IMCA

Hugh Williams, Chief Executive

Hugh Williams became IMCA Chief Executive in April 2002 when he took over from Tony Read, who retired after five years' service as the Association's first Chief Executive following the establishment of the combined full-time secretariat. Hugh is a chartered civil engineer and started his career in dock and harbour design and site supervision (including training as a commercial diver) before moving to offshore consultants Noble Denton. Here he specialised in marine operations, including towage and installation of offshore platforms, and especially heavy lift crane operations. This project and engineering experience was a vital springboard to his next role, as Business Development Manager for Heerema Marine Contractors' UK office. Before starting at IMCA he had another spell in marine consultancy with Global Maritime.

Throughout this time, Hugh worked in engineering and commercial liaison roles between contractors, clients and consultants. Several projects also included work with government, statutory bodies, universities, professional bodies and various research organisations. All of this experience is invaluable in his work at IMCA.

As Chief Executive, Hugh is responsible for day-to-day management of IMCA's affairs, reporting to the Association's Overall Management Committee. This includes financial affairs, liaison with senior representatives within member companies and client organisations, publicity/promotional activities and heading up the secretariat.

In particular, Hugh works closely with IMCA Council, comprising senior representatives of 'International Contractor' (ICO) members, and the Overall Management Committee, of which he is a full member. He leads on commercial/contracting-related issues and ensures compliance with the Association's competition law policy, which is crucial to advancing IMCA's work and members' collective interests within the confines of the extensive regulations applied to trade association activities.

Technical Team

Jane Bugler, Technical Director

Jane Bugler is a chartered chemical engineer who worked in the chemical industry for several years before joining the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE), where she worked in a variety of roles (including work regarding pipeline regulation) before joining IMCA in 1997, when she became Technical Director at the new full-time combined secretariat.

Jane has particular responsibility for the extensive and varied technical agenda of the various IMCA committees and for liaison between IMCA and external organisations, including other trade associations such as OGP, UKOOA and OLF, regulators such as ADAS, HSE, etc. and various diving-related organisations. Jane is IMCA's authority on safety and diving issues, providing invaluable continuity between the many technical agendas, separate pieces of documentation and the wide variety of clients, governments, authorities and other bodies mentioned above. This work means co-ordination of the various technical committees and workgroups, drafting of guidance and briefing, review of third-party drafts, oversight of technical audits (both of applicant members and establishments seeking recognition of certain training courses), and wide communication - a complex and heavy workload!

Jane acts as deputy chief executive in Hugh's absence, requiring detailed knowledge of IMCA's activities, and sits as a full member of the Association's Overall Management Committee, which has final responsibility for IMCA's work and management.

Philip Wiggs, Technical Adviser

Philip Wiggs joined IMCA in September 2001 from Lawrence Graham, an internationally known firm of solicitors, where he worked in the admiralty law department, mainly investigating marine casualties and acting for shipping clients from around the world. Prior to that he had a career at sea, mostly on foreign-going vessels, but including command on the coast, pilotage and experience of offshore support vessels. All provide special expertise for his role as Technical Co-ordinator.

Not surprisingly, his work is primarily with the Marine Division and Safety, Environment & Legislation (SEL) committees, including oversight of third-party consultant-produced technical reports, co-ordination of topic-specific workgroups and the provision of briefing to members on relevant legislative and other matters. Philip is IMCA's principal observer at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and works with various other industry groups, a role which requires a firm grasp of the implications of its work on members' activities and liaison with experts on IMCA committees and in member companies.

Nicholas Hough, Technical Adviser

Nicholas Hough joined the IMCA secretariat in January 2005 as Technical Adviser. Nick worked for seventeen years in marine seismic survey, the last ten of which as a chief observer or senior survey engineer for WesternGeco, a market leading seismic survey company owned by Schlumberger. Following completion of a degree in physics and geology, he spent a year studying electronic engineering before starting work offshore with Seismograph Service Ltd (SSL) in 1988.

Nick's work focuses mostly on the work programmes of the TCPC, SEL, Offshore Survey and Remote Systems & ROV committees. This has included development of careers and training material, safety statistics and significant input to several IMCA publications, such as the publication on digital video. His recent vessel-based knowledge has helped provide useful input to IMCA’s safety posters and pocket cards.

Ian Giddings, Technical Adviser

Ian Giddings joined the IMCA secretariat as a Technical Adviser in December 2006 from the Nautical Institute, the professional body for qualified mariners, where he worked as Director of Education and Training in a small team dealing with, amongst other things, training standards, accreditation and certification for personnel in dynamic positioning, oil spill response, offshore stability/ballast control and LNG shipping. As part of his role he also kept a watching brief on maritime education and training and represented the institute on a number of related organisations and bodies.

Ian started his career at sea, serving for fourteen years aboard a variety of vessel types and gaining his certificate of competency as a Master Mariner, before coming ashore to work at Aberdeen College within a team delivering courses to the maritime and offshore industry. He helped develop the college's courses, including the installation of various simulators, for dynamic positioning, semi-submersible stability and self-elevating platform operations for the world-wide industry. During that time he had the opportunity to gain experience as a DP operator onboard a semi-submersible accommodation vessel and as a marine surveyor and consultant. As a requirement of his work at the college he gained a further education teaching qualification.

He comes to IMCA with a wealth of experience in the maritime field which will be useful for his work, especially with the IMCA Marine Division, but also in related areas and alongside the other members of the technical team.

Paul Evans, Technical Adviser

Paul Evans joined IMCA in May 2007 as its fourth technical adviser, focused particularly on supporting the work of the Diving Division.

Paul has some twenty years' experience in hands-on operational roles, most recently with Maersk Oil Qatar where he was Marine Field Supervisor. The role included overseeing SPM, production hose, ROV and subsea field operations; and acting as point of contact for subsea operations, related audits and mobilisations. Additionally, he has acted as a consultant, offshore client representative and has carried out dive system and marine spread audits.

He has experience of working for both oil company client and subsea contractor companies in various roles, ranging from IMCA-certified diving supervisor to superintendent and operations manager positions.

Vicki Graham, Certification Schemes Administrator

Working part-time from Aberdeenshire, Vicki Graham has run IMCA's offshore diving supervisor and life support technician certification schemes since their inception (under AODC) during the 1980s. This role includes organising examinations in a wide variety of locations around the world, setting and marking the papers, issuing certificates and keeping accurate records for the scheme. This necessarily involves close work with the Training, Certification & Personnel Competence (TCPC) and Diving Division management committees, where Vicki's expertise and experience are much welcomed.

Adam Hugo, Support Services Manager

Adam joined IMCA in 1998, working his way up to become Support Services Manager at the beginning of 2003. Having grown up in Cornwall, south west England, Adam moved to London after studies at the London School of Economics. His responsibilities are twofold: managing the provision of support services to the secretariat and members; and to assist, advise and support the Chief Executive and Technical Director in areas of personal expertise.

This work includes: managing the support team; development and implementation of administrative systems; everything IT-related, from the secretariat network and its connectivity to the websites, including secure access for members to documentation, and CD/DVD output. Production of the range of IMCA documents, including design, formatting and proof-checking, ensures Adam and his team are always kept busy!

Nina Adams, Senior Administrator

Nina provides wide-ranging support to the secretariat, members and a range of other individuals with whom IMCA deals. She is particularly dedicated to IMCA's publications service - including invoicing, distribution, liaison with printers and dealing with various enquiries from around the world - as well as co-ordinating travel and accommodation arrangements for secretariat colleagues.

Nina's previous experience includes work in the private sector and with a UN agency in Switzerland which, combined with her extensive knowledge of IMCA's work over the years, makes her a useful and highly valued member of the team.

Parul Patel, Administrator

Parul joined IMCA in 2003 and has extended her role as the association has grown. As one half of the events team, Parul has a particular focus on arrangements for the range of seminars - including the hugely popular IMCA annual and safety seminars as well as smaller briefing sessions held around the world – and committee meetings, liaising with members and welcoming visitors to IMCA's offices in London. Co-ordination of a variety of administrative systems which help the secretariat's work to run smoothly is also a key part of Parul's responsibilities.

Parul spent her early years in Fiji before moving to the UK to complete her education in law at the University of Wolverhampton.

Claudine Bleza, Administrator

Claudine joined IMCA in April 2007 as its second dedicated events administrator. Her primary role is co-ordination of the association’s involvement in a variety of industry exhibitions and conferences, provision of relevant IMCA materials for members exhibiting at other events and management of IMCA social events, such as the annual charity ball and golf day. Her work also involves working with Parul on seminar administration and sharing in various other support tasks.

Originally from the Philippines, Claudine moved to England as a child with her family.

Ann Barnatt, Administrator

Ann officially joined IMCA in May 2007, although she had provided administrative support on an as-required basis from 1984 to 1998. In that time the association has grown and changed markedly and Ann is enjoying learning about IMCA in the twenty-first century.

Ann's particular area of expertise is document production, having used many systems with a variety of publishing companies. As well as helping with day-to-day needs, Ann is also leading efforts to complete the set of documentation available via the members-only website, as well as assisting with more general support team tasks.

Jean Carmichael, Bookkeeper

Jean joined IMCA in 2005, looking after the financial well-being of the Association. Her role ranges from banking receipts and issuing payments to detailed record keeping, payroll and tax calculations. She prepares regular reports on the Association's finances for the Chief Executive and Overall Management Committee.

Jean, who grew up in exotic South America, now lives in south London, has worked in accounting for some 30+ years. She works for IMCA on a part-time basis, with the rest of her time spent undertaking a similar role for a leading public relations consultancy.