Holger Temmen
Chief Executive Officer

Education: Diplombetriebswirt qualification (Economics degree) from Fachhochschule Muenster, Germany in 1990.

Career: Holger Temmen joined the DEUTAG Group of Companies in 1990 as a Financial Controller. In the early years he travelled widely implementing new financial and reporting structures in several different international locations. In 1998 Holger became Head of Finance and Control for DEUTAG International and in 2000 Managing Director, DEUTAG Europe. In 2001 he was promoted to Director, Finance and IT for KCA DEUTAG Drilling Group Ltd. He was appointed to the board of Abbot Group in 2005 and retains responsibilities for the business development and commercial functions in the KCA DEUTAG group of companies.

Brian Taylor
Chief Operating Officer

Education: BSc(Hons) in Civil Engineering, 1978.

Career: Worked as a civil engineer in tunnelling, dam construction, hydrology and water supply.

Joined Shell in 1981 and converted to petroleum engineering. Worked in various petroleum engineering, drilling operations and commercial roles, principally in the UK and Middle East. Left Shell in 1995 to join KCA DEUTAG in Aberdeen, initially as Operations Manager. Joined the board in 1996 as Operations Director. Appointed Managing Director of KCA Drilling UK Ltd in 2001. Appointed KCA DEUTAG Group Director - Northern Business Unit in 2007 with responsibility for UK, Europe, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Additionally responsible for RDS, KCA DEUTAG's Engineering and Projects Division.

External roles: Board member of Oil and Gas UK Ltd. Member of PILOT.

Peter Milne
Chief Finance Officer

Education: Qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloittes in 1977.

Career: Peter Milne first joined KCA DEUTAG Drilling Limited in 1981 and after spending four years in Saudi Arabia in a Mobil/Petromin joint venture refinery project, from 1984 to 1987, he rejoined KCA DEUTAG Drilling Limited and was appointed Finance Director in 1995.

Education: BEng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, 1982, Bradford University.
MBA, 1994, Strathclyde Graduate Business School, Glasgow. Chartered Engineer, MIMechE

Career: Worked for ICI Ltd and then BP as a chemical engineer in process plant related work.
Worked for Shell UK Expro for 10 years in a variety of petroleum and drilling engineering roles, both onshore and offshore. Joined KCA DEUTAG in 1995 and worked in a variety of engineering and operations roles. Appointed to the Board in 2001 initially in the position of Managing Director, Business Change following the acquisition of DEUTAG by Abbot Group. Has been responsible for managing and developing operations in a variety of regions, including Africa, Middle East and the Far East. Currently Director, Technical Services, responsible for Global Supply Chain, Equipment & Maintenance and Business Technology Solutions.

External roles: Has represented KCA DEUTAG on various governmental, university, SPE and IADC organisations.

Education: BSc (Hons) Naval Engineering; Diploma in Nuclear Reactor Technology; Chartered Engineer: Member Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Career: Between 1977 and 1992, Ross Richardson was a Royal Navy Engineer Officer (highest rank Lieutenant Commander) and after extensive training joined the Royal Navy Submarine Service, serving in a number of roles in the polaris submarine HMS Revenge and hunter killer submarine HMS Valiant, becoming a Marine Engineer Officer.He joined Enterprise Oil plc in 1992 and worked there for three years, introducing quality and safety management systems in support of the Nelson platform. In 1995, Ross joined KCA DEUTAG with a remit to lead the Human Resources, Training and Health, Safety and Environment functions. He became a member of the Board in 2000 and has set vision and strategic direction for the functional areas which have supported KCA DEUTAG's growth from a 400 employee business to a 6000 employee business.

External Roles: Director UK Drilling Contractors' Association; Director, Aberdeen Foyer.

Education: Trained at KPMG from 1989 to 1995, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1992.

Career: Mark Walker joined KCA DEUTAG in 1996 as Financial Manager, and worked his way up through the company, becoming Finance Director of KCA DEUTAG Drilling Group in 2007.

Education: BA in Business Studies, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Career: Neil has extensive drilling sector experience, initially joining the oil industry in 1989 to work for Bawden Drilling (now Noble Drilling) in Aberdeen and subsequently joining Smedvig Drilling (now Seadrill) in both Aberdeen and Stavanger working in contracts management and marketing roles, responsible for bidding, negotiating and administering a wide range of platform drilling, jack-up and semi-submersible, integrated services and EPC engineering contracts.

Neil joined KCA DEUTAG as Commercial Director in 1996, when the company was primarily involved in North Sea platform drilling operations for three clients - with a remit to develop a strategy to grow the company in both the North Sea and internationally both organically and by acquisition -subsequently helping the company to more than double in size by 2001, with a number of flagship contracts in Azerbaijan, the UK North Sea and Libya.

Neil then relocated to Houston as VP, successfully establishing the US office and winning major contracts in Sakhalin Island and Angola, before transferring back to the UK in late 2003 as Group Director Business Development.

In 2004 Neil put his entrepreneurial skills into practice, developing, building and subsequently operating an award winning Extreme Sports Centre in Aberdeen, under a Social Enterprise model and also establishing, with partners, an innovative restaurant, music and arts venue in the city.

Neil rejoined KCA DEUTAG in June 2008 as Director, Business Development and Commercial with worldwide responsibility for these functions.

External Roles: Neil is a Director of the youth charity Transition Extreme Sports Limited and of his other business interests.

Ian Mackenzie
Director, Projects and Business Excellence

Education: BSc in Engineering Science (Hons) Aberdeen University 1979; Postgraduate Diploma Offshore Engineering (Distinction), RGU Aberdeen. Chartered Engineer MIMechE; FEANI designation European Engineer.

Career: Ian joined Loffland Brothers as trainee engineer in 1981, working offshore in rig drilling crews, progressed to Rig Drilling Engineer, Engineering & Maintenance Manager; Rig Manager, Project Manager (rig design, construction & commissioning).

He joined KCA DEUTAG in 1996, via the acquisition of Nabors Europe, as UK North Sea Operations Manager, then Area Manager (Caspian & Sakhalin) responsible for the recruitment, training and start-up of 7 newbuild cyber platform drilling rigs offshore Azerbaijan and Sakhalin Island, Russian Federation.

Ian moved to the Board  early 2009 as Director, Operartions. His current role is focused on business improvement at an operational and strategic level.

External roles: Completed 4 years as External Examiner at RGU, Aberdeen MSc Oil & Gas course. Active sponsor of The Anglo Azerbaijani Society.