EPI is an international consultancy operating across the globe with our divisional head offices based in the UK. One of our core strengths lies in our outstanding team. With many years of field, operational and technical experience across all disciplines, we have the knowledge and expertise to ensure excellence throughout the organisation.
Ian Langley Chairman
Ian founded Air Energi, a specialist energy workforce solutions provider in 1988, becoming Group Chief Executive Officer in 1997. In 2008 Ian took up the role of Group Executive Chairman and in 2013 became the Non-Executive Chairman. He has overseen expansion through sustained organic growth and targeted strategic acquisition to grow the company to over 40 locations worldwide. Ian joined the EPI board in 2014 as Chairman. His wealth of experience and expertise will ensure EPI continues to expand its international operations worldwide.
Andy Smart CEO
Andy has been in the seismic industry for over 30 years, initially as a surveyor with GSI spearheading the use of GPS in the seismic industry. Andy then held various management positions with WesternGeco including Operations Manager, Country Manager and Global Operations Support Manager and was closely involved with the development and marketing of WesternGeco’s proprietary single sensor recording systems. After 24 years of dedicated service Andy left WesternGeco in 2008 to become a Director of Geophysical Exploration Management Ltd, a successful land seismic project management company. During Andy’s career he has worked around the world successfully delivering seismic projects in the most challenging environments.
Fiona MacAulay Non-Executive Director
Fiona studied at UCL (BSc Geology) and Reading (MSc Sedimentology) before beginning her career at Mobil North Sea Limited in 1985 then moving to Amerada Hess Ltd and later British Gas as Manager of International Geological Operations. More recently she has held the positions of COO for Rockhopper Exploration PLC, CEO of Echo Energy and now is chair of Independent Oil & Gas plc.
Bernard Dale Non-Executive Director
Tony Dickin Non-Executive Director
Tony has more than 15 years of private equity experience and is one of the founding partners of Palatine. He started his career at NatWest Acquisition Finance working as a debt provider on several private equity transactions. Prior to the formation of Palatine, Tony was Head of Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity’s London office responsible for sourcing and completing transactions in the South of England. Tony is on the Board of Wren Sterling, John Charcol, EPI Group and Selection Services. He was also on the board of XLN Telecom and Electra-net prior to the exit from these investments.
Richard Thompson Director of Operations
After graduating with a B.Sc. (hons) in Geological Sciences in 1997 (University of Leeds) and subsequent Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies in 2006 (Anglia Ruskin University), Richard worked as a geophysicist, both on and offshore, in high-resolution and 2D seismic acquisition and processing. He specialised in site investigation surveys and Landmark ProMAX processing systems, subsequently becoming Consultant Geophysicist on various 2D/3D surveys for leading contractors. From 2004 to 2007 Richard was Project Manager for a geophysical contractor on marine 2D seismic, continental shelf, site investigation and hydrographic surveys. Richard joined the EPI Group in 2007 and he now sits on the Board of Directors of the EPI Group with overview of all seismic operations.
Dr Mark Enfield CEO, Geoscience
Mark is an exploration geoscientist and oil industry innovator with 20+ years’ experience and proven track record working throughout the E&P cycle. Mark established PDF, for E&P advisory, in 1994 and PDF has grown to become a global geoscience consultancy and provider of the innovative Outsourced Exploration Department (OExD®). Mark’s experience of hydrocarbon exploration extends across highly diverse geological settings globally, and he is noted as a specialist in structural analysis, New Ventures, Play Fairway Analysis and Charge Modelling. Mark has made a leading contribution in a significant number of oil & gas discoveries, has assisted a number of companies from start up to IPO and trade sale and assisted companies in expanding their asset base and strategically diversifying their exploration portfolio. Prior to PDF Mark worked for Maxus Energy in London and Dallas, Texas and ESRI. Mark is founder of the PDF Research Fellowship with Plymouth University (a joint industry/academic collaboration for knowledge and technology integration in the oil and gas industry), holds a PhD in structural geology from Imperial College, London and is proud to be a PESGB Young Professionals mentor.
Dr Gehrig Schultz COO of Geoscience
Gehrig joins EPI with more than 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry as a Senior Executive in geoscience companies, he holds a PhD in Geophysics. Gehrig has an exemplary record as a business leader within the oil and gas exploration and production services industry and brings with him deep technical knowledge, together with great experience in development and commercialisation of new technologies. Gehrig is a proven executive manager and geophysicist with over 30 years in the industry. Over the past 20 years Gehrig has been responsible for growing several international seismic contracting businesses to turnovers in excess of $100MM per annum, most recently as CEO of Prospectiuni where he was responsible for increasing turn over from $30MM to $100MM.
David Hirst Finance Director
A qualified Certified Accountant with over 20 years of commercial experience gained in small, medium and large businesses across a variety of Industry sectors including Retail, Catering, Shipping, Software and Manufacturing, working both in the UK and Europe. David joins EPI as Finance Director, bringing a wealth of specialist skills from SOX 404 Finance process mapping to SAP Finance Implementation.
Stephen Wilson Director of Business Development
Stephen joined the offshore wind pioneers back in 2004, working for what is now the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, completing his time there as Director of Wind and Marine. Since then he has been involved in renewable and subsea businesses, leading the diversification, development and creation of new offshore service offerings, technologies and products for both existing and new markets. Stephen joins the EPI team to focus on the growth strategy of the business and ensure our continued success in existing and new markets.
Ian Langley Chairman
Ian founded Air Energi, a specialist energy workforce solutions provider in 1988, becoming Group Chief Executive Officer in 1997. In 2008 Ian took up the role of Group Executive Chairman and in 2013 became the Non-Executive Chairman. He has overseen expansion through sustained organic growth and targeted strategic acquisition to grow the company to over 40 locations worldwide. Ian joined the EPI board in 2014 as Chairman. His wealth of experience and expertise will ensure EPI continues to expand its international operations worldwide.
Andy Smart CEO
Andy has been in the seismic industry for over 30 years, initially as a surveyor with GSI spearheading the use of GPS in the seismic industry. Andy then held various management positions with WesternGeco including Operations Manager, Country Manager and Global Operations Support Manager and was closely involved with the development and marketing of WesternGeco’s proprietary single sensor recording systems. After 24 years of dedicated service Andy left WesternGeco in 2008 to become a Director of Geophysical Exploration Management Ltd, a successful land seismic project management company. During Andy’s career he has worked around the world successfully delivering seismic projects in the most challenging environments.
Richard Thompson Director of Operations
After graduating with a B.Sc. (hons) in Geological Sciences in 1997 (University of Leeds) and subsequent Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies in 2006 (Anglia Ruskin University), Richard worked as a geophysicist, both on and offshore, in high-resolution and 2D seismic acquisition and processing. He specialised in site investigation surveys and Landmark ProMAX processing systems, subsequently becoming Consultant Geophysicist on various 2D/3D surveys for leading contractors. From 2004 to 2007 Richard was Project Manager for a geophysical contractor on marine 2D seismic, continental shelf, site investigation and hydrographic surveys. Richard joined the EPI Group in 2007 and he now sits on the Board of Directors of the EPI Group with overview of all seismic operations.
Dr Mark Enfield CEO, Geoscience
Mark is an exploration geoscientist and oil industry innovator with 20+ years’ experience and proven track record working throughout the E&P cycle. Mark established PDF, for E&P advisory, in 1994 and PDF has grown to become a global geoscience consultancy and provider of the innovative Outsourced Exploration Department (OExD®). Mark’s experience of hydrocarbon exploration extends across highly diverse geological settings globally, and he is noted as a specialist in structural analysis, New Ventures, Play Fairway Analysis and Charge Modelling. Mark has made a leading contribution in a significant number of oil & gas discoveries, has assisted a number of companies from start up to IPO and trade sale and assisted companies in expanding their asset base and strategically diversifying their exploration portfolio. Prior to PDF Mark worked for Maxus Energy in London and Dallas, Texas and ESRI. Mark is founder of the PDF Research Fellowship with Plymouth University (a joint industry/academic collaboration for knowledge and technology integration in the oil and gas industry), holds a PhD in structural geology from Imperial College, London and is proud to be a PESGB Young Professionals mentor.
Dr Gehrig Schultz COO of Geoscience
Gehrig joins EPI with more than 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry as a Senior Executive in geoscience companies, he holds a PhD in Geophysics. Gehrig has an exemplary record as a business leader within the oil and gas exploration and production services industry and brings with him deep technical knowledge, together with great experience in development and commercialisation of new technologies. Gehrig is a proven executive manager and geophysicist with over 30 years in the industry. Over the past 20 years Gehrig has been responsible for growing several international seismic contracting businesses to turnovers in excess of $100MM per annum, most recently as CEO of Prospectiuni where he was responsible for increasing turn over from $30MM to $100MM.
David Hirst Finance Director
A qualified Certified Accountant with over 20 years of commercial experience gained in small, medium and large businesses across a variety of Industry sectors including Retail, Catering, Shipping, Software and Manufacturing, working both in the UK and Europe. David joins EPI as Finance Director, bringing a wealth of specialist skills from SOX 404 Finance process mapping to SAP Finance Implementation.
Stephen Wilson Director of Business Development
Stephen joined the offshore wind pioneers back in 2004, working for what is now the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, completing his time there as Director of Wind and Marine. Since then he has been involved in renewable and subsea businesses, leading the diversification, development and creation of new offshore service offerings, technologies and products for both existing and new markets. Stephen joins the EPI team to focus on the growth strategy of the business and ensure our continued success in existing and new markets.
Dr Matthew Watkinson Principal Geoscientist
Matthew is a geologist who specialises in sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, prospect evaluation, play fairway analysis, seismic, well-log, field and core analysis. With a wide global experience across four continents and including conventional and unconventional exploration and development projects, Matthew has built a track record of innovative technical analyses and helping clients to achieve their exploration goals. Matthew also holds post of Senior Lecturer in Petroleum Geology at Plymouth University, UK and chair of PDF Fellowship at Plymouth University. This experience ensures Matthew brings a strong ethos of collaborative learning to the EPI Group to continuously improve our capabilities.
Dr Richard Goodchild Senior Geophysicist
Richard is a Seismic Processing Geophysicist with 20 years’ experience in the exploration sector of the Oil & Gas Industry, including both marine & land processing and also land acquisition. Before joining EPI in 2017 Richard held the position of Marine Processing Supervisor at Geotrace Technologies, and prior to that the position of Senior Geophysicist with Veritas DGC Ltd. Whilst at Geotrace Richard successfully supervised multiple project teams working on deadline-orientated, technically challenging Marine Processing projects for a variety of major Oil & Gas industry clients, typically overseeing 5-8 projects at a time. He has a proven track record of delivering projects on time and exceeding client expectations.
Peter Van Baaren Chief Geophysicist
Peter van Baaren is a highly experienced seismic survey design geophysicist. After graduating from Delft University with a Master’s in applied geophysics in 1987 and his National Service, he worked as a field geophysicist on 2D and 3D crews working in various countries in Europe before moving to the Americas.
After moving out of the field, he has been involved in mainly designing complex land and transition zone seismic acquisition surveys in terrains encompassing mountains, arable land, urban areas, deserts, and transition zone for different sources from airguns, explosives to vibroseis and nodal/cable acquisition systems.
Working for a large integrated oilfield services company, with many talented colleagues, and being posted around the globe Peter has been at the forefront of applying technology to design surveys to overcome seismic imaging problems. This has included ultra-high channel count high productivity broadband vibroseis surveys to bespoke seismic surveys for mining. The key to these successful designs is his understanding of all the steps from acquisition to processing, combined with a very broad knowledge of seismic operations onshore, in the transition zone, OBN and marine. Currently at EPI Peter’s focus is on land, OBN, and marine seismic acquisition survey design leveraging the broader knowledge within the EPI group.
Peter has published a number of papers and is an active reviewer for the SEG and EAGE
Boff Anderson Land Operations Manager
Boff has over 33 years’ experience in the seismic and oilfield industry. The majority of this has been gained with Schlumberger group companies overseas, and specifically the Middle East. Boff started his career in land seismic and held positions of increasing responsibility a variety of operational, technical and management positions such as land party chief, land marketing manager, Regional sales managers, technical product champion and country manager. He spent two years as the Eastern Hemisphere Sales Manager for Schlumberger’s subsurface consulting group before working in the UK as the Europe and Africa Sales Manager for Schlumberger Geosolutions before joining the EPI Group in 2017.
Robin Rickard UXO & EOD Manager
Robin brings an unrivalled level of expertise in marine UXO and EOD risk management from over 40 years of experience in performing mission critical assignments for both the Royal Navy, the United States Navy and within the commercial sector. A proven superior leader who has led worldwide tactical specialist teams through the complete range of Navy diving and explosive techniques. Robin applies his extensive experience and management skills to deliver high-profile renewable sector projects both on and offshore including amongst other notable tasks, the safe and cost-effective disposal of a sea mine within the boundary of a nuclear power plant.
Warren Miller Director of Business Development
Warren joined EPI in 2012 to continue helping expand the international sales presence. In 2013, he moved to the US where he was instrumental in opening the office in Houston. This important step in EPI’s growth ensured we tied closer links to the company’s US based clients, which have grown tenfold. Warren brings a wealth of business experience and knowledge in a variety of fields and has a proven track record establishing close links with clients and consultants alike. Warren now looks after International Business Development in a host of territories.
David W Arata US Renewable Energy Director - Sales
Global business development, sales, and marketing leader, experienced in leading, creating and evolving database, pipeline, sales, and relationship management procedures that have had significant business growth and market share gains in the energy arena. C-Suite audiences in the Power/Renewables sectors are areas of specialty, leading to successful project outcomes with Exelon (PSEG), Avangrid, Duke Energy, Black & Veatch, NYSERDA, National Grid, Burns & McDonnell, TRC, Kiewit and others. A solid demonstration of the full understanding for a successful business team, including owners, design, construction, operations, maintenance, supplier diversity, unions, training, and procurement. Successful track record of providing strategic, marketing and business leadership in achieving challenging operating plans, business development and sales targets. Skilled at working with partners and business, growing relationships, developing networks, and presenting new and existing product and value-oriented solutions.
Ben Dyton VP Asia-Pacific
Ben began his seismic career at Western Geophysical in 1997 as an Observer. He has worked extensively in the main offshore oil and gas operating regions on projects in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North & South America and South East Asia. He worked his way up offshore with WesternGeco, CGG and SeaBird to the role of Party Chief. The latter part of his offshore career was spent working in Australia, NZ and the wider SE Asia region. He started his onshore career as a rigging team supervisor and later took up the roles of Operations Manager followed by Sales and Marketing Manager at SeaBird Exploration. Ben has extensive first-hand, technical, safety, environmental and commercial knowledge which is delivering value to EPI clients.
Ryan Szescila US General Manager
Ryan has twenty-two years of experience in the upstream international oil and gas industry working for Schlumberger. His early career was focused on managing large scale 3D geophysical surveys in remote and often extreme environments. Since leaving field operations, he pursued regional and global roles in business development, marketing and project management, specialising in data processing, reservoir characterisation, geophysical data acquisition, consulting and data licensing.
Chong Liang General Manager Renewable Energy Asia
Chong attended the National University Singapore, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil Engineering). He began his career as a Geotechnical Engineer for Fugro in 2006, and joins EPI after 15 years of increasingly responsible roles within the Geoscience and Geotechnical industry. As General Manager Renewable Energy Asia, Chong is responsible for building client relations to establish EPI as a leading service provider within the Renewables, Geoscience, Geophysical and Geotechnical disciplines in the wider SE Asia Region. Chong is fluent In Mandarin (Chinese) and English and is a skilled Geotechnical Engineer
Brittiny Bennett Environmental Manager
Brittiny is responsible for providing marine environmental services to the energy and marine construction industries, as well as other organisations worldwide. She extensive experience both on and offshore, working in protected species observation including visual observation, aerial observation, passive acoustic monitoring, infrared scanning, and night vision monitoring. She also has background as an environmental inspector and in the management of environmental inspectors and environmental coordinators for various projects. She has vast experience in compiling protected species monitoring and mitigation reports for various government agencies and communications with clients and vessel crews.
She has a strong background in instructing Protected Species Observer training courses and assisting in the instruction of passive acoustic monitoring courses. Brittiny co-authored the OCS Study BOEM 2012-015 “Seismic Survey Mitigation Measures and Marine Mammal Observer Reports” and has assisted with the research, data entry, and data quality assurance and quality control of other studies. She was Instrumental in developing an interactive Global Regulatory Database (GRD) in which she researched the various mitigation procedures and best practices in place for the seismic industry around the world to make regulatory compliance methods more accessible for seismic operators.
Dr Ross Compton Environmental Advisor
Ross’ background is in ecology and marine science, with a PhD relating to marine mammal mitigation guidance. He joined the energy sector in 2005, working first with WGP, then RPS where he managed the provision of MMOs & PAM services for geophysical exploration, construction and UXO removal projects. Ross then went onto Horizon Geosciences as Project Manager for geophysical & geotechnical projects for oil & gas and renewable energy clients. Since 2017, Ross has supported the International Association of Geophysical Contractors (IAGC) as their EAME Consultant.
Marta Olczak Financial Controller
After graduating in a master’s degree in economics, Marta went on to study accountancy and financial management, becoming a chartered certified accountant in 2009. Marta has worked in the finance sector since 2000, in various industries from property to a manufacturer supporting airlines, she brings her vast experience to EPI as Financial Controller.
Jenni Nicholls Marketing & Sustainability Manager
Jenni started has worked in the industry since 1998, beginning as a graduate seismic processor for Svitzer – who became part of Fugro. She has worked globally, both on and offshore in areas such as South America, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, West Africa and Indonesia. Jenni worked her way up to client representative, setting up her own consultancy to provide data processing, data QC and QA. She brings this wealth of technical and commercial knowledge to her role at EPI, achieving Carbon Neutral status in 2021.
Ed Goddard Marine Operations Manager
Ed has previously worked in recruitment at a specialist environmental consultancy before returning to university for a MSc in Human Resource Management. He then gained experience in planning and logistics in the automotive industry before joining the EPI Operations team in 2018. As of December 2020, Ed takes over as EPI Marine Operations Manager.
