Principal Consultants

Mark Thompson
Principal Consultant, Client Advisor

Mark consults, advising senior managers within the financial, exploration and production, and drilling contractor sectors of the industry.

He is a highly skilled and experienced project professional with a proven track record for successfully completing complex and innovative multi million US dollar projects.

Paul Franzetti
Principal Consultant, Contracts and Dispute Resolution

A lawyer, Paul’s experience is from complex general business litigation in the US and international arbitration, involving claims arising out of design and build construction contracts, general contracts, antitrust and securities issues, technology transfer agreements, employment discrimination, partnership issues and expropriation of assets.

Dave Hutchinson
Principal Consultant, Drilling Rigs

Dave is a professional Marine Engineer and Project Manager specialising in drilling rig project design, construction, commissioning, and maintenance. Dave’s experience covers drilling rig operations, maintenance, and project management, equipping him with valuable knowledge of almost all drilling and drilling related equipment and systems.

Dave’s team includes industry specialists such as mechanical, electrical and construction engineers. Members of his team are Russell Miller and Adrian Popescu. 

Abbie Strachan
Principal Consultant, Engineering and Construction

Abbie has been involved with design, maintenance, construction and operations of drilling rigs, platforms and other vessels. He has accumulated over 25 years of experience in various project positions both in the UK and overseas.

He has also been involved with business support roles, maintaining close working relationship with clients, in particular through alliance and partnering contracts.

Derek Toal
Principal Consultant, Project Audit & Risk Management

Derek is a major projects qualified practitioner with extensive practical experience as well as academic knowledge gained across a wide spectrum of management roles and responsibilities.  He has extensive experience in project management and quality assurance, as well as performance measurement and systems evaluation within the drilling, marine, defence, major construction, and nuclear sectors of industry, including design application, risk management, stakeholder issues, procurement, construction, and service delivery.

Derek heads the Project Assurance Team (PAT).  His team includes qualified assessors and auditors. Members of his team are Ken Grassick and Damilola Olutogun.

Bob Kennedy
Principal Consultant, Project Services & Controls

Bob is a project controls expert with a wealth of experience of project planning, cost control, contract management, and risk assessment and management. Bob is an innovative thinker who has honed his experience on drilling rig, sub-sea, refineries, petro-chemicals, module fabrication, offshore hook-up & commissioning, Brownfield, shutdowns, and conversion projects.

Adrian Sutcliffe
Principal Consultant, Project Security & Risk

Originally a member of UK Special Forces, Adrian has extensive experience in industry, consulting around the world for companies including Lloyds Register and many national governments. He has specialist knowledge of marine and offshore security but also possesses knowledge and experience of crisis and incident management, facilities and personnel security solutions and risk mitigation and management for all types of project.

Russell Miller
Consultant, Drilling Operations and Projects

Russell Miller is a highly experienced Drilling Rig Manager and Project Manager. His career in the drilling industry has taken him through maintenance, project engineering and management, and operations management roles for major drilling contractors. Most recently, he works as Project Consultant for E&P operating companies and drilling contractors.