Our leadership team
Meet the team that navigate our business by exploring the profiles of Sonardyne board members and non-executive directors, their roles and responsibilities.
Our board
Dr Graham Brown
Managing Director
Graham became our Managing Director in 2020 following more than 20 years working for the company across a wide variety of engineering and commercial roles.
Appointed to the Board of Sonardyne International Ltd. in 2008, Graham was most recently Deputy Managing Director and our Sales and Marketing Director. Before joining Sonardyne in 2002, Graham was Senior Project Engineer and then Director for D.C. White and Partners Ltd, where his involvement in a wide spectrum of engineering disciplines included seismic safety assessment of nuclear power facilities, product design, and investigation of industrial accidents.
Graham is an Electromechanical Engineer by background with a first class degree and Ph.D. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institute of Directors (IoD), Fellow of Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMarEST), a member of the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT). He contributes to a number of industry groups such as the Southern Region Council of the Energy Industries Council (EIC).
Dr Graham Brown
Managing Director
Dr Darryl Newborough
Technical Director
A solutions-orientated engineering leader, Darryl’s passion and expertise lies in developing, innovating and supporting complex technical solutions in the underwater domain. He has deep knowledge of a diverse range of subsea technologies including; acoustic and free-space optical communications, Doppler and inertial navigation. He actively fosters partnerships with universities and institutions around the world to leverage the advances made in academia into commercial reality. This work helps maintain our market-leading position and guides future business strategy.
Darryl attained his PhD in 2002 and is a Chartered Engineer. He holds a number of patents, Non-Executive Director positions and is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD).
Dr Darryl Newborough
Technical Director
John Norton
Manufacturing Director
John became our Manufacturing Director in 2019 and is charged with enhancing operational efficiency through the further implementation of lean manufacturing techniques, digital tools and automation.
Before joining Sonardyne, John worked for a number of organisations including GE Oil & Gas, Thales, Schlumberger, Daler-Rowney and DRS Technologies UK. During that time he managed five factories across a variety of sectors covering oil and gas, defence and fast moving consumer goods.
John has a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering with Business Studies and is certified in production and inventory management.
John Norton
Manufacturing Director
Malik Chibah
Engineering Director
Malik was appointed Engineering Director in 2019 and has worked in the marine technology industry for over ten years.
During his time at Sonardyne he has gained experience testing new systems prior to launch, working offshore and then managing development of new products such as SPRINT inertial navigation and also Fusion 2 software.
In his current role as Engineering Director, he is focussed on managing Sonardyne’s product roadmap and development teams to deliver solutions that provide the best possible value to our customers. As well as maintaining close contact with customers, Malik presents Sonardyne products and capabilities at industry events and through other channels.
Prior to joining Sonardyne, Malik worked in the software industry for 10 years as a developer and technical manager. Malik holds a masters degree in Hydrographic Surveying from University College London.
Malik Chibah
Engineering Director
Martin Davey
Finance Director
Martin is our Finance Director and was appointed to the Board of Sonardyne International Ltd. in early 2019. He is also Chief Financial Officer of Sonardyne Group.
Martin is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants and a Chartered Global Management Accountant, and has extensive operational and management experience of both family-owned and private equity-owned businesses and subsidiaries of global listed organisations.
With his team, Martin is responsible for working with our senior leadership team to develop the business, formulating sustainable growth strategies and implementing future plans. Martin is tasked with managing budget processes, the safekeeping of company assets, and taking responsibility for the overall control of all financial transactions and reporting. He also oversees all aspects of IT, HSE and legal and contractual matters.
Martin has spent his entire career working for international manufacturing organisations including over 20 years operating within the marine, defence and aerospace sectors. This work has involved setting up and managing new business units in Europe, USA and Asia.
Martin Davey
Finance Director
Steve Martin
Sales Director
Steve joined us in 2019 as Sales Director, tasked with leading our business development, marketing and sales teams forward into diversified markets and further developing our digital presence.
Steve began his career in the energy industry as Sales Manager with Elster, a company that were once our neighbours in building that is now our production facility – Fathom House. During his time with Elster, Steve worked on oil and gas projects across Europe before moving on to a long and successful post at Elliott Turbomachinery Ltd. as Sales Director for EMAR. This included a period working and living in the Middle East where Steve successfully managed international sales and engineering teams predominantly selling into the oil and gas and petrochemical customers such as Linde, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Technip.
Steve graduated Portsmouth University with a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering and lives locally to our head office campus.
Steve Martin
Sales Director
Our non-executives
Stephen Fasham
Non-Executive Director
Stephen has a background in engineering across a wide range of sectors including telecoms, displays, aerospace and power generation. He joined Sonardyne in 2013 and held several positions, latterly Investment and Integration Director before moving across to our parent company, Covelya Group, as Chief Executive Officer.
As a non-executive director, Stephen offers the board the benefit of his experience of other fields of business, combined with direct knowledge of Sonardyne.
Stephen Fasham
Non-Executive Director
John Ramsden
Non-Executive Chairman
John’s career with Sonardyne has spanned more than two decades.
John began his long association with subsea technology as an apprentice in the Royal Navy, which led him to serve on board submarines as a sonar maintainer. After leaving the service, he relocated to South East Asia where he took up a number of technical and commercial roles within the offshore oil and gas sectors.
In 1996, John joined Sonardyne as a Sales and Applications Engineer based in our Singapore office, travelling extensively within the region. In the years following, he held positions of increasing responsibility until assuming the role of Senior VP of Sales, directing strategy for the region, as well as managing sales.
John Ramsden
Non-Executive Chairman
Simon Partridge
Non-Executive Director
Simon holds the position of Strategy Director and has enjoyed a career with Sonardyne spanning over 20 years.
Simon joined the company in 1994 as junior product development engineer after gaining a first class degree in Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, and then a Masters in Oceanography.
Initially designing products, trialing them and developing their offshore applications, Simon became Engineering Director in 2006, seeing key technologies such as inertial navigation, optical communication and sonar imaging being added to the portfolio, whilst also progressing core acoustic positioning and communications systems.
In 2018, Simon became Strategy Director, leading identification, acquisition and development of future technologies and markets across the Sonardyne companies.
In 2021, Simon assumed the role of Chairman with the Covelya Group, our parent company.
Simon Partridge
Non-Executive Director