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Please tell us a bit about yourself, and specifically how you got into the maritime business? My first job out of college was in non-profit fundraising, but it didn?t take me long to discover I didn?t want to be stuck behind a desk! I asked my father, Gino Mecarini, for a temporary job in order to clear my head. He shipped me off as a deck hand on one of Alpine?s vessels, and I have never looked back. In my 20 years with the compa- ny, I?ve traveled all over the world, and have done just about every job we have. This summer, my father decided to step back on his day-to-day responsibilities, and I took over his role as President. Tell us about Alpine Ocean Seismic Survey. Alpine provides a full range of marine surveying and data collection services, including geophysical, hydrographic, oceanographic, geotechnical, environmental, and posi- tioning. We?ve worked on thousands of projects for oil and gas, civil engineering, cable, submarine, shoreline protection, and ? more recently ? offshore renewable energy. Alpine has been around since 1957 and my father purchased the company 25 years ago. In 2009 we sold a controlling share to another family-owned company ? the Gardline Group, which is based in the UK and is the largest privately owned survey company in the world. We consider family ownership a strength, as it enables us to take the long-term view rather than focusing on quarterly profits. We have about 20 employees here in the States, and we can draw on the 1,000 employees of Gardline as well as many long-term partners. What do you count as the company's primary strengths?We have the resources of a very large company, but we offer very personalized service. We are great at delivering a turnkey package ? if our team doesn?t offer the service, we can find the right subcontractors, manage the job, and integrate the entire process. We make it easy for our cus- tomers. We also have global expertise ? while we know the US very well, we have more than 50 years of internation- al experience and global assets, which has been strength- ened by our relationship with Gardline. In the States, we are particularly well-positioned on the eastern seaboard and in the Gulf of Mexico with our new vessel, the R/V Shearwater. It is a 110? x 40? aluminum twin hull that sleeps 20, and provides great positioning and line-keeping capabilities. The vessel is outfitted with two moon pools, A-frames, and a crane, giving us the ability to deploy a variety of specialized equipment for any job, near-shore and offshore. We launched the Shearwater this year, and have already done jobs on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast. Clients love the spacious quarters, the onboard lab- oratory, as well as the flexibility it provides for undertak- ing their projects. We understand that you have an interesting capability for shallow/freshwater survey. We introduced a new line of camera technology to the States, developed by Gardline, including a freshwater lens system. It?s specially designed to capture clear images in highly turbid conditions, which are common in both shal- Taking the Helm MTR interviews Rob Mecarini, who this summer took over asPresident, Alpine Ocean Seismic Survey.By Greg Trauthwein, editor34MTROctober2011 MTR#8 (34-49):MTR Layouts 10/10/2011 11:25 AM Page 34