Roy D. Gaul – President

Dr. Gaul holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering followed by physical oceanography from Texas A&M University that included a year of graduate study at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His initial experience included commercial and Federal government positions involving ocean circulation, antisubmarine warfare, environmental prediction, coastal engineering, and project management.  In 1966, Dr. Gaul became the first Manager of the Westinghouse Ocean Research Laboratory in San Diego that performed physical and biological studies.  It also fielded the manned submersible DEEPSTAR-2000.  He joined the Office of Naval Research in 1971 to direct the Long Range Acoustic Propagation Project that conducted classified ocean acoustic studies and field experiments worldwide using Navy laboratories, technical institutions and commercial organizations.  Dr. Gaul received the Distinguished Civilian Service Award (U.S. Navy, 1973) for his leadership role in the acoustic assessment of a classified antisubmarine warfare capability needed for the U.S. Navy to counter the Soviet nuclear submarine threat in a critical region.  In 1979 he joined an engineering firm specializing in offshore structures, fabrication, and facilities.  Dr. Gaul founded Blue Sea Corporation in March 1982 and continues as its CEO.  The company has specialized in SemiSWATH ship designs, marine studies, technology development, offshore systems, oceanography, and developmental naval systems.  It also was the Managing Supervisor of a Joint Venture that created the design and supported technical development and construction of the 2,000 ton SemiSWATH offshore support vessel PIONEER for Global Industries, Ltd., which was commissioned in November 1996.  Other SemiSWATH ship developments ranged from a U.S. flag casino vessel for operation in international waters to a specialized Coastal Research Vessel for the Woods  Hole  Oceanographic  Institution. Since 2002 Dr. Gaul also has been the President of Maritech International, Inc., that concentrated on new SemiSWATH concepts for the drilling sector of the offshore petroleum industry.  More recently he stimulated and participated in a project sponsored by the U.S. Navy to use very low frequency acoustics for surveillance of modern submarines.  In 2010 he developed the concept and directed the construction of a self-contained autonomous system for measurement and recording of environmental acoustic properties at ocean depths greater than 20,000 feet.  Since 2008 Dr. Gaul has spearheaded development and patenting of systems capable of increasing the cost-effectiveness of converting energy of wind and ocean waves to electrical power.

  Sidney Kulek – Executive Vice President

After earning a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Mr. Kulek began his career as an electrical construction engineer before joining the Defense Group of Westinghouse Electric Corporation with responsibility for engineering and installing surveillance radar systems.  He founded and staffed the Marine Operations Department with responsibility for naval and commercial operations of submersibles, saturation diving, towed sonar systems, and chartered vessels.  Mr. Kulek joined Ocean Science and Engineering Corporation in 1968 as Vice President, General Manager, and Director.  The company owned and operated a shipyard and a fleet of offshore service vessels and submersible dredges.  Sales doubled in three years and he took the company public.  In 1971 Mr. Kulek joined Lumber Industries, a venture capital firm, and served as a Director and Advisor for other companies owned by Lumber Industries.  He was appointed President of the Makai Ocean Test Range in Honolulu, Hawaii which operated offshore vessels and manned submersibles.  He joined Xonics, Inc. in 1973 as a Vice President and established an Oceanographic Division to support classified projects for the U.S. Navy.  He became President and did a secondary offering of this publicly held company that had a $100 million business in manufacture of specialty medical equipment.  In 1985 Mr. Kulek became Senior Vice President of Allied Products Corporation in charge of three subsidiaries with annual revenue in excess of $150 million.  He formed his own consulting company in 1988 for dealing with banks and financial institutions doing business turn arounds.  For three years beginning in 1993 he completed the turn around of De Mert & Dougherty, a $50 million-dollar company engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of personal care products. Subsequently Mr. Kulek served as a manufacturing consultant for Hologic Inc., a 2-billion-dollar developer and manufacturer of premium diagnostic products and medical equipment dedicated to serving healthcare needs of women.  In 2014 Mr. Kulek became a consultant to Signode Industrial Group that is a manufacturer of strapping systems.

 Al Kirst – Vice President, Systems Engineering

Mr. Kirst is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and a certified Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute.  He holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and a M.S. degree in computer science from Texas A&M University.  His fifty plus year career includes design and development of ocean digital data acquisition systems, acoustic and physical oceanographic instrumentation systems, and nuclear cyclotron instrumentation.  During his tenure with the Westinghouse Electric Company he was the chief engineer for outfitting and field operations of a deep diving manned submersible.  He devoted almost a decade to systems development, deep ocean deployments, data analysis and project management for a classified antisubmarine warfare program under the Office of Naval Research.  Subsequent experience has encompassed project management consulting services in the areas of planning, implementation and operational scheduling, risk assessment, and development of resource and cost management systems for construction, utility, transportation, petrochemical, defense, telecommunication and information technology industries.  For the last five years Mr. Kirst has devoted a large measure of his time to development of power management concepts and patenting of the “SavRot” technique for ocean wave energy conversion to electrical power.

Brian H. H. Eccles – Vice President, Maritime Engineering

Mr. Eccles is a Naval Architect with over forty years experience in the shipbuilding and offshore construction industries. His career has spanned military and commercial shipbuilding and more recently the offshore oil and gas industry. He holds the equivalent of a US BS degree in Naval Architecture from the University of the West of Scotland.  Job responsibilities have included engineering management, business development and project management, and in addition, he has performed sales, marketing and proposal preparation functions for a number of companies. Clients have been major oil & gas companies, marine equipment manufacturers, design engineering firms and shipyards, with tasks ranging from sales and program management to vessel inspection and repairs. Recent work has been in the area of LNG Marine Terminal design with extensive focus on coastal erosion and environmental impacts, capital & maintenance dredging, breakwater, subsea piping and beach crossing design, and risk assessment studies.

Dan M. Sharp, AIA – Vice President, Marketing

Mr. Sharp is a registered architect with 43 years of experience in management and construction of projects ranging from regional shopping centers to Federal Courthouses.  The last 15 years has been dedicated to technical projects such as laboratories and feasibility studies for the oil and petrochemical industries.  These projects have been located in the United States, Africa, Singapore and Latin America.  Management and technical applications in both domestic and foreign markets have provided the foundation for marketing to support commercialization of the new SavRot approach to generation of electrical power.  Clients have included the GSA, State of Texas, various Colleges and Universities, as well as multinational corporations in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical Industries.  This broad background has extended to providing clients with feasibility studies, expert witness services, project development, and marketing.  Mr. Sharp’s ownership of property in Costa Rica has contributed to his interest in Central America as an emerging market for SavRot.