David said: “I have enjoyed working with the ROVOP team over the past months as Chairman and am thrilled to have the opportunity to work more closely with them to deliver on the many opportunities available to the company in the ever-improving and diversifying market. ROVOP is in a particularly strong position, having grown its fleet from 15 ROVs 18 months ago to over 50 today. At the same time, we have broadened the fleet to cover a number of different classes of ROV: from smaller observation class, to the heavy duty deep water state of the art Work Class vehicles.”
David continues: “We have made significant investment to ensure that every asset is in a high state of operational readiness and that our operations and support crews are trained to the excellent standard our customers expect of ROVOP. We are seeing an improving market, and especially at this time of the year, growing demand. This is an exciting time to have such tremendous resources available and ready to go to work, making us more prepared than ever to support our customers globally.”
Steven Gray is stepping down from the CEO role, after eight years leading the company. Steven was one of the founders of ROVOP in 2011 and has been the principle driving force in taking it from a start-up to be a major player in the subsea robotics field, with over 50 ROVs serving clients worldwide across various energy sectors. Steven will remain a Director and shareholder of the company with a focus on supporting the ROVOP team on future growth.
Steven stated: “This change comes at the right time in the life of ROVOP, I am very pleased to hand over to David. Working together allows us to play to our respective strengths and engage the wider ROVOP team to best effect. I look forward to working with, and supporting, David and the whole ROVOP team as we continue the tremendous ROVOP journey. It is a compliment to the business we have created that we are able to attract someone of David’s track record and talent.”
Senior representatives of the major shareholders, BGF and Blue Water Energy, Mike Sibson and Graeme Sword said jointly: “We want to thank Steven for his valued contribution over the past eight years and for all he has done to position the company for future success. We are very pleased to be working with David and believe this change strengthens the combined leadership team, positioning ROVOP for an even more exciting future.”