Meet the team

Alasdair Blair

Ally has over 30 years experience within the Oil industry. Having started his career in slickline he has worked in various areas of the world including Asia, MENA, South America, Africa and Europe in various roles such as Learning and Organisational Manager for BP in Iraq for the Rumalia field and latterly as the Senior Specialist for Well Intervention for a major service company. As well as being able to mentor, coach and instruct personnel in slickline operations and techniques from introductory to advanced levels he is also an accredited IWCF intervention instructor.

Rob Tyre

Rob has a Petroleum Engineering degree from the University of Missouri – Rolla. He has over twenty-five years of worldwide, operational experience with service companies and operators. He has worked as a MWD/LWD engineer, intervention engineer, completions and workover engineer, and a drilling engineer. He is a subject matter expert in coiled tubing, snubbing and nitrogen. Rob is a certified IWCF and IADC instructor who teaches both drilling well control and well intervention well control.

Ben Fredriks

Ben has been working for Shell for 40 years and besides a short stint with Production Operations he spend most of his time in Completions and Well interventions. Both on land and offshore he was involved in all the different disciplines of CWI in the Netherlands with NAM and abroad in China and Oman. Ben is keen on safety and after his retirement in 2017 he enjoys teaching where he can and share his vast experience.

Rickey Hendrix

Rickey graduated from Missouri University of Science & Technology after achieving in 2013 a Doctor of Philosophy in Petroleum Engineering degree, 2006 - Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering and 2004 - Master of Science in Geological Engineering degrees. He has worked in domestic and international locations as a deepwater completion engineer, offshore drill site manager and offshore drilling engineer. Rickey has developed and presented numerous drilling engineer courses and will be developing new coursework. He is a certified IADC WellSharp well control instructor.

Bert Campfens

Bert has spent the majority of his career with Shell, which has exposed him to a wide range of drilling and well operations on land and offshore. Although knowledgeable in many areas Bert has a particular interest in drilling operations courses, including advanced well control, stuck pipe prevention and recovery, and HPHT courses. Bert has a strong drive for increasing competence and performance and enjoys coaching and mentoring engineers.

Willie Lyon

Willie Lyon has a Petroleum Engineering degree from Texas A&M, and has forty-five years of worldwide experience in drilling operations. He joined Well Academy Murchison in 2009 as a Lead Instructor. He has worked as a production engineer, drilling engineer, manager of engineering, manager of operations, and as a drilling consultant. Willie has a varied experience, working on land rigs, jack-ups, semi- submersibles, and drill ships. Willie is a registered PE and is a certified IADC WellSharp and IWCF well control instructor. He is also a member of the AIME/SPE and the IPAA.

George Galloway

George has enjoyed a career spanning 32 years in the oil and gas industry starting with Mobil where he trained and went on to work as a Petroleum Engineer. After a spell with a small North Sea operator he joined the Expro Group where he held various senior management positions both in Well Servicing Operations and International Business Development. After a period of secondment to IWCF in the role of Advisor, George returned to Well Academy with renewed passion to grow the business.

John Breidenthal

John has a Petroleum Engineering degree from the University of Kansas, and has over forty years of worldwide experience in operational experience. He has worked as a field drilling engineer for deepwater and jackups, drill site manager, production supervisor, and well control instructor for a major oil company. John has varied experience working on land rigs, jack-ups, and drill ships. He is a certified IADC WellSharp and IWCF well control instructor.

Jaap Peetsold

For 15 years, Jaap has worked as a subsea supervisor, both for Neddrill and Sedco Forex. He has been developing material and training for rig inspection training, subsea engineer training, and well control equipment training. Jaap’s goal is to make the candidates more confident about their equipment to increase their competency level.

Charles "Chuma" Ubaru

Chuma has 32 years of experience in drilling on land rigs, jack-ups and semi-submersibles. He worked in various positions from roustabout to rig manager, well control instructor, drilling engineer and drilling supervisor. He is a certified project management professional (PMP) and member of the project management institute (PMI) with a BS degree from University of Benin, Nigeria and MEng degree from the University of Calgary, Canada.

Jan Willem Flamma

Before starting at Well Academy in 2012, Jan Willem worked 10 years for Shell as a well engineer and drilling supervisor. Currently he is the service line director training for Well Academy and managing the office in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. He holds a B.Sc. degree in drilling engineering and a M.Sc. degree in applied physics. Jan Willem is an accredited IWCF drilling instructor & assessor and member of the IWCF drilling taskforce. Occasionally, he delivers advanced well engineering and well control courses.

Cecil Duke

Cecil graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma state University with a BS degree Natural Resource Management/ Chemistry. He recently earned his MBA from Southeastern Oklahoma State. Cecil began working in the oil industry in 2007 as a mud engineer in the Rocky Mountains. In 2012 Cecil founded CD Fluid Training and began teaching a Drilling Fluids school at Vernon College in north Texas.

John Evans

John worked as a well engineer for Shell for 29 years in various roles including well operations, commercial management and training. He works on course development and delivery of well control courses. He holds a B.Eng degree in Mining Engineering and a M.Sc degree in Petroleum Management. John is an accredited IWCF drilling instructor and assessor.

Gordon Poss

Gordon has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He has over forty years of worldwide operational experience. After graduating, he worked as a drilling engineer, senior drilling engineer supervisor and specialist, as well as a drilling manager. Gordon has experience with HPHT drilling, MPD operations, desert operations, exploring drilling, offshore drilling and workover, and research and development. He has varied experience, working on land rigs, jack-ups, semi-submersibles, and drill ships. Gordon is a registered PE and is a certified IADC Supervisor (Level 4) combined surface/subsea well control instructor.

Keith Smith-Dutton

Keith has a broad background in slickline and well servicing operations and is a globally known and respected well intervention instructor, providing slickline, completion, fishing and well intervention pressure control training worldwide. Although Keith retired in 2015, he still is part of Well Academy team occasionally delivering tailored programs such as slickline and fishing related courses.

Dan Grunwald

Dan has a BS in Geological Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and has twenty years of operational experience. He has been an IADC certified well control instructor since early 2013.

Linda Aalbersberg

After working in various positions for several years in the field of customer support at different companies, Linda joined the Well Academy team in 2021 to handle all of the administrative and day to day operations.

Martin Meinster

Martin is a highly experienced petroleum engineering specialist with an extensive background in well services. His specialties include technical and environmental solutions on high pressure solids control systems, under balanced drilling, well testing and coiled tubing drilling operations. Martin is an accredited IWCF well intervention pressure control instructor and is an IWCF well intervention task force member.

Michael Coates

Nico van Spijker

Nico has worked in a variety of operational roles in the drilling industry, with drilling contractors and operating companies, in land, offshore and deep water operations. Nico has a passion for coaching with a strong drive for increasing competence, confidence and performance. Before joining Well Academy as training delivery director, Nico worked as a senior inspector for the Dutch State Supervision of Mines.

Paul Vos

Prior to joining the drilling industry Paul worked as a Marine Engineer in the Dutch merchant navy, going from apprentice to Chief Engineer. After working for Sedco Forex as a Subsea and Drilling Equipment Engineer Paul joined Moduspec in 1996, initially as a Rig Surveyor before going on to deliver subsea well control equipment courses. Paul completed more than 275 surveys on many different types of rigs enabling him to train rig personnel and managers on a range of rig equipment.

Peter Wilke

After 11 years in the navy and three years merchant navy Peter ended up in the oil field. Peter worked almost 10 years for ModuSpec and Lloyds before becoming a trainer. Now already 5 years training rig inspection, but is still active as a surveyor on all types of drilling rigs. It is Peter’s passion to improve the safety and knowledge in the oil industry by sharing his experience with other people.

Simon Sparke

Simon has extensive knowledge and experience of building well integrity management systems which he has applied to great effect in the development of well integrity training workshops. Together with Well Academy, Simon as well integrity domain expert will develop and deliver a range of programs to enhance industry knowledge and experience of managing the integrity of wells throughout their life cycle. Simon is a guest lecturer at RGU and an accredited SPE trainer.

Dave Pollock

Dave has been a well control instructor for over 20 years. Originally from Scotland and prior to his training roles and after service in the British Army, Dave graduated as a Mechanical Engineer. He developed a strong field operations background in the North Sea, working for Schlumberger, Halliburton and BP in various operational and supervisory roles.

Chris Daniels

Chris has been working for Well Academy as an Intervention Instructor since 2018. He is also accredited to teach IWCF drilling along with IADC drilling. Prior to becoming an instructor, Chris worked in the oilfield mainly in Asia since 1978, both on land and offshore. Coupled with his experience, he has a Graduate Diploma from UWA in Oil and Gas Engineering.

Charmaine Von Benecke

Charmaine is our Operations Manager : Well Academy Australia, and is our main contact for Training bookings and information relating to all the courses we offer. Originally from South Africa, Charmaine has over 26 years of Administration & Management experience and moved to Perth Australia in 2010 with her family. Charmaine was initially an invigilator for IWCF and VICTVS prior to beginning with Well Academy in 2020, making her an expert in her current role.