Senior Management
James E. Adamson, P.E., Director of Technology with responsibility for engineering and technical matters, has over 35 years of experience in the marine and subsea industries. After a tour in the US Navy Submarine Service, college prepared the way for his career that has spanned more than 3 decades in progressive engineering and executive management responsibilities. Mr. Adamson has been responsible for the design and manufacture of surface vessels and a broad range of underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROV’s), as well as numerous special projects in underwater tooling, manipulators, vehicle handling systems, and subsea structural systems. He is a recognized world authority in underwater cable seabed burial system design. Mr. Adamson received a BS in Mechanical Engineering with highest honors from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MS in Ocean Engineering with a fluid mechanics specialty from Florida Atlantic University
J. Lee Gillis, Managing Director with responsibility for Business Development, has over 35 years of experience in positions involving ocean-related technologies and the worldwide offshore oil and gas industry. Mr. Gillis began his career developing an acoustic system used by the US Navy for a division of EG&G. After an interruption for service as a US Coast Guard officer attached to NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) where he was responsible for the design and development of large weather-monitoring buoys and their mooring and instrument packages, he continued his life-long love of the ocean as a manager with several of the world’s leading companies in deepwater drilling and subsea equipment moving from engineering and project management into positions of increasing executive responsibilities in marketing, business development, and general management. Mr. Gillis has a BS in Ocean Engineering from Florida Atlantic University.
E. Byron Neal, Director of the Northeast Region, is based in Portland, Maine and is responsible for business development, project coordination, and community relations in the northeast US and Canadian Maritimes. Mr. Neal has over 35 years of experience in the worldwide oil and gas industry primarily involved in offshore oil and gas drilling equipment and subsea production system projects. Throughout his career, Mr. Neal has held positions in sales, business development, and general management with both domestic and international assignments including global account executive to one of the world’s largest integrated oil companies. Mr. Neal has a BS in Economics from Louisiana State University.
William Y. “Zak” Zakroff, CEO and Founder of Marinus Power, has almost 30 years experience in the global energy business. Mr. Zakroff’s career spans the spectrum from hands-on management positions in the General Electric Company to a broad range of global strategic planning and competitive assessment projects for many of the world’s leading suppliers of petroleum equipment and services through the offices of his own successful management consulting practice. Mr. Zakroff has also been active for many years as both a financial advisor and investor on a number private equity and venture capital transactions including several involving the design and manufacture of subsea equipment and offshore engineering, construction, and installation services. In recent years, as renewable ocean energy began to emerge, Mr. Zakroff recognized the challenges and needs facing this nascent industry as well as the sizable opportunity for a company like Marinus Power. Mr. Zakroff received his BS in Chemistry from the University of New Mexico and an MBA with Distinction from Northwestern University’s Graduate School of Management.