Bristow Group Inc. has announced organizational changes as part of continuous improvements to the company’s support services model. The changes build off the company’s success over the past 15 months to reduce costs and align the company’s structure with the market environment for offshore services.
“We have been pursuing increases in revenue and more efficient management of our portfolio of assets and businesses and reducing our costs as we continue to create the world’s premier industrial aviation services company,” said president and CEO Jonathan Baliff. “Market demands have changed, which means we must continue to look for opportunities to improve our support services model and enable our geographical hubs to operate more effectively and efficiently.”
As part of the efforts to reduce costs, the company is taking actions to restructure several functions within the organization; all designed to create a more effective and efficient, regionally-focused company while further reducing corporate general and administrative (G&A) costs to approximately 11.5 percent of revenues.
Bristow has removed a layer of management within its global Safety function, increasing alignment and focus at its two primary geographical hubs — Europe and the Americas. This will help create more integrated global oversight of processes, structure and metrics and ensure key learnings and best practices are shared across the hubs by pushing safety management and accountability closer to its business.
As a result, the position of vice president and chief safety officer has been eliminated and Steve Predmore has departed the company.
“Steve has played a pivotal role building on our strong foundation and further developing the unmatched safety culture we see today at Bristow,” said Baliff. “Steve helped us take our Target Zero safety culture to the next level and develop an outstanding bench of professionals and capabilities in our safety group. We are confident Bristow will remain at the forefront of safety leadership in the aviation industry as we move forward.”
Bristow will also integrate global supply chain, maintenance operations, asset and fleet management, global fleet support and global maintenance planning under a single global fleet and maintenance services group. This will result in a more efficient and complete life-cycle view of how the company manages and maintains its global fleet. The company will also consolidate several other corporate positions.
In addition, Tim Knapp, Bristow’s senior vice president and general counsel has also departed the company. Deputy general counsel Bo Underwood will assume the role of acting general counsel following Knapp’s departure.
“I thank Tim for the capabilities and leadership he brought to Bristow at a challenging time,” added Baliff. “I also thank Steve and our other departing employees for their service to Bristow and wish them well in their future endeavors.”
“Bristow has made effective changes these past several years to stay ahead of the offshore logistics downturn and evolve the industrial aviation industry,” Baliff said. “Today’s announced changes will enable Bristow to continue to improve — not just in today’s oil-and-gas market, but in any markets it serves for the short and long term.”
