Meet the ESCA Team

Based in London, England, Stephen is Engineering & Business Development Manager at Vodafone Group Services Ltd with 32 years of experience in the submarine systems industry and an extensive background in engineering, system development, management and business development.

Recent career highlights include serving Cable & Wireless Communications as Director of Submarine Systems Engineering for CWC Wholesale Solutions and development and implementation of 4 repurposed cable projects with a total length exceeding 6400 km.

Prior to leading business development for Vodafone Submarine Systems Engineering, Stephen was Director of Submarine Systems Engineering at Cable & Wireless Global Networks where he led a team that grew C&W’s international consultancy business to over £11 million. His expertise includes international connectivity and carrier commercial arrangements for submarine cables. He was the Network Manager for the Japan-US Cable and has managed a wide range of diverse submarine systems, Stephen is a regular contributor to the SubOptic, Chairman and Executive Committee Member of ESCA and represents Vodafone on a number of cross industry committees.

Peter has worked in the telecommunications industry for over twenty years and is currently Principal Engineer for the Virgin Media core fibre optic network part of the Liberty Global Group, which includes Submarine Cables. An Incorporated Engineer and Member of Institution of Engineering Technology, Peter also sits on the British Standards Committee for Optical radiation safety and laser equipment. He is also the Vice Chairman of ESCA.

Courtney has worked in the offshore wind industry for 12 years and is currently Fisheries Engagement Manager for EDF. Previously, Courtney worked as Commercial Fisheries Manager for Ørsted across their UK portfolio responsible for managing the relationship between Ørsted and commercial fisheries stakeholders. Courtney sits on a number of industry working groups in relation to fisheries and offshore wind. Prior to working for Ørsted Courtney worked as an environmental consultant undertaking environmental impact assessments, pre and post construction environmental surveys and fisheries liaison.

Rhys has worked in the marine industry for 10 years and is currently a Senior Cable Engineer at Vodafone working in their Submarine Systems Engineering department. Rhys’ primary marine experience was as a Hydrographic Surveyor, conducting nearshore surveys around the UK coast including MCA, DEFRA and various renewable energy projects. Rhys subsequently joined ASN and worked in roles including Cable Route Engineer and Project Manager of APMMSA and spent time offshore on cable surveys and installations. Since joining Vodafone, Rhys’ role is primarily focussed on new submarine cable projects and frequently engages with various stakeholders, positioning him well for his work with the MSG.

Antony Zymelka is a very well known cable focused professional who has amassed around40 years of experience in the Subsea Cable industry and has been involved in approaching 100 Subsea Cable projects worldwide.

Having spent many years Offshore on various Cable Ships, and Onshore in Design, Engineering and Project / Senior Management, his Subsea Cable Installation Operations, Installation Engineering and Offshore and Onshore Management experience is extensive. This experience encompasses Power, Telecommunication, Umbilical, Military and Scientific Cables.

Through Antony’s involvement with the ESCA Renewables and Power Cable Sub-Group, they have composed various industry guidelines including: Proximity, Subsea Power Cable Installation and Repair. Antony is also a member of CIGRE and is currently sitting on the CIGRE working group defining 66kV testing guidelines.

Chris Willey is Director of Network Construction Services at Pelagian. He also is Chair of the ESCA Technical and Regulatory Sub-Group. In his role at Pelagian, Chris manages variously, a number of cable installation contracts, permitting projects and submarine cable maintenance activities. Chris also represents GTT for cable maintenance and industry liaison roles. Previously, Chris worked for SubCom, where he was director for their permitting activities related to new submarine cable system construction and maintenance activities. Chris has worked in the cable industry for 46 years, previously having worked for Cable & Wireless Marine, originally based on the cableships as Cable Engineer and ROV Pilot, before moving to office based activities including managing the Maintenance and Construction Divisions.

Alex is the Senior Permit & DTS Manager at Pelagian. He has worked within the subsea telecommunications industry for 9 years initially starting in 2015 with route engineering and managing desk top studies for key clients. This role entailed good global coverage with particular focus in Asia, the Middle-East and Europe. Alex’s next role was the Permitting Manager for Global Marine, primarily responsible for all permits and licenses associated with the subsea cable installation and maintenance fleet from Europe and Africa on the Eastern Atlantic, to the Caribbean and South America on the Western Atlantic. To the present day, Alex now works within the consultancy sector at Pelagian supporting and managing the permit process for a variety of projects worldwide. Alex also supports and co-chairs the Technical and Regulatory Subgroup (TRSG) within ESCA.

Steve has over 38 years in the submarine and telecommunication industries; firstly at Cable and Wireless (Marine) then Lumen and most recently at Global Marine Systems Ltd as the Maintenance Account Director. Steve has also been actively involved with cable protection for over 23 years and is presently on the Executive Committee of both the ICPC, ESCA and is the GMSL representative for NASCA. Having worked for both suppliers and maintenance authorities and experienced both marine and terrestrial working environments Steve has a good practical grasp of the submarine cable industry and its many internal and external environmental challenges in particular the growing interaction between regulators, renewables and submarine cables.

Dan has previously worked in Telecommunications at BT Group in the Subsea Team and presently works in the offshore wind industry as an Offshore Environment Manager at Ørsted. Dan’s primary expertise is in consenting for new, old and existing projects, encompassing onshore, intertidal and offshore permissions across multiple jurisdictions, engaging with multiple stakeholders. In addition, Dan’s experience also encompasses offshore installation of new cable systems, as well as surveying and routing new cable systems.

Craig is a master mariner with over 30 years’ experience in the marine sector. The majority of his seagoing career was spent working on Subsea cable vessels. During a short tenure as a Salvage Officer for the MoD, he attained a Masters degree in Maritime law. In 2009 he joined Briggs Marine to deliver Subsea cable Repairs & Replacements on distribution, transmission and renewable energy infrastructure. Craig is also a board member of the Association of Diving Contractors, promoting safety and standards throughout the UK diving industry.

Chris was a geotechnical engineer originally, but 35 years later is now more of a generalist. After 9 years working in the onshore construction industry, he started working in subsea telecom in 1998, soon followed by experience in offshore wind and interconnectors. This work is primarily , but not entirely, pre-consent, relating to early stage feasibility, optioneering and concept / Pre-FEED studies including route and landfall selection and development, survey specification and management, CBRA and input to EIA and consents. He has also led R&D projects in tidal stream and wave power. In 2022 Chris joined Wood Thilsted, a specialist offshore wind consulting engineer. As part of the RPSG he managed the update of Guideline 17 (Testing), input to the update of Guideline 6 (Proximity) and is currently leading a recently formed group looking at guidance on cable spacing.

Anja has been involved with the German renewable industry for the past 17 years, and with the power cables for German’s offshore wind industry since its inception nine years ago. As a geoscientist she completed a PhD in physics specialised in renewable energies, within the field of energy meteorology – the branch of meteorology which deals with energy resources that make sun and wind generation viable. Anja joined Germany’s newly formed Transpower TSO GmbH at the time of the first commercial wind farm and export power cable - into what has now become TenneT Offshore GmbH, the TSO that provides grid connections to all windfarms in the German Bight. After dealing with project development and permits for offshore grid connections she moved to TenneT’s installation and construction department. In her present position she works as a project manager for offshore power cable installations and is responsible for TenneT’s UXO strategy.

Chris is a master mariner with 30 years in the submarine cable industry. With 10 years experience commanding cable ships and managing marine operations together with extensive work in the design, development, planning and delivery of cable projects, Chris now provides advisory, expert and marine warranty services as CEO of Red Penguin. In recent years he has worked extensively across the industry on a range of major infrastructure projects to identify and control risk and to improve project outcomes.

Clive has worked in the submarine cable industry for over 40 years and is currently the Company Director and Secretary of ESCA as well as the Secretary of the Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement (ACMA). He also works from a financial analysis perspective on the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE and EASSy cable systems and is the Website Administrator for the North America Zone Agreement (NAZ). Clive previously worked for BT for over 30 years within the subsea operations and maintenance team, dealing with subsea cable maintenance agreement, operational and related financial aspects. In 2011 he set up his own independent business working within the subsea industry from both a UK and international perspective.

John is the Liaison Officer for ESCA, working to raise the profile of subsea cables with key stakeholders in Europe, engaging with Government departments, conservation bodies, other industry groups, and effectively liaising on all subsea cable related topics. John has worked in the submarine cable industry for 13 years, starting in marine planning, and then in permitting and consenting both for new installation projects and cable maintenance worldwide - within telecommunications, power, renewables and subsea cables relating to Oil & Gas. He was previously the chairman of the ESCA Technical and Regulatory Subgroup (TRSG) with good knowledge of international law and the regulatory and legislative frameworks for subsea cables.

Claire is ESCA’s Liaison Support Officer, working to increase awareness, improve communications and support ongoing liaison activities of ESCA with external stakeholders across Europe.

Claire has worked in the marine sector since 2012. Prior to her role at ESCA Claire worked for The Crown Estate over a range of marine portfolios, including telecommunication cables and offshore wind development.

Neil is a partner at CMS in London where he practises competition, commercial and regulatory law. He is a member of the CMS subsea cables practice group. He is the legal adviser to ESCA (and was the adviser to its predecessors, Subsea Cables UK and UK CPC). Neil prepared the constitutional documents of ESCA and also wrote and maintains the competition law guidelines that are found on the ESCA website. Neil attends each plenary meeting to update members on legal developments and also to ensure the plenaries are conducted in full compliance with the competition law guidelines. Having been involved in the subsea cables industry for nearly twenty years he understands the legal and commercial issues affecting members’ businesses.