Corporate Officers
Dean E. Taylor
Chairman, President & CEO
Dean Taylor is a 1971 graduate of Tulane University with a B.A. in English, an MSBA graduate of Boston University in 1977. In 2000 he completed the Harvard Advanced Management Program.
Mr. Taylor served as a U.S. Naval Officer from 1971-1978 with duty aboard a Navy destroyer and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. He also served as a staff Officer for the Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet.
Mr. Taylor started as an assistant manager for Tidewater in June 1978 in Morgan City, Louisiana, assisting with operations in the Gulf of Mexico. He was promoted to General Manager of Tidewater’s business activities in Italy in 1979 and remained there until 1981. From Italy, he was transferred to become General Manager of Tidewater’s business activities in Brazil in 1981 and remained in that position until 1985.
Mr. Taylor was promoted to Regional Manager of Tidewater’s business activities in the Middle East, India and East Africa in 1985 and remained in that position until 1986, at which time he assumed responsibility for Tidewater’s joint ventures and businesses in Mexico. He assumed responsibility for Tidewater’s business activities in Venezuela as well in 1992, and was promoted to corporate Vice President in 1993. In 1995, he assumed responsibility for all Tidewater business activities in the Americas south of the Rio Grande, including the Caribbean. He was promoted to Executive Vice President in December 2000 with continuing operations responsibilities in Brazil, Mexico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Angola, West Africa, Nigeria and the North Sea, and he also oversaw the coordination of all international sales activities.
In October 2001, Mr. Taylor was appointed President and immediately began overseeing every aspect of Tidewater’s worldwide operations. He assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer from former Chairman and CEO William C. O’Malley in March 2002, and also was made Chairman in July 2003. He has served as a director for Whitney Holding Corporation since 2002 and for the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) since 2003. He has been a member of Tidewater’s Board since 2001.
Mr. Taylor is fluent in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese with a working knowledge of French. He lives in Kiln, Mississippi, with his wife Marilene and has six children.
Jeffrey M. Platt
Chief Operating Officer
Jeff is a 1979 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Following a 15-year career with Schlumberger Well Services and Rollins Environmental Services, Jeff joined Tidewater in 1996 as General Manager of Tidewater’s business activities in Brazil. In September 2001, he assumed responsibility for Tidewater’s joint ventures and business in Mexico. In November 2001, Jeff was promoted to Vice President, with responsibility for all of Tidewater’s business activities in South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. In March 2004, he was promoted to Senior Vice President with responsibility over operations in the Americas, along with the Middle East and India. In July 2006, Jeff was promoted to Executive Vice President responsible for overseeing the day-to-day marine operations of the Company, both domestically and internationally and, in March 2010, was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Tidewater.
Jeff lives in Covington, Louisiana, with his wife Sandra and their two sons.
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Bruce D. Lundstrom
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Bruce earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting with Highest Honors from the University of Illinois in 1985, and in 1988 graduated cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law. Bruce is a member of the State Bar of California, the Illinois CPA Society, the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Texas General Counsel Forum.
Following a 10-year career in the energy industry where he had both domestic and international experience, Bruce joined Tidewater in September 2007 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. In August 2008 he was promoted to Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. He is responsible for the Legal and Insurance staffs of the company, and is Tidewater’s Chief Compliance Officer.
Bruce lives in Houston, Texas.
Quinn P. Fanning
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Quinn earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1994.
Quinn joined Tidewater as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in July 2008 following more than 20 years in the financial services industry. Most recently, Quinn was a Managing Director with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., which he joined in 1996. In his 12-year investment banking career, he primarily focused on the energy industry, particularly the oilfield services and midstream/pipeline sectors. Quinn’s responsibilities at Citigroup included providing client coverage and leading the execution of a wide variety of M&A, strategic advisory and capital markets transactions for clients across all sectors of the global energy complex. He is a Director of Floatel International Ltd.
Quinn lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Laura, and their four sons.
Joseph M. Bennett
Executive Vice President and Chief Investor Relations Officer
Joe graduated from the University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in December 1977 and completed the Harvard Advanced Management Program in 2006. He worked for KPMG from January 1978 through March 1990, attaining the level of Audit Senior Manager, working primarily with several large SEC oil and gas clients.
Joe joined Tidewater in March 1990 as Corporate Controller and was promoted to Vice President and Principal Accounting Officer in August 2001. In April 2005 he was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Investor Relations Officer, while maintaining his role as Principal Accounting Officer. In June 2008 he was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Investor Relations Officer, and is responsible for coordinating communications with shareholders and the investment community.
Joe is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants. He lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Claire, and has four children.
Gerard P. Kehoe
Senior Vice President
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Gerry earned a National Certificate in Civil Engineering from the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Dublin, Ireland in 1978 and completed the Harvard Business School General Management Program in 2005. He joined Tidewater in July 1999 as Area Manager for Venezuela following a successful career with the Dowell division of Schlumberger, where he held several technical and general manager positions. In September 2001 he was appointed Area Manager for Brazil and in December 2002 he was promoted to Latin America Regional Manager. In May 2005 Gerry was promoted to Vice President and in June 2008 to Senior Vice President, and has continued his supervision of operations in Latin America.
He lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Selma, and has one daughter.
William R. Brown IV
Vice President
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Billy earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil/Structural Engineering in 1975 from Louisiana Tech University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Louisiana.
Following a 28-year career in marine construction in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Gulf of Suez, Arabian Gulf and India, Billy joined Tidewater in July 2003 as Vice President-Engineering and Technical Services for Tidewater Marine, L.L.C. He was promoted to Vice President of Tidewater Inc. in April 2005 and is responsible for Quality Shipyards, L.L.C. as well as overall management of the engineering and technical services group. This group is responsible for engineering, procurement, and project management activities for major modifications to the Company’s worldwide fleet, as well as management of the new vessel construction program.
Billy lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Fran, and they have four daughters and one son.
Craig J. Demarest
Vice President, Principal Accounting Officer and Controller
Craig graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in May 1987. He worked for KPMG for 17 years and served as an audit partner in the firm’s New Orleans office. As audit partner, Craig was responsible for the audits of a wide variety of clients, both publicly held and privately owned, primarily in the energy service, marine transportation and outdoor advertising industries.
Craig joined Tidewater in May 2004 as Corporate Controller and was appointed an Officer in April 2005 and Vice President in June 2007. In June 2008 he was promoted to Vice President, Principal Accounting Officer and Controller, and has oversight responsibility for all accounting activities as well as the timely reporting of financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission, shareholders and lending institutions.
Craig is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants. Craig lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, with his wife, Jennifer, and their four children.
Kevin Carr
Vice President, Taxation
Kevin graduated in December 1982 from Loyola University in New Orleans with a BBA degree in Accounting. He joined Tidewater in 1992 as the Director of Corporate Taxation after working in public accounting, serving as a Senior Manager with KPMG specializing in corporate taxation during his last four years. Kevin has oversight responsibility for all domestic and worldwide tax planning, monitoring, compliance and reporting.
Kevin lives in the New Orleans area with his five children.
Matthew Mancheski
Vice President – Chief Information and Chief Strategic Planning Officer
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Matt is a 1997 graduate of the University of New Orleans with a degree in Finance, and received his MBA from Tulane University in 2008. Following an 11-year career in healthcare finance, Matt joined Tidewater as Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Financial Analysis in April 2008. In March 2010, Matt was promoted to Vice President – Chief Information Officer and Chief Strategic Planning Officer responsible for overseeing information technology, software applications and all strategic planning initiatives for Tidewater.
Matt is a Certified Public Accountant, and he lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Kathleen, and their two daughters.
Debbie Willingham
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Debbie is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a degree in Finance, and joined Tidewater in March 2010 with over twenty-five years of progressive human resources experience.
Prior to joining Tidewater, Debbie served as Vice President of Human Resources for BMC Software responsible for global human resources, and she held the position of Vice President of Human Resources for Hewlett Packard responsible for the Americas region managing the Personal Computing Group and the global IT group. In addition, Debbie has held the position of Vice President of Human Resources with Compaq, which merged with HP and Human Resources Operations Manager for Motorola in Austin, Texas.
Debbie lives in Houston, Texas, and has two children.
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Darren Vorst
Vice President and Treasurer
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Darren earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University in 1987, and worked for six years at Price Waterhouse in Houston, including his final role as Audit Manager. He joined Tidewater as Treasurer in January 2009, following 14 years in various senior financial positions with offshore drillers Transocean (1993 to 2002) and TODCO (2003 to 2007). His many roles at Transocean included regional finance manager of the shallow water division, corporate senior strategic planning analyst, director of budgeting and forecast, Middle East region controller and manager of internal audit. At TODCO, Darren served as Controller until July 2003, when he assumed the role of Treasurer. At Tidewater, he has responsibility for all treasury and banking functions.
Darren lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Becky, and their four children.
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Nelson Greer
Vice President
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Nelson joined Tidewater in 1982, after completing 13 years in the British Merchant Marine. He completed the Harvard Business School General Management Program in 2006. Nelson holds a Chief Engineer Unlimited Class 1 Engineering License.
Nelson's progressive and extensive Tidewater experience includes engineering, technical management, operations management, area management and most recently Regional Management, with responsibility for Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East and India. His accountability also includes the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Geographically, in management positions he has been based in Angola, Nigeria, Congo and Gabon prior to his current posting in Singapore.
Nelson lives with his wife, Ann, in Singapore. Nelson and Ann have 4 children and two grandchildren.
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Mark Handin
Vice President
Tidewater Corporate Services, LLC
Mark is a 1991 graduate of Boston University with a B.A. in Economics, and earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996. He joined Tidewater in 1996 as a Commercial Representative in the Company's Southest Asian Operations, based in Singapore. Mark then held subsequent management positions in the Company's Mexico and Brazil operations, before being promoted in 2001 to Area Manager in charge of Company operations in Trinidad. Thereafter, he held similar Area Manager positions in Venezuela, Brazil, and Southeast Asia. In 2009, he was promoted to the position of Regional Manager for Tidewater's business activities in Europe and Africa, and in 2011, he was promoted to Vice President - Operations, with continued supervisory responsibilities over Company operations in the Europe and Africa region.
Mark is also formerly a licensed Master of commercial passenger vessels. He is currently based in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he lives with his wife, Krista, and their three children.
