OilVoice - ARKeX Appoints New Chairman

ARKeX Appoints New Chairman

Thursday, December 03, 2009

ARKeX, a provider of geophysical imaging services, announces the appointment of Dr Steve Curl to succeed Gary Jones as Non-Executive Chairman of ARKeX Ltd from the beginning of December 2009.

Steve Curl is an experienced non-executive director and chairman with private equity companies in the oil and gas sector. Currently he is serving as Chairman of VSI, a software developer backed by Matrix Private Equity Partners, and as Chairman of SMD, a company backed by Inflexion Private Equity that manufactures remotely controlled subsea vehicles for the oil and gas industry. Steve was Chairman of Inflexion backed Viking Moorings, the market leader in the provision of mooring systems to the oil and gas industry, until its recent very successful sale for £170m to HSBC Private Equity.

Steve holds a PhD in Engineering and has a background in management and business development in high-technology engineering businesses including AEA Technology, PII Group and AspenTech Inc.

Gary Jones said:
"I am delighted to be handing over to Steve. I am sure his thorough understanding of technology-led businesses will be of great benefit to ARKeX in ensuring our continued development as a leading innovator in geophysics".

Steve Curl said:
"I am looking forward to joining ARKeX which has a fascinating technology and a very strong position in the upstream oil services sector".

ARKeX's Chief Executive Officer, Kitty Hall said:
"Gary Jones has been an excellent chairman, guiding the company through our early intense phase of growth and development to the world leading position we are in today. We are very grateful to him for the past four years of service.

We look forward to working with Steve, who joins us at a time of strong growth in our world wide service business in marine and airborne gravity gradiometry, and as our technology in both low noise instrumentation and integrated imaging moves from development to delivery. His blend of business and technology experience and international background will be of great benefit to us".

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