People Make the Difference

Quality of seismic data processing depends on the experience, skill and enthusiasm of the team in charge.

Meet the Team

Everyone in RockWave shares a passion for the natural world and a fascination with geoscience. We aim to build a relaxed, inclusive family atmosphere with remote working at its core, providing a fulfilling work/life balance whilst providing market leading services to our clients. Find out more about our people by clicking their profiles, but if you want specifics e.g. lists of projects they have worked on, just let us know.

Matt grew up convinced he was going to be a vet, but on finding he had more talent for physics than biology and an enjoyment for geography, he transitioned his love of nature into a love of geoscience. Geophysics therefore seemed a good fit and he could spend his career doing things with earthquakes, volcanos and cool stuff like that…. or alternatively, fall into the Oil & Gas industry.

That first landing place was Veritas who were hiring endless graduates and putting them into company housing – unsurprisingly the first 3 years were essentially an extension of university but being paid to be there. However once that novelty wore off it was time to think about what he really wanted to do with his career, and the first of many jumps were made into sales & marketing, then on into the multi-client division. Yes, despite dreaming of scientific jobs since he was young, he was now in business (hold onto those dreams kids!), deciding to go back and study for an MBA in his spare time.

By 2011, CGG had taken full hold of Veritas and it was time to move on to TGS where he became the ultimate utility player. At one point for the Europe team he was overseeing data management, contracts, marketing, project coordination and market analysis, built a global market intelligence portal, participated in multiple M&A projects, and project managed the integration of Spectrum & TGS that culminated in integrating myself out of the company… which was a great ice breaker when we first introduced RockWave, but a joke we’ve now heard too many times!

If you believe that everything happens for a reason, then that varied career has certainly set RockWave up well. With someone that has seen most aspects of how a seismic company works he is the one that picks up the things the rest of us hate (finance and contracts anyone?). Given he wrote a 100 page business plan for us and accurately forecast our first 2 years of revenues then you’ll understand how our technical team are freed from thinking about anything else other than optimising your data.

Matt Swan

Managing Director

Does everything except processing and especially the things nobody else likes e.g. Finance, Legal & HR.

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Alastair is a proud graduate from the “ENV” class of 2009 at University of East Anglia (UEA) where he cemented his passion for geoscience. Many friendships were forged on field trips whilst attempting geophysics in hail storms or getting sunburnt on beaches.

The oceans were calling out for a seismic data processor to help image their underbellies, so he took a job with Gardline Geosurvey and got to see every continent except Antarctica (remains on the bucket list), carrying out onboard processing of seismic for geohazard site survey and wind farm foundation zones.

Alastair moved to TGS in 2012 and continued learning his processing craft, before turning to the “dark side” by joining the sales and project development teams in October 2014, just as the oil price turned south and companies pulled back their spending on multi-client seismic data! However, being a sales guy during a downturn demands harder work for less reward, so an openly optimistic Alastair will tell you this was a great learning experience and RockWave are ultimately the beneficiary.

Being a “Sales Director” means he’s the guy you can send any enquiry and he’ll get back to you promptly, but in small companies such roles also come with other responsibilities. Alastair additionally handles the company IT, manages our “Student Army”, attempts witty writing for marketing content and even occasionally gets his hands dirty by helping out the processing teams.

Alastair MacLeod

Sales Director

The guy who will happily let you know why you should be using RockWave services.

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Developing a fascination for geoscience whilst mucking about in rock pools and sand dunes may seem odd for someone who grew up a near two-hour drive away from a beach. Yet those family holiday adventures around the British coastline helped Rachel to pinpoint that a degree in geophysics was what she wanted, so off she went to the University of Southampton… on the south coast of England.

Rachel has organisational superpowers. She is methodical in her approach to any challenge she comes across. How to get a job post-university? Get some experience first! So, each summer break was spent grabbing experience in internships at some of the most glamorous locations in the seismic industry… Aberdeen, Crawley and… the North Sea. It takes courage to join a seismic survey vessel as the only female (and student), but it didn’t put her off, it only encouraged a deeper understanding of geophysics and the industry.

This wealth of experience helped land Rachel a job with TGS in 2012 (where she first met her future RockWave Co-Founders). Working on seismic processing and imaging projects allowed those superpowers to thrive, to the point where colleagues would breathe a sigh of relief when Rachel was placed in charge of their project, knowing there would be an achievable plan to deliver to the highest standard.

Embracing the opportunity to form RockWave presented Rachel with a chance to build from scratch a service company that delivers exceptional service as standard, alongside fellow Directors that bring ‘other superpowers’* to the table. Swapping a daily two-hour commute for extra time with the family is an added bonus!

*a nice way of saying that some of us are unorganised.

Rachel Ward

Operations Director

Has full control over all our projects and keeps everyone elses timing in check.

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Nick Woodburn

Technical Director

Dares to discover new technologies and implements the useful into our workflows.

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A University of Leicester field trip to Scotland was “unfortunately” cancelled in 2000 for Peter (or “Pete” as we call him behind his back) and the rest of the Geophysics undergraduates, so they planned a last-minute trip to map the local geology of a region in sunny southern Spain instead.

Fortunes rebalanced after university as Pete spent his early career on desolate contaminated land sites for Stats Ltd (now RSK), digging holes, logging soils and generally getting covered in - slightly sandy - mud. Yes, he was a Geoenvironmental Engineer. Everyone knows what one of those is, right?

Determined to better utilise his degree, Pete helped establish the company’s new geophysics group based in St Albans, deploying all manner of non-intrusive geophysical techniques to near surface environmental and engineering challenges. This proved a great move enabling Pete to focus on his core passion... making wiggles look good.

In 2006, Pete began his journey in seismic data processing and joined TGS in Bedford where he spent a couple of years developing his skills on narrowband (“ghosted”) data before the broadband revolution struck. Pete recalls this as an eye-opening moment in realising how much valuable information could be extracted from seismic data through good application of new technology. This was his catalyst for moving to the next level.

In 2012 Pete was seconded to TGS’ Perth office, where he impressed his international colleagues in helping to build a local imaging department, before returning home to cement his reputation for processing prowess. Whenever there was a “processing head-to-head” (two people individually testing the best processing sequence on the same dataset), Pete would always come out on top. Being competitive helped.

Pete joined his fellow Directors in April 2020 to co-found RockWave, just as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold and forced people to work from home in the “new normal”. The initially unfortunate timing actually helped, as potential customers were more readily available and willing to listen to a new company pitch, not to mention being dazzled by examples of "Pete’s Processing Prowess".

Peter Cox

Geophysics Director

Expert at designing the optimal processing sequence for any new dataset.

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Greg loves maps and made it official by studying Geography at Nottingham University between 2009-12. This kept his geoscience options open and allowed time to build a passion for sustainability, by studying topics such as Environmental Change and being on the committee for the ‘People & Planet’ group. Before later joining the O&G industry…

It was only upon graduating that Greg discovered the word “Geophysics”, as he responded to an advert in the paper for a ‘Geophysical Technician’ at TGS. Hmmm, this might involve maps, let’s go for that!

Everyone at TGS (which at the time included all 5 RockWave Co-Founders) and even Greg himself, learned very quickly that he had a talent for seismic processing, as 8 years later he had climbed the geophysical ladder and earned a reputation for hard work and delivering projects on time. No surprise that in early 2021 he was snapped up by RockWave.

Now at RockWave, Greg enjoys applying his geophysical skillset for the benefit of renewables industries, and because they are a far smaller company than his previous experience, he feels much more involved in their overall goals.

If you meet Greg you will find him a sociable chap and very willing to help. He enjoys working with people and will often end a project claiming to have found his new favourite client. We’re not certain, but he probably keeps a list!

Greg Hulks

Geophysicist

Handles every project with determination to meet the targets and especially deadlines.

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Sandeep Bhamber

Geophysicist

Creator of scripts that make lengthy tasks several times more efficient, much to the delight of his team mates.

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It would be difficult for anyone growing up on the Isle of Purbeck not to fall in love with geoscience. As an enthusiastic Venture Scout, the young Andrew Spedding could not resist the charms of Kimmeridge Bay, Lulworth Cove, Wytch Farm oil field and ancient castles nestled between chalk downs, so grabbed a place on the Geology undergraduate course at Royal Holloway and began forging a profession from his passion.

Scouts in early 1990s must not have taught navigation, because Andrew and his friend managed to turn a hike into the mountains from Durness (North Scotland) during his field mapping, into an arduous slog through bog, scree slope and forgotten valleys. Before eventually finding a road at 10pm and calling the hostel owner who came out to rescue them.

Despite the geophysics part of his BSc being mostly an onslaught of equations rather than the real-world application, after graduation in 2000, Andrew became a Geophysicist with Veritas and found himself to be rather good at it (a claim verified by our MD, Matt Swan, who also worked here at the time).

Having combined expertise in both geophysics and geology meant that Andrew was able to transfer from service company to operator. Between 2006 and 2020 he spent nine years at Hess and five at Eni, performing in-field testing, devising work programs for marine/land acquisitions and… supervising processing contractors (with the boot firmly on the other foot).

These were good years, seeing the world and living in swanky places. But now a husband and father, the British weather began to seem more enticing than infinity pools by the Petronas Towers, or was it the proximity to grandparents and childcare…?

Swapping boots again, Andrew re-joined the processing services sector at DUG in 2020 and RockWave in 2022. Having worked on both sides (client & contractor), his well-rounded experience helps us better understand our clients’ needs and maintain our focus on delivering exceptional service.

Andrew Spedding

Geophysicist

Brings geological insight into all our projects and an informed client perspective, having worked on both sides.

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Steve’s geoscience adventures started in school days, where according to him, only the “cool people” studied geography. However this coolness was somewhat offset, as Steve also spent lengthy periods of time behind a BBC Micro Model A with 16KB of RAM, learning 6502 assembly language (now defunct!), about 25 years before coding became cool.

What WAS cool back then however, was the US hit TV show, Dallas (this is open to debate). Steve will gladly inform you that the overhead shots of cowboys walking over plains littered with nodding donkeys, captured his imagination sufficiently to conclude that he wanted to be a geologist and work outside. We’re suspecting his first day at UCL, where he studied geology, was attended in a Stetson…

Dreams of working outside soon became reality after graduating in 1990, as Steve joined a land seismology field crew in Italy for Horizon, then later setting up OYO geophysical instruments at locations such as Brunel’s famous Thames Tunnel. These early career years allowed Steve to hone his skills in a wide variety of areas including interpretation, coding and even that dirtiest of words (in Steve’s world)… SALES!

An overarching talent for geophysics led to Steve joining Western Geophysical’s seismic data processing department in 1995. But after 11 years of sitting behind a desk in Bedford and later Gatwick, our Dallas-inspired Geo craved another adventure. So he dropped everything and went travelling around the world for an entire year.

After 6 months and halfway around the world he met his future wife and verbally secured himself a job with TGS. Somehow managing to convince both of them to wait for his return to the UK before they could all start a new life together. Must have been those sales skills!

When you meet Steve you will note his calm and friendly manner, which have been welcomed by all the staff and clients that have sought his advice on projects. We’re delighted to have his geophysics experience and (now) cool coding skills at RockWave, so that clients across multiple energy sectors can benefit.

Steve Drewell

Geophysicist

Using his powers of logic, Steve can solve the most complex challenges thrown his way, and crucially explain it in a way that makes sense to everyone.

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