We solve the “unsolveable”
Ricky Brown, Design Manager and Lead Designer for TVO, has extensive oil and gas industry experience. He was the Design Manager at Horton Wison Deepwater, served as the Design and Drafting Manager at Floatec, and was Lead Designer on various Spar projects. Ricky was the Fabrication Consultant for the Tubular Bells Spar, one of the first spars designed for the Gulf of Mexico and the largest ever built at the time of its construction. Ricky was a lead designer on a number of Gulf Of Mexico Subsea Projects and is owner and co-owner of a number of US patents.
Jay Bullard brings more than 20 years of experience in the offshore oil and gas industry to the TVO team. He has broad experience with designing and delivering electrical, electronic, and electro-hydraulic systems, including PCB designs, software, firmware, power distribution, and subsea motors and pumps.
Kevin Chell leads TVO’s Tethered BOP (TBOP) business, managing both Business Development and Projects. Before joining the company, Kevin was the CEO of Swanson, President of GMC, and Manager of Vetco’s Floating Production Systems Group during the most active time for Dry Tree Riser equipment deliveries. He has been involved in the business development and execution of many of the premier deepwater riser deliveries in the Gulf of Mexico.
An accomplished business leader, Kevin has more than 40 years of commercial, business development, and global P&L experience in energy, technology, and oil and gas and has held senior management roles based in Europe, the UK and the US. He has led the expansion of TVO’s patented BOP tethering technology, building and leveraging an international network of strategic partnerships to enhance TVO’s market position as a nimble, dependable, and cost-competitive business partner.
Russell Collins, Country Manager, Australia, has extensive commercial and corporate leadership experience in the offshore oil and gas business sector, including an executive role in an ASX listed company. He brings a wealth of international market experience to the TVO business development team from projects in Aberdeen, Japan, Houston, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Timor Leste, Sri Lanka and Sakhalin Island. Russell has a strong track record for developing successful small businesses, ranging from property development and environmental management to offshore construction and subsea engineering.
Matt Crotwell is a Principal Engineer at TVO. Before joining the company, he was an R&D Advanced Design Engineer at Dril-Quip, where he was involved in multiple product line developments for Subsea Wellhead and Vertical and Horizontal Trees and gained extensive experience in the design and qualification of metal-to-metal seals for Subsea Wellhead and Tree Systems. Matt holds several US Patents and has been involved in the development of multiple products recognized by OTC for Spotlight on Technology Awards.
Angie Flores is the Document Controller for TVO, responsible for version and quality control of engineering and design drawings, maintaining archives, and managing document access and retrieval. She has an extensive background in document control and worked as a Document Control Specialist for GMC prior to joining TVO. In her current role, Angie has been responsible for ensuring the accuracy, accessibility, and security of documents that have been critical in the execution of many successful projects in the offshore oil and gas sector.
Jim Maher is the original founder and coowner (along with Trendsetter Engineering) of TVO. Before forming TVO, he co-founded Horton Deepwater with Ed Horton, credited with the introduction of Spar and Tension Leg Platform concepts. Jim was the Spar Product Manager for Technip in the early 2000s and has been involved in the planning, development, and aftermarket support for many of the deepwater floating systems projects in the Gulf of Mexico. He holds more than 40 US Patents and is a four-time nominee to the National Academy of Engineering’s “Frontiers of Engineering” program.
Kim Mittendorf leads TVO’s monitoring, global analysis, and data analytics initiatives. He has a solid background of advancing technology in the offshore oil and gas industry working as Directory of Projects at Horton Wison Deepwater and has contributed to the development of offshore wind in the United States in his roles at Gamesa Wind US an Vestas Technology R&D Americas, Inc. Integrating technical and strategic skills, Kim has enhanced operational efficiency and driven innovation within the energy sector. Navigating through international projects and strategic planning, Kim guides technologies and processes toward practical improvements by identifying straightforward strategies to bridge technological and operational advancements from idea to execution.
Janet Wolf, P.E., performs detailed Finite Element Analysis for TVO’s clients and as part of the internal product design process. She has extensive experience verifying designs and performing detailed structural analysis on oil and gas structures, having worked as an analyst at Horton Wison Deepwater and at Engineering Research and Computing. Janet also worked for the analysis software company ANSYS as an application engineer, providing technical support, developing workshops, and training users. She has experience in advanced analysis and high- pressure/high-temperature and has analyzed designs for extreme environments, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and impact.
Ben Kubichek, PE, is a Principal Engineer at TVO, providing engineering support and technical expertise for both the Tethered BOP (TBOP) and TVO Projects business units. Ben began his career as an Edison Engineer at GE Oil & Gas, advancing through technical positions in the Vetco Gray floating production systems business while earning his professional engineering license. Ben’s most rewarding work has been his involvement in complex projects from initial concept development through installation and operation.
Jon Kersey, P.E., is a Senior Engineer supporting the design team at TVO. Prior to TVO, Jon worked for GE Oil & Gas developing custom equipment for floating production facilities. He played a lead role in the design, testing, and successful offshore implementation of the TVO Jupiter winch, which enabled P&A of a damaged wellhead offshore Brazil. The Jupiter design served as the basis for TVO’s development of shallow-water BOP tethering within the Hercules product line.
Glenn Wald is a Senior Riser Engineer responsible for the design and delivery of top-tensioned and catenary riser systems for floating drilling, production, and intervention facilities. He has extensive design, delivery, and installation experience and has worked on projects that include spars, TLPs and FPSOs in the GoM, North Sea, and Brazil. He recently retired from Shell, where he led teams responsible for riser systems for the Perdido Spar and Olympus TLP as well as a 10,000 ft water depth 15 ksi pressure rated intervention system and an industry joint venture oil spill response cap and containment system.
Steven Tran, P.E., is a Mechanical Engineer who designs riser equipment for TVO projects. Before joining the company, he worked as Mechanical Design Engineer for Dril-Quip and as a Riser Equipment Engineer and Riser Delivery Manager at Technip. An entrepreneur, Tran started a joint venture with friends and is one of the three owners of RN Motion Technologies LLC, which designs and manufactures production and drilling equipment. He has been involved with subsea hardware, risers, and riser tensioners, from initial design through manufacturing, testing, and delivery.
James McCelvey, Senior Engineer, is a Designer for TVO. Prior to taking on his current role, he worked for Horton Wison Deepwater and GMC. James holds two patents and has provided critical support for many successful, offshore oil and gas industry projects.
J.P. Martinez is TVO’s Aftermarket Engineer, assisting in the testing and assembly of TVO equipment, supporting offshore representatives, and providing clients with support and solutions to technical inquiries associated with tensioning equipment. A valuable member of the TVO engineering team, he has served as the company’s Representative Engineer on multiple offshore projects.
Derek Kennedy, Senior Project Manager, developed TVO’s QHSE processes and is directly involved in the execution, delivery, and installation of TVO projects and custom-built systems globally. He filled multiple technical and commercial roles at Tier 1 OMC supply companies, including Vice President of Global Tubular Systems at Franks International, Global Subsea Business Development Director at OneSubsea, and Director for Offshore/Floating Production Systems at GE Oil & Gas (formerly Vetco Gray Inc). He was a Design Engineer on the industry’s first Drilling Riser System in 10,000 ft water depth, which incorporated a fluid assist bearing to interface with a telescopic joint, for which he holds a patent. Derek has been involved in the business development, management, and execution, of several high-profile deepwater TLP/spar and subsea production projects.
Wanjun Kim, PMP, is an Engineering Project Manager, executing riser system design and delivery projects. Prior to joining TVO, he worked as a Riser Engineer, applying his mechanical engineering background to numerous riser system designs, including drilling risers, production top-tensioned risers (TTRs), infield steel catenary risers (SCRs), and export risers. He has managed the full life cycle of multiple deepwater riser delivery projects and has experience in integrity management as well as deepwater technology development.
Andrea Maher is a Project Manager, overseeing project execution from procurement and
scheduling through construction, testing, and installation. She brings years of experience to
her role, acquired in the execution of civil construction programs in the United States and
Colombia. Prior to joining TVO she worked as a Project Manager at 3D/International, Project
Director for Civilia S.A.S. and has served on the Board of Directors for Civilia S.A.S for several
years, assisting with financial controls and initiatives to raise the company profile.
Laurie McCelvey executes projects for the Tethered BOP (TBOP) business. She was a Chemistry teacher for 12 years before joining TVO and applies her problem-solving, organization, and management expertise from the classroom to executing TVO project builds from procurement through customer delivery. Her educational leadership and planning experience has been valuable in streamlining TVO’s winning approach to project execution.
Kayla Bio coming soon.
Jesse Riha, Principal Engineer, has extensive experience designing floating production systems
and capital drilling equipment and holds seven patents for novel solutions that resolve complex
operational issues. Before joining TVO, he managed the new product development group for
floating production systems at GE Oil & Gas, formerly Vetco Gray. Over two decades in the oil
and gas industry, he has designed top tension risers and TLP mooring equipment for projects,
including the Neptune TLP, Perdido Spar, Moho Norde TLP, and Bigfoot TLP, and more
recently, designed the first in situ top tendon connector replacement for the Allegheny TLP and
project-specific equipment for subsea connector remediation for the Kizomba A/B TLP.
Qunli Sun is a Principal Riser Engineer responsible for deepwater riser systems analysis and
design. His extensive experience spans multiple engineering fields and includes design and
analysis of steel catenary risers, steel lazy-wave risers, top-tensioned risers, flexible risers, and
umbilical systems for spars, semisubmersibles, and FPSOs. Before joining TVO, he worked as a
principal riser engineer at Technip/Genesis, Doris, Aker, and Wood. Qunli has contributed to
major projects, including APC Lucius, Heidelberg, Shenandoah, Horn Mountain, Holstein,
Chevron Anchor, ExxonMobil Hadrian North, Payara and Uaru, and BHP Trion.
John Trahan is a Principal Engineer at TVO. Before joining the company, he was the Senior
Section Leader of Subsea Wellhead Systems at Dril-Quip, where he was involved in developing
next-generation HPHT wellhead systems and product life cycle management. John played a role
in multiple large-scale projects and contributed to the development of equipment in multiple
product lines from initial concept through manufacturing, testing, and installation as well as
providing aftermarket support
Finlay Johnston supports TVO Business Development in the UK through 4C Global
Consultancy. He is a commercial leader with more than 25 years of international experience in
business development, contracting, and customer relationship management within the energy
sector and finance. His background includes collaborating with corporate leaders and the Boards
of Directors of S&P 500 companies. For more than 12 years, he has commercialized assets and
services globally, providing market analysis and stakeholder management for drilling
contractors, well intervention, well abandonment, and multi-service companies.