After graduating in 2003 from the Maritime Academy “De Ruyter” in Vlissingen in the Netherlands, Jody joined a Shipbrokering firm. This company was trading in the dry bulk sector in ship sizes from coasters to Pannamax size vessels on a global scale.

In 2011, Jody joined SMIT as Contract Manager for the Salvage division. While starting off with smaller salvage cases, Jody has been involved with many notable salvage cases such as the grounding of the “COSTA CONCORDIA” in Italy and the explosion/ fire case of the “FRONT ALTIER” in de Arabian gulf. From 2013 till 2015 Jody was heavily involved with a large Wreck Removal case, the sunken car carrier the “BALTIC ACE” in the Dutch waterway system. Jody’s most recent notable case was the “EVER GIVEN” in Suez Canal, where he witnessed the refloating operations from the bridge wing in his role as liaison officer.

In 2018, Jody was promoted to head the commercial team for the EMEA region from SMIT’s Headquarters in the Netherlands. Since August 2022 Jody is working out of SMIT’s Emergency Response center in Singapore and is commercially responsible for the Asia Pacific region.