Our Team

Focused competence, for better wells

Board of Directors

Tom Sikorski
Tom Sikorski
Founding Partner
Tom Sikorski
Tom Sikorski
Founding Partner

Tom co-founded Bluewater in 2011. Tom’s responsibilities range from deal origination and structuring to execution, monitoring and exit strategy evaluation. Tom is involved in investment activities throughout the entire energy industry, with particular expertise in industrial manufacturing and service, energy transition and storage and logistics.

Before Bluewater, Tom served as Managing Director and, from 2006, Head of the London office and Chairman of First Reserve International. Tom holds an A.B. degree Magna Cum Laude in Economics from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Tom has served in recent years as a director on the boards of Aquilex Corp., Dresser, Inc., Dresser-Rand Group, Inc., Quanta Services, Inc. and Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited (BORCO). Tom is on the board of Authentix, Edge, Excellence Logging, IMServ, Galileo Technologies, GES, GPS Group and Severn Glocon.

Bill Wright
Bill Wright
Non Executive Chairman
Bill Wright
Bill Wright
Non Executive Chairman

Bill Wright is Non Executive Chairman of Excellence Logging, a position he has held since the start of 2016.

Bill’s extensive experience in the oil and gas business began in 1978 and covered more than 35 years with Schlumberger, working in management positions across almost all Schlumberger companies and around the world. Bill has lived and worked in 16 countries on four continents. In that time, he spent six years seconded to Amoco and BP-Amoco in their drilling organisation’s applied technology group.

He spent the last ten years of his career with Schlumberger as part of the global leadership team in the marketing and technical organisation, before assuming responsibility for the entire Schlumberger sales organisation. In addition, he chaired the yearly competition for transformational service integration across each of the businesses. This provided him with extensive experience in identifying and introducing technical innovation in oil and gas fields worldwide, which added value from the perspective of both operating and service companies.

Since retiring from Schlumberger, Bill has been advising private equity groups on investments in the oil and gas service arena and continues to serve as Chairman of the steering board of Tendeka.

Bill holds a BSc in Physics and Materials Science from the University of Liverpool. He is a life member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

John Lechner
John Lechner
CEO
John Lechner
John Lechner
CEO

John Lechner has been Chief Executive Officer of Excellence Logging since April 2020, after joining the company as Chief Operating Officer in October 2019.

John has more than 37 years of oilfield experience and has worked in the European, African, Russian, North American, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern markets.

He joined Schlumberger in June of 1984 and performed land and offshore electric wireline services from 1984 to 1990 before becoming Location Manager in Stavanger, Norway from 1990 to 1993. He then spent two years with Schlumberger Corporate Internal Audit in Paris before switching his technical focus to drilling engineering where he held operations and business development roles in contract drilling and integrated drilling project management with Schlumberger, Parker Drilling and OiLSERV from 1995 through 2012. He worked for Archer from 2012 until September 2019, with the last three years as Chief Executive Officer.

John holds a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Bruno Burban
Bruno Burban
President Founder & Chief Technology Director
Bruno Burban
Bruno Burban
President Founder & Chief Technology Director

Bruno is President Founder and was Chief Technology Director of Excellence Logging until his retirement in 2020 and remains on the Excellence Board of Directors.

Bruno has 37 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geoservices from 1999 to 2010.

Bruno joined Geoservices in 1982 as a mud logging field engineer, and went on to fill various technical, commercial and operational positions between 1985 and 1990. He was appointed Geoservices Marketing & Technical Manager in 1990, then Deputy Managing Director from 1994 to 1999. Most recently, he has advised several private equity funds on oilfield services acquisitions as well as working as one of the French leaders in consultant administrative services.

Bruno is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale de Lyon and holds an Executive MBA from HEC Paris.

Pierre-Henri Boutant
Pierre-Henri Boutant
Chief Financial Officer
Pierre-Henri Boutant
Pierre-Henri Boutant
Chief Financial Officer

Pierre-Henri Boutant has 24 years of experience, mainly acquired in the international oil and gas industry with several senior management roles in Finance with the Geoservices Group advising corporations and operations on complex international environments in West Africa and Latin America covering team building, team management, cost restructuring and implementation of internal control. Pierre-Henri worked as CFO of Candax, a junior E&P Company listed in Toronto, from 2011 To 2015. Prior to joining Geoservices, Pierre-Henri spent four years with Elf Aquitaine in France and Gabon as well as four years with Bearing Point where he developed a professional approach on business systems. Pierre-Henri Boutant holds a certificate in Accounting and Financial Studies and a Master's degree in management from the Institut Supérieur du Commerce de Paris, France.

Pierre-Henri have joined Excellence Logging back in 2015 as Group Controller and Deputy CFO, where he has been deeply involved in the acquisition and Integration of acquired business.

Management Committee

John Lechner
John Lechner
CEO
John Lechner
John Lechner
CEO

John Lechner has been Chief Executive Officer of Excellence Logging since April 2020, after joining the company as Chief Operating Officer in October 2019.

John has more than 37 years of oilfield experience and has worked in the European, African, Russian, North American, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern markets.

He joined Schlumberger in June of 1984 and performed land and offshore electric wireline services from 1984 to 1990 before becoming Location Manager in Stavanger, Norway from 1990 to 1993. He then spent two years with Schlumberger Corporate Internal Audit in Paris before switching his technical focus to drilling engineering where he held operations and business development roles in contract drilling and integrated drilling project management with Schlumberger, Parker Drilling and OiLSERV from 1995 through 2012. He worked for Archer from 2012 until September 2019, with the last three years as Chief Executive Officer.

John holds a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Pierre-Henri Boutant
Pierre-Henri Boutant
Chief Financial Officer
Pierre-Henri Boutant
Pierre-Henri Boutant
Chief Financial Officer

Pierre-Henri Boutant has 24 years of experience, mainly acquired in the international oil and gas industry with several senior management roles in Finance with the Geoservices Group advising corporations and operations on complex international environments in West Africa and Latin America covering team building, team management, cost restructuring and implementation of internal control. Pierre-Henri worked as CFO of Candax, a junior E&P Company listed in Toronto, from 2011 To 2015. Prior to joining Geoservices, Pierre-Henri spent four years with Elf Aquitaine in France and Gabon as well as four years with Bearing Point where he developed a professional approach on business systems. Pierre-Henri Boutant holds a certificate in Accounting and Financial Studies and a Master's degree in management from the Institut Supérieur du Commerce de Paris, France.

Pierre-Henri have joined Excellence Logging back in 2015 as Group Controller and Deputy CFO, where he has been deeply involved in the acquisition and Integration of acquired business.

Farouk Kimour
Farouk Kimour
VP Technology & Strategy
Farouk Kimour
Farouk Kimour
VP Technology & Strategy

Farouk Kimour started at Excellence Logging in 2015 and was part of the initial funding team. He is an energy industry professional with a strong focus on Technology, Innovation, and New Businesses. He was Research and Technology Project Manager for Geoservices, a Schlumberger Company, until 2015, where he led new technologies development projects. In this role, he also managed new product field introduction, commercialization, and technical support. During his first years at Geoservices, Farouk held several field engineer positions with assignments in Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America.

Prior to joining Geoservices in 2004, Farouk worked for American Air Liquide in their R&D center in Chicago. His current role at Excellence Logging oversees new product development and field deployment support as well as the sales and marketing of both existing and new products.

Farouk holds an MSc degree in chemistry and chemical engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Mulhouse, France, and a Global Executive M.B.A from INSEAD Graduate School of Business. He has authored several technical papers and international patents. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Miguel Gil
Miguel Gil
VP Well Intervention Eastern Hemisphere
Miguel Gil
Miguel Gil
VP Well Intervention Eastern Hemisphere

Miguel has 28 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, which he began in wireline and well intervention services. In 2001, he became Managing Director and Board Member of Wireline Service & Mfg (WSM), a leading service company in Italy. In 2008, following the acquisition of WSM by Geoservices, he became Well Intervention Manager for Geoservices Mediterranean District.

Miguel became a member of the Board of Directors of Dajan SRL in 2012, and during the next five years, he led Dajan to become one of the leading companies in Italy in well intervention services, expanding the company in both Europe and Africa.

Dajan became part of Excellence Logging at the end of 2016 and Gil joined the group as Vice President for the EAF Region.

Miguel holds a degree in Electronics in Italy.

Yves Gehan
Yves Gehan
VP Mud Logging Eastern Hemisphere
Yves Gehan
Yves Gehan
VP Mud Logging Eastern Hemisphere

Yves Gehan holds an engineering degree from HEI Lille in France. He started his oil and gas career with Geoservices in 2002 as field engineer in mudlogging and later in well testing. He progressed into operations management with assignments in Nigeria, Angola before becoming District Manager of the West Africa region. He later participated in the integration of the Geoservices group into Schlumberger. In 2010, Gehan became one of the three founder managers of the Wilog group specialized in geology-related manpower and slickline services, with the group reaching a yearly turnover of USD 23 million in 2014.

Philip Agnew
Philip Agnew
VP Western Hemisphere
Philip Agnew
Philip Agnew
VP Western Hemisphere

Philip Agnew joined Excellence Logging in July 2019 as Vice-President for North America. In July 2020, we expanded his role to Vice-President Western Hemisphere.

Philip has over 30 years of experience in leading companies through various complex global oil and gas projects across multiple industry verticals. Most recently, he was Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer at Parker Drilling, where his responsibilities spanned both operational and corporate functions in addition to M&A assessments and integration.

Prior to that, Philip was President of Aker MH, Inc, where he transformed and grew the business more than sixfold during his tenure. Previously, he was Vice President of Project Development at Signal International, where he was responsible for all project management and project control functions for five offshore rig repair and construction yards.

Philip started his career at Brown and Root and held successive roles at Interface Consulting, TDI-Halter and Schlumberger Sedco Forex. He holds a BSc degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the UT-Austin McCombs School of Business, and is a Professional Engineer registered in Texas (inactive).