Oceantic Network Announces New Members to Board of Directors

Oceantic Network announced leadership positions and five new members to its Board of Directors. Joe Tirone, energy partner at Jones Walker, will serve as the Board’s new Chair and Zach Skelton, business development manager for U.S. renewables at Seaway 7, will serve as its new Secretary. Nat Spencer, chief operating officer at Kraken Robotics, will continue to serve as Treasurer. 

The new Board members hail from bp, Burns & McDonnell, Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), RWE, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, and join current members from ABS, DEME Offshore, Dominion Energy, Nexans, and others. They each offer experience in the offshore energy space and diversify Oceantic’s expertise in offshore renewable energy technologies beyond offshore wind. The new board members began their term January 1. 

• Mark Benacquisto, executive director, millwright/piledriver labor management at the United Carpenters and Joiners of America. Mark spent his career working in a variety of leadership roles within the construction industry. In 2024, Mark received the Achievement Award from the Construction Users Roundtable for his dedication to workforce development and advancements to the construction industry. As an example, he recently assisted the eastern Atlantic states training fund in acquiring an entire onshore wind turbine for instruction at their Hammonton Training Center in Hammonton, NJ energy training facility.  

• Michael Braid, vice president of renewables at Edison Chouest Offshore. Michael joins the Board with over 18 years’ experience supporting offshore wind projects. Michael leads the renewable energy division at ECO and  has been instrumental in ECO’s transition to supporting offshore wind projects with Jones Act-compliant vessels, which culminated with the christening of the first-ever American-built, owned, and crewed offshore wind service operations vessel (SOV), the ECO Edison, at their New Orleans shipyard in May of 2024. American built vessels will play a key role in enabling domestic energy production and strengthening America’s energy independence. 

• Amanda Lefton, head of the East at RWE Offshore. Amanda previously served as head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which she led from 2021 to 2023. Under her leadership, BOEM issued environmental approval to the first two commercial-scale offshore wind projects in the U.S., conducted three offshore wind lease auctions, and advanced four others, among other achievements. At RWE, she continues to shape this growing industry, leading development of RWE’s offshore wind projects from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast. As a global leader in offshore wind energy, RWE approaches development holistically, driving technological innovation and supply chain localization while investing in American workers and businesses. 

• Kent Herzog, senior managing director, Burns & McDonnell. As a seasoned business leader with more than 20 years of experience working in the electric utility industry, he supports clients in engineering and construction. Kent specializes in advancing the energy transition by blending deep technical expertise with strategic policy insights and cutting-edge technology to solve complex challenges and drive innovative, practical solutions that will help navigate the rapidly evolving energy landscape. 

• Joshua Weinstein, president, offshore wind Americas at bp. At bp, Joshua leads the company’s development and execution of the Beacon Wind project. Joshua has over 18 years of offshore wind and power industry experience launching new-to-market technologies, developing market entry strategies, utility-scale project development, and interconnection across global energy projects and markets. He brings a unique developer perspective from his work developing businesses and a robust pipeline of projects and securing several multi-million-dollar private placement investments and public technology development grants. 

The following statement can be attributed to Liz Burdock, CEO of Oceantic Network: 

“These new board members will provide invaluable expertise and new perspectives as Oceantic enters 2025. As we develop offshore energy that is critical to meet rising U.S. energy demands, our Board members, representing the diversity of offshore energy technology, are well-experienced offshore wind developers, oil and gas developers, and vessel owner/operators who will advance the U.S. offshore wind and offshore renewables industries. Oceantic Network is better positioned than ever to help this American industry deliver reliable and affordable energy that will stimulate the economy, create steady jobs, and support our country’s energy security.”

Oceantic Network | https://oceantic.org/