by up to 15%, a crucial benefit as stringent environmental regulations like the IMO's Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) take effect. Furthermore, predictive intelligence allows companies to vet counterparties, avoid sanctioned entities, and gain transparent oversight of their supply chains.

Goldman’s mandate is to harness these dual-market dynamics, scaling a solution that serves both a naval commander tracking threats and a logistics manager rerouting cargo to avoid port congestion.

Beyond Predictive: The Dawn of 'Agentic AI' at Sea

The technological vision that Goldman is tasked with selling extends beyond conventional analytics. Windward is championing the next evolution of its platform with a focus on 'agentic AI'—a more autonomous form of artificial intelligence designed to act as a co-pilot for human operators.

Unlike traditional AI that simply flags risks or predicts outcomes, agentic AI is designed to understand higher-level goals, reason through complex data, and execute multi-step tasks with minimal human intervention. In the maritime context, this could mean an AI agent that not only detects a vessel's potential involvement in a sanctioned activity but also automatically compiles a complete due diligence report, outlines the specific risks, and suggests mitigation steps.

Windward's MAI Expert™, a Generative AI-powered tool, is an early example of this vision. It functions as a virtual maritime risk analyst, capable of answering complex queries and transforming raw data into actionable narratives. This move toward agentic systems promises to dramatically reduce workloads for analysts and decision-makers, allowing them to focus on strategy rather than data processing.

"Windward is setting the standard for how advanced AI, including the next evolution toward agentic AI, shapes real-world maritime activity," said Jon Goldman. "The company has built the industry's most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform, and I'm excited to help scale this mission-ready solution to the operators and businesses that rely on it every day."

Goldman's arrival signals a clear intention not just to sell a product, but to drive the adoption of a new operational paradigm. As the company expands its U.S. presence and refines its agentic capabilities, his leadership will be critical in translating advanced technological potential into tangible revenue growth and cementing Windward's position as a definitive leader in the future of maritime operations.