Information on Directors
John Smith
Chairman
John Smith was appointed Chairman of Benthic Geotech Pty Ltd in August 2011.
John is a chartered mechanical engineer with a degree from Glasgow University and has almost 30 years of international oil and gas experience from bases in Norway, the United Kingdom and Australia. He worked for 20 years for various Brown and Root companies in upstream oil and gas engineering and construction. Following the Halliburton Dresser merger in 1998 John took operational responsibility for Halliburton Subsea and managed the strategic process which led to the formation of Subsea 7. John was CEO of that business for the first two years and served on the board until June 2007. He has served on the boards of five other listed companies as well as running his own business.
Most recently John was CEO of Clough from August 2007 until November 2011 and in that period the business was restructured and returned to profitability.
Back to top
Ron Finkel LLB, Bcom (Melb)
Ron has been actively involved in the venture capital industry since 1986 including roles at Pratt Venture Management and as Director of Investments at the Advent Management Group where he was actively involved with portfolio companies across a wide range of innovative technologies. In 1997, together with colleague Ergad Gold, established the Momentum Investment Group and were successful tenderers for one of the Australian Government's inaugural licenses under the Innovation Investment Fund program.
Ron is also currently a Director of Momentum Investment Group, Momentum Ventures Ltd, Petrecycle Ltd, AlphaPet Limited and Panviva Pty Ltd.
Back to top
Russell Staley BSC (Hons)
Graduating in 1974 from the University of Leeds (UK) in civil engineering, Russell emigrated to Australia to take up a teaching fellowship at the University of NSW where he carried out postgraduate studies in reinforced concrete.
In 1979 he joined engineering services company WorleyParsons where he held various positions culminating in executive director responsible for global oil and gas. From 1979 to 2004, WorleyParsons grew from revenues of $1 million to $500 million, listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in November 2002. Over that time, Russell was one of the key players in Worley's strategic growth. One of Russell's key areas of interest has been in offshore foundations engineering having responsibility for projects in Australia, SE Asia and the Middle East.
Russell was chairman of Benthic Geotech from August 2004 to March 2011 bringing his
25-year history in the global oil and gas business and his experiences and expertise in growing a world-renowned oil and gas services company.
Back to top
Geoff Ainsworth BA (Hons) MA, Dip. Fin. Mgt
Geoff is a Sydney based businessman with a portfolio of investments
in early stage companies. He is a director of a number of personally
owned companies, an alternate director of Zork Pty Ltd and a past
director and group general manager of Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. Geoff
is a trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW and of its Foundation, a
director of the Bundanon Trust and a member of the Council of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Geoff is a Fellow of the Australian
Institute of Company Directors.
Back to top
Gerard
Hutchinson BEc, MBA, MBL
In addition to a role as a Non-Executive Independent Director of
Benthic, Gerard Hutchinson is the
Executive General Manager, Finance Change Programme for Leighton Holdings Limited.
He is a professionally qualified
accountant with considerable financial and commercial background and
has a strong belief in education to meet evolving business needs. He
brings a combination of Board (FAICD) and Executive (FAIM) experience
in both construction and engineering industries over the last 20
years. This includes responsibilities for a diverse portfolio of
autonomous multinational operations, from start-up to market leaders,
with substantial turnover and employee bases working both in
Australian and Asian operating environments and cultures.
Gerard holds a Bachelor of Economics and a number of Masters degrees
in Business Administration, Information Systems Management, Law and
the Arts. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts in
Australia (FCA), the Australian Institute of Company Directors
(FAICD) and the Australian Institute of Management (FAIM). He chairs
the company's Audit Committee.
Back
to top
Information
on Management
Greg
Fyffe MBA BE Petroleum Engineering (Hons)
acting CEO
Greg was appointed Acting CEO in December 2011 following 5 years in a business
development role at Benthic Geotech. Greg
joined Benthic Geotech having spent 8 years in various roles which
span the oil industry supply chain. Most recently Greg spent almost
3 years as primarily a Corporate Planning Analyst with Roc Oil, a mid-cap
Australian independent oil company, where he gained experience across
a wide range of areas including capital raising, new ventures and acquisitions,
crude marketing, and oilfield development.
Greg
started his career with Schlumberger, the multinational Oilfield
services giant, where he spent 4 years working in Venezuela , Libya
and Indonesia as a Field Engineer and was ultimately given responsibility
for managing an operations base in Libya . He also spent a year with
Caltex Australia in a supply planning role. Greg holds a Bachelor of
Petroleum Engineering (Hons) from UNSW and an MBA from the Australian
Graduate School of Management, UNSW.
Back
to top
Barry
Clark FCPA
Chief Financial Officer
Barry joined Benthic in February 2011 in the position of Strategic
Finance Officer to steward the company towards an IPO. In June 2011
Barry was promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to joining Benthic, Barry was employed with Leighton Group in
various divisions and positions for over 37 years. Barry commenced
with Leighton in Perth, WA before moving to Sydney in 1980 to manage
the IT Department. Barry transferred to Leighton Properties in 1987
as Chief Financial Officer and completed 23 years within this
division.
Back
to top
Steven
Stuart MBA BE Civil
Business Development Manager
Steven Stuart was
appointed Business Development Manager in Dec 2011 following 6 years
in a Corporate Development Manager and Asset Manager roles for
Benthic Geotech.
Steven has had
a long association with Benthic Geotech related to corporate, financial and capital raising activities. Steve has extensive experience in business and financial consulting. In the last seven years
he has worked for major international finance houses and in a consulting role to emerging businesses.
Steven began his career as a civil engineer in project engineering
and
project management positions with Australian civil engineering contractors.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from the University of
Sydney and
an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, UNSW.
Back
to top
Pat
Kelleher PHD (Syd) BE Civil (Hons)
Senior Geotechnical Engineer
Pat was appointed as Benthic Geotech's Operations Manager in February
2001 following 4 years as a Senior Engineer with a leading firm of
offshore
geotechnical consulting engineers in Perth. During this period Pat
was
responsible for designing and supervising many offshore geotechnical
site
investigations. With over 16 years working in contracting, research
and
consulting environments, Pat has valuable experience across a diverse
range
of projects including civil and marine projects, and a variety of
design,
supervision and construction tasks.
Pat holds a First Class Honours degree in Civil Engineering and a
PhD in
Geomechanics.
Back
to top
