Nate Gilman is President and Co-Founder of MM-SEAS, the largest USCG credentialing service in the country, serving more than 30,000 mariners and partnered with three of the nation's five largest maritime training providers. He is a hawsepiper who worked his way from deckhand to 3rd Mate Unlimited, and he previously served as a commissioned officer in the NOAA Corps leading operations aboard federal research vessels. Navigating the paperwork behind his own credential while running a vessel is the reason MM-SEAS exists. Nate writes the "Credentialing Insight" column for WorkBoat and the "Ask Captain Nate" column for Professional Mariner. He works directly with the Sea Services, maritime employers, and USCG-approved training schools on credentialing modernization and Military to Mariner transition, so the path into and up through the industry is faster and clearer for the next mariner.