Our Team
Mike Williamson, Founder and President
Mr. Williamson has over 34 years experience in the marine geophysics and acoustics industry. Prior to launching Williamson & Associates in 1984, he was the president of Hydrotask Inc, also an ocean engineering geophysical consulting firm. He was a geophysicist for the INCO Deep Ocean Mining Project, who were the first to conduct large scale recovery of manganese nodules from the deep ocean. In the late 1960s, he was a U.S. Navy diving and salvage Officer in Vietnam. His current responsibilities include development and planning, supervision of logistics, and client liaison. During the past 27 years he has served as the Chief Scientist or Survey Party Chief on numerous geophysical cruises for commercial clients, universities and research institutes and governmental agencies. He holds a Masters Degree in Geological Oceanography from the University of Washington where he was also a PhD Civil Engineering Candidate. He is a licensed professional geologist with the State of Washington and an ACSM-certified Hydrographer.
Art Wright, Operations Manager
Mr. Wright is responsible for logistics, management of field operations and supervision of the operation of the company's sonars and seabed assessment systems. He has been associated with Williamson since 1986. He has presented papers at several "Oceans" and MTS conferences on the application of wide swath sidescan sonars for deep water searches and engineering investigations. He has been party chief on numerous pipeline and cable route surveys and deepwater searches for commercial and government clients. He holds a Coast Guard Masters License for all ships, all seas. He sailed as Chief Mate in the SL7, M/V Capella, during the Gulf War in 1991. Previous to Williamson, he was a commissioned officer in the United States Navy; retiring as a Captain; in the Navy he served as Commander of the Pacific Fleet mine group, commanded three ships, served on a variety of staffs and did several tours in Vietnam. He has a Masters Degree in Acoustical Physics from the US Navy Postgraduate School and is an ACSM-certified Hydrographer.
Colin Stewart, Survey Manager
Mr. Stewart, Survey Manager at Williamson, is responsible for managing all aspects of Williamson survey projects. This includes project proposals and costing, project management, oversight of survey personnel, equipment procurement, oversight of survey equipment maintenance and upkeep, and participating in survey projects as project manager, geophysicist, and equipment operator. Mr. Stewart joined Williamson & Associates, Inc. in 1989 after completing his Bachelor of Science, Geological Oceanography, at the University of Washington in Seattle. From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Stewart served in roles ranging from geophysical data collection and processing, deep tow sonar operations, sonar and bathymetry data processing to being survey Party Chief on numerous offshore projects in various disciplines including, offshore oil and gas, subsea telecommunications, subsea search, and subsea engineering. From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Stewart worked as a free lance subsea project consultant predominantly in the subsea fiber optic telecommunications industry. From 2003 to 2008 Mr. Stewart worked for the US Department of Defense, at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Keyport, Washington, in Code 212, Mission Systems branch as senior geophysicist. Mr. Stewart re-joined Williamson & Associates, Inc. as Survey Manager in February, 2008.
Larry Robinson, Senior Engineer
Mr. Robinson is the lead engineer for ocean engineering and acoustic development projects, including: Deep Ocean Rock Drills, C-BASS® resistivity and induced polarization system and chirp subbottom profiling sonar. He provides technical support for past developmental projects such as the cable burial assessment systems and deep-towed sidescan sonars. Previously, he was President and CEO of HR Labs (an electric design and consulting company), and Acoustic Marine Systems (the designer and manufacturer of AMS deep ocean sidescan sonars). Earlier, he was Chief Engineer of International Submarine Technology which designed the SeaMARC series of deep towed sonars (the first commercially available deep towed sidescan sonars), and was a member of the team responsible for the development of a sophisticated deep ocean, wide swath, mapping sonar for the International Nickel manganese nodule Ocean Mining Consortium. He holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.
Michelle Walters, Office Manager
Michelle Walters, Office Manager at Williamson & Associates since 1999, is responsible for all daily office operations including accounting activities, oversight of general administrative duties, banking activities and human resources duties. In addition to administrative oversight, Michelle handles Williamson's extensive sub-contractor resource base including all personnel logistics, travel, and communications. She also actively supports both the Survey and Engineering departments at Williamson. For Survey and Engineering project support she is responsible for assisting with contract negotiations, project logistics including equipment and personnel, and complete control of project financial tracking. Michelle originally joined Williamson in 1994 as an administrative assistant.