Page 10: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2016)

View from the Top

Bill Kikendall, Teledyne RDI

Marine Technology Reporter recently had the opportunity to visit with Bill Kik- endall, president of Teledyne RDI and Group Manager of Teledyne Marine’s

Instruments Group, for his ‘view from the top.’

By Greg Trauthwein

Please provide a brief overview of the company.

Teledyne has recently aligned our many individual ma- rine focused business units into a single group that we call

Teledyne Marine. This group includes: 23 individual brands and 2,400 employees operating from 41 global manufacturing and service centers. The Teledyne Marine Group of compa- nies provide marine imaging, marine instruments, marine in- terconnect, marine seismic, and marine vehicle products and solutions. These products serve the Oceanographic Research,

Security and Defense, Energy, Biological, Water Resources and Transportation markets.

Looking back, from the time you started your career to today: What technology do you attri- bute with having the greatest in? uence on the ability to explore and work underneath the wa- ter more ef? ciently and effectively, and why?

Remote and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. These vehicles are providing ever expanding ways to conduct so- phisticated work under extreme operating conditions as well as signi? cantly expanding the sampling of the ocean environ- ment at an ever decreasing cost point relative to traditional means of acquiring the data.

We often discuss “Industry Voice,” or in the case of the Subsea and Maritime Communi- ties, lack thereof, and the “need” to raise the stature, pro? le and visibility of this industry to foster further growth. From where you sit, and those funds is best supported by a collective voice of experts. looking at the industry as a whole, do you agree

That voice is most credible when it is the voice of industry, on the need for a stronger industry voice?

academia and relevant government organizations working to- In a word, yes. The maritime environment has a profound gether.

impact on society and society has an impact on that environ- ment. Given the scale of the ocean environment, the effort

When you look at your industry as a whole, and and expense for understanding how to mitigate the negative looking at the myriad of serious issues that we consequences and enhance the positive consequences are such face as citizens of this planet, what do you see that they must be addressed by society at large (fundamentally as the burning issues of the day that will put at a regional, national and international level). At this level, the work that you do in the world’s oceans front there is profound competition for funds to address the col- and center for the next generation?

lective needs of society. Effectively messaging the maritime The serious issues are very broad and impact individuals need to those who will make the decisions on the allocation of in very different ways depending on whether the individual

January/February 2016

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