Page 76: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2014)

People Pro leDevon Grennan was named CEO of Global Diving & Salvage in November 2013 after company founders Tim Beaver and John Gra- ham stepped down from direct operational in- volvement. MTR caught up with Grennan for his insights on the business of Diving and Salvage. By Eric HaunYour title is new, your tenure is not. How is your company the same as it was in 1995? We still focus on making sure that our customers receive the best ser- vice, regardless of the services they need. Between commercial diving, ma- rine construction, casualty response and marine environmental services, we en- deavor to put our best foot forward and make sure our clients get from us what they requested, and usually a little more. That was the approach our founders had over 35 years ago, and it is a simple ap- proach for us to continue to this day. How is it different? What have been the most important de- velopments? The most importance differ- ence that I see is that when the company was founded, there was a group of dedi- cated professionals who developed their respective skills during a time when both the commercial diving and marine envi- ronmental industries were themselves going through great changes. There was a tremendous opportunity for ?on the job? training. There is a different expec- tation now from maritime clients; they desire professional tradesmen work- ing on their projects and facilities. The entry level employees at our company have the basic skills to dive and work in the  eld, but are having to invest in their professional development, speci -cally in construction trade skills such as welding, fabrication, mechanical incli- nations, rigging and vessel operations. These are truly the services that our clients expect from us, and not simply having the ability to dive. We focus on the skills that a diver or environmental technician brings with them to the job site. This is a different approach than learning on the job as the sole source of professional development. Devon Grennan Devon Grennan Global Diving & Salvage CEO (Photo: John Vicory) March 2014 76 MTRMTR #2 (66-81).indd 76MTR #2 (66-81).indd 762/22/2014 2:09:11 PM2/22/2014 2:09:11 PM