How would you summarise your career background and what has led you to where you are today?
“In 2005, I started my own business which I ran for a decade until I reached my late 30s. I felt the need to take a step in a new direction as I thought I had outgrown the retail industry, and that my position was better suited to someone a little bit younger than me, and it gave someone I had employed into the business the opportunity to progress his career in the industry - it felt like the perfect time for change. I wanted to challenge myself in a new industry - with my experience, I knew my next step would be in a sales-based role.
“With an array of oil and gas opportunities on my doorstep here in Aberdeen, this felt like the ideal industry to take my career. In 2014, I took my first step into the world of oil and gas as a friend of mine introduced me to Reel Group, who wanted a Client Relations Manager - from there, I had the opportunity to work with all the main list of drilling contractors including Transocean, Diamond Offshore, Ensco & Rowan (who have since both joined to form Valaris).
“In 2017, I then progressed from client relations to business development, where I succeeded as a Business Development Manager at a chemical manufacturing company. In 2020, I finally got the opportunity to join Aubin and haven’t looked back since.”
How has your role and experience evolved since joining Italmatch?
“It was predominantly on-the-job training - when I first started, I spent some time in the laboratory where I gained an in-depth understanding of the chemical products being manufactured and where they are applied within the industry. Afterwards, I spent some time meeting with our clients both locally and in Europe to gain an understanding of the relationships and how we support their businesses.
“Initially, the role was very tailored to business development with a main focus on the well services aspect of the business. Since Italmatch Chemicals’ acquisition in 2022, I’ve adapted to a sales manager role with a new title of Regional Sales Manager for Europe.”
What is your key area of expertise, and what do you bring to Italmatch?
“With a background in sales that extends to my years running my own business, I’ve developed strong relationship-building techniques which allows me to quickly understand the clients’ needs whilst being able to consider how the services of Aubin can meet them. This customer experience and knowledge is essential for creating growth opportunities for the business. I’ve always been good with numbers and have a keen interest in sales, which motivates me every day to achieve our monthly, quarterly and yearly objectives.
“Other strengths include the ability to identify opportunities to develop new business which relates to the importance of understanding the market and its customers.
“I would say that my commercial acumen is another benefit to Aubin - I have a great understanding of revenue generation and contribution margins, so I’m well-equipped to help determine margins and pricing that is competitive within the market."
What does a typical day look like for your role - what is the ultimate goal for you?
“Day to day I liaise with the regional sales team of Emelia and Adam, making sure they’re always supported with any issues, queries and decision making concerns, whilst being in constant communications with our key clients and our colleagues around the globe.
“We now collaborate across the wider Italmatch team through presentations and group sales meetings. This time is invested in identifying new clients, key players, and new industries like renewables, and analysing how our product portfolio can influence around these markets.
“Whilst carrying out these daily duties, I’m also regularly reviewing our sales figures to determine if we are on track to meet our set timely objectives and targets.”
What makes you so passionate about your work, and what do you enjoy most about the role?
“I get a buzz from solving problems for our customers using available chemistries within the Italmatch product portfolio and introducing new clients to the organisation - I find this very rewarding. Business Development is something I thoroughly enjoy whether it be from existing clients or generating new business, it’s something that’s been instilled in me since the day I started my journey in a sales role.
“I really enjoy the mix of sales and building relationships. This role gives me the opportunity to meet new people and build a rapport with potential clients which is what sales is all about”.
For Aubin, what are the benefits of being acquired by Italmatch? What opportunities does this open up to the business as a whole, or your department in particular?
“I think this acquisition opens doors around the globe that previously would have been closed, or at least a lot harder to get through. A great example of this is our relationship with global tier 1 companies. With Italmatch now involved, we have teams based in the USA, South America, Europe & Middle East which gives us a better opportunity to communicate with oil and gas companies with regional offices. This new relationship is fruitful both ways, as we can support the global Italmatch sales teams by working with their clients who may be based in the UK on their behalf, whilst they continue to open doors for us in these aforementioned regions.
“It’s almost like Aubin is scaling up what we have already been able to achieve. For example, we’ve recently met with Operators in Brazil regarding one of our well technologies ‘Xclude’. This conversation had been progressing over a long period of time, but as Italmatch have a regional team in Brazil already, we now have the ability to hold face-to-face meetings with their technical team on a regular basis whenever required.
“The end result of this project is that Italmatch has now been issued a PO to complete a plug and abandonment project on three selected wells in Brazil. This fantastic outcome would have taken a lot longer to get over the line had it not been for the acquisition, as our UK personnel would have had to spend a lot of time travelling to and from the region, but thankfully we were able to use the team already on the ground in Brazil.”
What do you see in Aubin and Italmatch’s future over the next 3 to 5 years?
“Although I’m still finding my feet in this new and exciting role, I can only see a prosperous future for Italmatch and Aubin. There will be continued opportunities for growth, as we now have the chance to explore new geographies with existing clients and the ability to connect with potential customers.
“We’re already seeing advancements in our well technologies, with two of them set to go into the field within the next couple of months. Xclude (P&A) will be used in Brazil, with another product Resolv 260 (Sustained Casing Pressure Remediation) ready to debut in the UK North Sea - Once field trials are completed for both projects, I can only see a bright future on this front.
“As I’m now supporting the Italmatch product portfolio, the level of business from my perspective has rapidly increased in turnover which was a daunting prospect at first, but nevertheless exciting at the same time.
“Growth for us is particularly focussed within our well technologies initially - I think this is going to be an important area for us over the next 10/20 years. When our field trials are complete from the opportunity in Brazil, then this will open many doors across multiple regions. There’s also huge potential with our Xmax and Resolve 260 products which can kickstart fresh revenue streams for the business.”
How does the Acquisition with Italmatch benefit Aubin’s existing customer base? Have you seen any immediate successes?
“Yes - an example of this is the development of a new cement fluid loss liquid that was developed through the collaborative approach between Aubin and Italmatch’s technical teams. By bringing our teams together, we were able to create a product to take to the market - the first manufacturing of said product is already underway and will be delivered to one of our clients in Africa.
“New products are coming to the forefront that we can deliver to the market which will result in an increased market share for us. With Italmatch’s manufacturing capabilities across the globe, we’re now able to manufacture products closer to the location of the client as opposed to manufacturing in the UK and shipping all over the world. This sets an excellent precedent for our ESG efforts whilst decreasing our overall emissions.”
Why do you think people choose Italmatch?
“I think we are a fantastic organisation to work with that’s complete with a knowledgeable and experienced team. In terms of our product portfolio, we’re always looking to support businesses and address their issues and with Italmatch’s added product range, the scale of projects that we can become involved with has increased significantly.”
