IMCA Names New Chief Executive
Published on 9 September 2015
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has appointed Allen Leatt as Chief Executive. He will be joining on 1 October 2015 from Subsea 7 where he has been Senior VP for Engineering and Project Management.
Looking forward to joining IMCA with its thousand-plus member companies in over 60 countries at a challenging time for the industry, Allen said he is”delighted to be joining IMCA and determined to strengthen and build upon the organisation’s special position in the marine contracting industry”.
Allen has over 30 years’ international experience in the marine contracting business with leading companies including Subsea 7, Acergy and Technip. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a chartered engineer in the UK.
Speaking of the two announcements made by IMCA within the past 24 hours, the appointment of Allen Leatt as Chief Executive, and Richard Benzie as Technical Director, IMCA’s President, Bruno Faure, Group Senior Vice President Subsea Projects and Operations, Technip, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to make these two key appointments. We had some superb applicants, and have chosen two personalities with outstanding profiles who know the industry well and will steer IMCA in the right direction. I very much look forward to working with them, as I’m sure will the members of the IMCA secretariat and all our members”.
About Allen Leatt
Allen’s career in the marine industry began in 1978 when as a graduate engineer he qualified as a commercial air diver and has subsequently spent his entire professional career in the marine contracting business. His first appointment was with John Laing Construction as a Field Engineer. From there he moved to SubSea Offshore in 1982 working as Project Engineer/Project Manager on various offshore construction and IMR projects.
He was then with Technip for 15 years, latterly as Executive VP for the SURF Product Line responsible for the marine fleet, the flexible/umbilical manufacturing plants and corporate engineering. He played a senior role in the development of the integrated subsea construction business model through the heritage companies of Coflexip and Stena Offshore. He has been a director and the CEO of various subsidiary companies of large organisations, and in 2000 formed the robotics company Perry Slingsby Systems by merging Perry Tritech and Slingsby Engineering.
He moved on to Acergy (when it was still known as Stolt Offshore) in 2003, as Chief Technology Officer/ Senior VP Engineering with responsibility for engineering, supply chain management, R&D and the company’s fleet renewal programme. This saw him with responsibility for a major investment programme building five heavy construction vessels, including latterly theSeven Borealis.
The merger with Subsea 7 in 2011 saw him appointed Senior VP Engineering & Project Management, where his responsibilities embrace engineering, project management, project services and supply chain management – all topics of relevance to IMCA’s global membership.
Allen was elected a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012. The Academy recognised his 30-year contribution to the oil and gas industry ‘as a renowned expert in the field of subsea engineering’ with particular recognition for his work in subsea construction techniques, underwater robotics and the development of offshore construction vessels. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a member of the Smeatonian Society, and a chartered engineer in in the UK.
He is a graduate of Aston University, which numbers him amongst ‘Aston’s 50 Greats’, and has an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University.