SAFINAH GROUP - Key Persons
Alan is a chemist with a background in industrial and polymer chemistry and has been involved in the paint industry for over 30 years. Whilst working for one of the world's largest paint companies, he developed the phenalkamine technology currently used in the majority of winter workable paints. This work led to him being presented with the MT Harvey Award for his contribution to the development of cashew nutshell liquid technology.
After some years in product development for the Marine business he become Technology Development Manager working with the internal research teams and setting up joint development projects with key external suppliers. Moving into the Yacht business, he became Global Technical manager, responsible for all technical aspects.
Alan has considerable in-depth knowledge of marine and yacht formulations in addition to an excellent understanding of their practical application in a working environment. Particular areas of expertise are antifoulings and foul release coatings, yacht topcoats and fillers, chemical tank linings and epoxy technology in general.
He has also been involved in cutting edge research having been Industrial Supervisor for 35 degree projects and 3 PhDs. In 2005 he was awarded the title of Visiting Fellow at Northumbria University.
With his breadth of experience, Alan works across all sectors within Safinah in a variety of roles such as coating project management on yachts, failure investigation, technology assessment, formulation training and provision of technical advice and Expert Witness.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Director
- Senior Consultant
Alan Walker joined the coating industry as a graduate chemist working in research and development. Since then he has had extensive experience in the marine and protective coatings industry in technical, commercial and managerial roles working in the UK, Middle East and Far East. Prior to joining Safinah, Alan was the EMEA Marine Director for one of the world's largest coatings companies. Since joining Safinah Group in 2015 Alan has acted as a coating expert on over 70 separate coating matters.
Andy joined the coating industry in 1993 in the technical support and new product development laboratories of a leading marine coating supplier. He spent 9 years working with all coating types whilst studying part time to achieve a 1st class honours degree.
Bridget is our Administration Manager and oversees the UK Marine Painting Forum. She has a background in office management, mainly in the advertising industry.
She is a keen drummer, is a supporting artist with a local TV agency and has appeared on Vera in the last few years.
Job Titles:
- Head of Chemical and Disruptive Technologies / Senior Consultant
Bruno has a background in chemistry and has specialist knowledge of coating formulation and testing in relation to the heavy-duty coating market.
He worked for 10 years as a paint formulator for many paint companies in the marine and protective coating sector including one of the world's largest heavy-duty paint companies. He has expertise in paint formulation of various chemistries such as anticorrosive coatings, topcoats and intumescent coatings and their corresponding testing requirements. Bruno has successfully developed and launched new intumescent products into the market.
Within Safinah, Bruno heads the coatings technology sector with clients such as raw material providers, paint manufacturers and new technology disruptors, ranging from start-up to multinational. This sector provides market insights such as market analysis, forecasting, assistance with formulation, technology assessment in order to minimize clients' risks, time and cost to enter the market.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Environmental Team
- GM Marine Consulting / Senior Consultant
Carl Barnes joined the coating industry as a graduate chemist working in technical support and new product development. Since then he has had extensive experience in the marine coatings industry, in technical, commercial and marketing roles. He has a specialist knowledge of marine fouling control and regulatory aspects.
Prior to joining Safinah Carl was Global Marketing Manager in Marine Fouling Control for one of the world's largest coatings companies.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Senior Consultant
Charles Atkinson is a coating consultant who has extensive experience of planning and executing coating systems for new build projects, such as multi-roll offshore supply vessels, FPSO, fast offshore patrol vessels (military type) and mega yachts.
He has developed maintenance planning systems for land based oil & gas installations, jack up rigs, multi-roll vessels, applying specialist knowledge in preparation and application techniques for coatings.
Charles has many years experience in the mega yacht industry both in new construction and maintenance and repair of existing vessels.
His background as a yacht builder means he is able to align the complexities of construction with the nuances of aesthetic coatings to ensure the best possible results are achieved. As well as practical advice on yacht coating and construction he also acts as an independent mediator when parties are unable to agree a way forward.
He is FROSIO level 3 registered and specialises in practical aspects of application, specification and planned maintenance.
Job Titles:
- Associate, Professional Technical & Engineering Services
David has over 40 years of experience in shipbuilding, oil and gas, ship repair and engineering/project management companies.
He has worked in a variety of senior management positions including Operations Director for a ship conversion and repair specialist, Principal Consultant for a Marine Consultancy and Programme Director for a Service Support Specialist. He has a broad experience of Commercial Marine Engineering and Project Management.
David has acted as expert witness, representing overseas clients in major litigation cases.
He has authored numerous papers and articles related to marine vessel design and operation.
Doug Gilbert has over 30 years of experience in the marine and protective coatings industry. As Technical Training Manager for one of the largest suppliers of marine and heavy duty coatings, he wrote technical service training programmes which are used worldwide. He has written in-house standards on surface preparation techniques which were adopted by NACE and SSPC and form the basis of current ISO standards.
With over thirty years of professional experience as: a seafarer; a Classification Society surveyor; a researcher; a lecturer; as well as being a Naval Architect for ship owners and at an oil major; Dr Braidwood is recognised internationally as being highly motivated to provide a safe environment for ships and their crews.
Iain's ship experience runs the range from Tugs, Roll-On/Roll-Off (RO-RO) ships, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Carriers, Liquefied Natural Gas Carriers (LNGCs), Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) vessels, Bulk Carriers, Shuttle Tankers, Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) up to Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCCs) to oil Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) and Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, and also Submarines. He is acknowledged as being an authoritative communicator with extensive experience of engaging proactively with customers.
Dr Braidwood has an established international reputation for ship structures and marine assets. He has authored many technical papers and been invited to give numerous public and conference presentations on ship structures and naval architecture. He has previously served as a Member of Lloyd's Register's Offshore Technical Committee (OTC) and was Chair for one term and Member of the Tanker Structures Co-operative Forum for over a decade. Iain is currently a Visiting Lecturer on Ship Operation and Naval Architecture at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Environmental Team
- Director of Technology / Head of Chemical, Energy & Infrastructure / Consultant
Job Titles:
- Head of Yacht Consultancy
With an academic background in organic and polymer chemistry, Neil is a vastly experienced chemist and R&D manager with over 18 years' experience in the chemical industry working for the world's largest supplier of yacht coatings.
As a Laboratory Chemist and Technical Manager, Neil had a proven track record in delivering new products and technologies to market, including many of the most commonly used fillers, finishes and primers in the yacht industry. He has led teams in supporting the business in all yacht coatings sectors including antifoulings and topcoat colour matching.
Since joining Safinah Group in 2015, Neil has managed many projects for coatings support in superyacht newbuilds, refits, condition surveys, insurance claims and major legal cases.
Through this combined experience Neil has all round knowledge of how yacht coatings should perform both in theory and in practice.
Job Titles:
- Head of Special Projects / Consultant
Ralitsa qualified as a Marine Engineer and has had experience working in ports administration, ship management and maritime administration, including a research placement at the IMO.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Environmental Team
- Principal Consultant
Raouf has a background in seafaring, academia, shipping, shipbuilding and naval architecture and has a specialist knowledge of coatings.
He has worked with many leading shipbuilders and shipowners (commercial and naval) on coating issues from design to production with a focus on improving productivity and integration of the coating processes.
Working with ship owners and shipbuilders he has developed a performance specification approach to enable the correct technical assessment of alternative paint scheme proposals that minimises costs and risks associated with the lifetime of a project. This approach has been proven on significant marine projects.
He has worked with almost all the world's leading coatings companies and headed the product development teams of a multinational company.
Working with major raw material suppliers and equipment manufacturers he has enabled them to establish the added value of their products and assisted them to introduce novel technologies successfully to the marketplace. He undertakes assignments for investment houses and venture capital firms seeking to invest in core coating markets.
Raouf has worked on a wide range of marine, offshore and industrial projects, including catastrophic coating failure investigation and failure analysis relating to coatings. He has acted as an independent mediator between parties in dispute.
Raouf is increasingly sought to give expert advice on coating matters in Arbitration.
Talk to one of our environmental experts today on +44 1670 519 900 or email the environmental team at green@safinah-group.com
Dr Brooke has a wide experience in a broad range of engineering disciplines and their associated supply chains. This comes from 30 years experience in senior operational, technical and board roles in marine, rail and defence sectors.
He has a particular knowledge of the practicalities in structural fabrication and its linked technologies of welding, coating, heat treatment, forming, and assembly.
He has worked internationally with both small and multinational organisations in senior positions and is recognised for being able to view both hands-on and strategic aspects in problem solving and business improvement.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Ian began his career as an Electrical Apprentice before progressing into the Design Engineering Department of a major shipbuilder. He has over 35 years' experience in basic, concept and detail design projects and associated installations within, marine, industrial and pharmaceutical environments.
Within the pharmaceutical environment Ian was responsible for the Electrical & Instrumentation scope associated with the design, installation, commissioning and validation of numerous projects which included plant upgrades, new building and process plant installations and major shutdowns.
Within the marine environment working with ship owners, operators and Classification Societies Ian has been involved with numerous ship builds, design studies, upgrades and conversions for both commercial and naval ships, such as: Diamond Mining Vessels, FPSO, FSO, FLNG, Offshore Patrol Vessel, Polar Research Vessel and Pipelaying Vessels.
Ian has a broad appreciation of the overall ship design process including the interaction between disciplines, how they and the requirements of regulatory authorities interact and impact on the overall project objectives.
Job Titles:
- Lead Consultant, Americas
Expertise: Marine coatings and heavy-duty coatings in Energy and Infrastructure sectors
Job Titles:
- Accounts, Payroll & Administration
An experienced chartered senior finance professional, Jessica leads the Finance function for Safinah.
Prior to joining Safinah, Jessica has a background in FMCG, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Chemicals and Transport.
Over a 30 year career as a ship designer and naval architect, Keith has been constantly at the forefront of the technical development of robust but flexible solutions for a multitude of design problems, ranging from sub 20 metre / 20 tonne high speed passenger catamarans and landing craft to FPSOs and FLNGs in excess of 500 metres long and over 700,000 tonnes displacement for the harshest of environments. He has constantly strived with clients globally to explore unknown and commonly conflicting multiple dimensional design spaces for novel, complex and bespoke merchant and offshore ship types, both new-build and conversions, such as: Offshore Production vessels (FPSOs, FSOs, FLNGs, FRSUs); Transport Ships and Barges; FloTels; Mining Ships; Gas Carriers (LNG, LPG, LH2); Shuttle Tankers and Bunker Ships (Oil and Gas); Cargo Ships; Passenger Ships etc.
Keith began his career as a Naval Architect with a major shipbuilder and also worked in ship repair. Prior to joining Safinah he was engaged in consultancy as Chief Engineer for Commercial Marine responsible for the development of ship designs, undertaking technical investigations and identifying solutions, technical governance and was Technical Authority. He was also responsible for the technical management of a large multidisciplinary merchant ship and offshore design office including Naval Architecture, Marine Structures, Marine Engineering, Electrical and Controls, and Cost Estimating functions. In addition, he was also Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Naval Architecture domain pan-site throughout the company.
Keith has authored over 40 technical papers and articles and been invited to give numerous public and conference presentations on naval architecture and ship design. He is active in several professional learned institutions and sits on a variety of professional technical committees etc. developing standards and guidance for the maritime industry globally.
Expertise: Passive Fire Protection (hydrocarbon and cellulosic), bridges, failure analysis
Languages spoken: English
Qualifications: BSc. (Hons) Chemistry, AMPP Senior Certified Coatings Inspector (NACE Level 3), ICorr Fire Proofing Inspector (Level 2)
Lee Spoor joined the industry as a graduate chemist working in coatings production support and formulation development with a major International coating manufacturer where he has spent his career to date. Subsequently he has devoted much of his time delivering high end project support to the oil and gas and infrastructure markets. His role in project support troubleshooting projects on behalf of major clients has provided him a wealth of varied site experiences which he now brings to Safinah. In addition to his knowledge of coatings Lee has supplemented this with qualifications and specific experience in the various passive fire protection markets.
Job Titles:
- Head of Financial Systems and Analysis
Job Titles:
- Assistant Manager Technical Services ( Excl Asia )
Talk to one of our coatings or engineering experts today on +44 1670 519 900 or email the team at enquiries@safinah‑group.com
Job Titles:
- Business Development Director
- Senior Consultant
Job Titles:
- Manager Marine Technical Services ( Rest of World )
Job Titles:
- General Manager, Tech Services, Marine & Asia