Page 77: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2014)

How will your ascension to this position and Tim and John?s ?stepping back? have a mate- rial impact on the company? My job is to build upon the incredible foundation that is already in place, built not only by Tim and John, but by a re- markable group of experienced managers, support personnel, supervisors and Þ eld crews. I think I bring a different perspec- tive on the overall opportunities that the company is capable of capitalizing on in the future; we have amazing depth and expertise in commercial diving, but we are at a point where we need to move beyond diving. It will always remain a core service that the company provides, but we need to move into new sectors of subsea services as well as providing a complete subsea experience for our clients. Our clients are desirous of more topside project management capabilities, as well as ma-rine assets under our direct care. Where do you see opportunity? The domestic Gulf of Mexico market is a more short term opportunity for the company; we have a lot of room to grow in the offshore market since the opening of our ofÞ ce in Houston in 2011. Our position in Alaska also has tremendous possibilities with the focus on the arctic. We also feel that there is a tremendous opportunity in the international market in our core strategic service lines. We will have more interna- tional credentials by the middle of 2014, and there is a unique opportunity for us to bring our own brand to new clients in the oil and gas market. How is Global Diving & Salvaging investing? The largest investment we are making over the course of the next few years is internally with our professional development program. We are focused on our own training center concept, and creating a more well rounded diver and marine technician. As mentioned earlier, we are going to cre- ate our own training approach, taught by our own employees and supplemented with third party expertise, to ensure that we maintain our unique Global culture as well as to develop skill sets across the various regions in which we operate and the service lines which we excel in. For example, we are in the process of designing and building wet welding tanks at all of our regional ofÞ ces to allow our divers to qualify and maintain their welding certiÞ cations. Our professional devel- opment program will extend beyond practical training just for Þ eld crews, but also into leadership, management of person- nel, supervisory practices and many others areas for all em- ployees levels throughout the company, including our senior management team and myself. We are focused on the con- cept of continual improvement, evaluation, and personal and professional growth for our employees. We are a traditional service company, and at the end of any business evaluation we make, our future success is tied directly to the skills of all our employees. It is the smartest investment we could ever make. Where do you see the greatest current busi- ness challenges? For Global, the greatest challenge is our need to continually adapt to the needs of our clients. Subsea work is continually moving further offshore and deeper. Develop- ing capabilities to respond to those needs, which include un-manned operations. Clients desire for us to take on a greater scope of the overall operation, so we invest in engineering and project management and evaluation on owning larger marine assets. Internally, we are constantly looking at not only how to develop our professional trademen, but as importantly, how to develop and retain talent in our support groups. I was for- tunate to grow up in an extended family who worked on the water, and it was very natural for me to want to continue that tradition. But as an industry, the maritime community needs to do a better job of marketing the beneÞ ts and opportunities that are available to younger generations, across the board. www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 77MTR #2 (66-81).indd 77MTR #2 (66-81).indd 772/24/2014 9:51:09 AM2/24/2014 9:51:09 AM