New appointments target global growth

MDL has implemented organisational changes to its management and business development teams as it targets global growth in the “new normal” energy market.

Andrew Blaquiere, previously VP Americas, joins the MDL Board as Managing Director and will be overseeing the day-to-day business operations. The last three years Blaquiere has been responsible for the business development and commercial management for MDL based in Houston. Prior to joining MDL in 2017, Blaquiere held various positions within the Acteon Group across engineering, project management, sales and business analysis.

Reinforcing MDL’s commitment to its home market is the appointment of Dave Gardiner as VP UK & Europe.

Gardiner joined MDL in 2017 as BD & Commercial Manager, having previously worked as Contracts Engineer at TechnipFMC. He will be responsible for strengthening existing client relationships and building new ones, through tailored back-deck solutions to customers’ operational challenges in the North Sea basin and globally.

The company has also made two new appointments to the client-facing team.

Michael Blease-Shepley joins MDL as VP Africa, building on 17 years of Sales and Business Development experience in the subsea sector.

Following his initial career focusing on Scandinavia and Europe, Blease-Shepley went on to hold various management positions focusing on the African market, including with GSP Offshore, DOF Group and Ariosh.

From his base in Accra, Ghana he will focus on supporting the company’s existing clients in Africa, as well as building the MDL brand in the region.

Taking the role of Commercial Developments Manager is Marvin Morrison, who brings over 18 years of Project Management and Engineering experience from his previous roles at BP and DeepOcean, where he had responsibility for the delivery of significant SURF packages of work in UK, Norway and Azerbaijan.

He will be responsible for growing MDL’s Asset Engineering and Maintenance division by fostering relationships with both current and future O&G Operators, implementing business growth strategies and identifying new product solutions and services based on client feedback.

Derek Smith, MDL CEO, said:

“Like every other business in the world, we were not immune from the painful impacts of COVID-19. This will likely be the most challenging market since MDL’s inception over 20 years ago.

“Still, we have managed to keep all of our team members, successfully served our customers and delivered on all our commitments without fault, and we have continued to add new work into the pipeline, albeit at a slower rate. All of this is a testament to the strength of our people, and resilience of MDL.

“This is why I believe MDL can, and deserves to, continue to grow, to serve more customers worldwide with our value added services. These recent appointments are the springboard to this growth.

“I would like to congratulate Andrew and Dave on their new posts, and welcome Michael and Marvin to One Team MDL.”