New Managing Director Appointed AS JFD Continues Rapid Growth

JFD, the leading global subsea operations and engineering company announces the appointment of Giovanni Corbetta as Managing Director. The appointment follows the recent merger of James Fisher Defence and Divex to create JFD, the world’s largest provider of subsea operations and engineering solutions, equipment and services for the defence and commercial markets.

Giovanni Corbetta joins JFD from DOF Subsea, the international oil and gas subsea services provider. Through a series of leadership roles, he brings a wealth of commercial and engineering experience, and has steered a number innovative international businesses through the process of driving growth and expansion. His breadth of skills and experience will play a key role as JFD continues to strive for further development in existing and new markets.

Over the past 12 months, JFD has realized significant growth. It was recently awarded a landmark £12.1m contract by the UK Ministry of Defence for the provision of the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), encompassing all aspects of operation and through-life support. The announcement came shortly after the company was awarded a contract by the Commonwealth of Australia for the long-term provision of the Royal Australian Navy’s submarine escape and rescue capability for five years, with further options through to 2024. JFD has also announced multiple acquisitions within recent months including the National Hyperbaric Centre in Aberdeen, and the assets, and the pressurized submarine escape training school in Freemantle, Australia.

Giovanni Corbetta, Managing Director, JFD commented:

“Following a number of significant contract wins and acquisitions, 2015 been a highly successful period for JFD. The merger of James Fisher Defence and Divex has allowed the newly formed JFD to utilize the wider breadth of skills, expertise and innovation within the businesses, and further invest in developing the products, services and capabilities for the benefit of customers worldwide.

“It is a great time to be joining the company and I am looking forward to working with this experienced team to further drive the global growth of the business and continually improve our services and capabilities.”

JFD operates from a strong global presence across all markets including Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, ensuring that it is able to respond quickly to emergent situations anywhere in the world. Opportunities exist for shared training, cross-fertilization of expertise, and commonality of approaches, which will serve to benefit the entire global submarine community.