Industry contributors receive IADC Exemplary Service Awards

Two industry leaders received IADC Exemplary Service Awards at the 2008 Annual Meeting on 6 November in Scottsdale, Ariz.: John Auth of Diamond Offshore and Mike Roth of ENSCO International were each recognized for outstanding contributions to the drilling industry and to IADC.

John Auth, Diamond Offshore	Mike Roth, ENSCO International

“John’s contributions to IADC’s HSE efforts have been immeasurable. He has tirelessly promoted safety within the industry,” said IADC president Dr Lee Hunt in presenting the award to Mr Auth, Diamond Offshore manager HSE & IR. Among other activities, he served as chairman of the HSE Committee and has worked to organize the annual HSET Conference for many years. For the past four years, he also has served as IADC’s liaison to the SafeGulf project.

In accepting his award, Mr Auth recalled the overwhelming responses he saw to IADC’s HSE efforts in the mid-’90s. For example, 40 people showed up for a safety training meeting when “we expected maybe 10,” he said.

Through the years, the HSE Committee has been able to drive significant improvements in issues such as tong safety and fall protection. IADC’s safety statistics also have been accepted as a standard across the industry.

“None of (these projects) could have been done with just me – every step along the way there have been volunteers from the industry and support from IADC staff,” Mr Auth said.

Mike Roth, ENSCO director, marketing & contracts – deepwater, has served as an IADC director for many years and as chairman of the New Orleans and Houston chapters. He is a frequent contributor to the IADC Contracts Conference and has worked to organize the Drilling Gulf of Mexico Conference.

Accepting his award, Mr Roth stressed the association’s importance to the drilling industry. “IADC is our support vehicle. They’re our mouthpieces to the world, and they give the industry a great recognition to our clients, our vendors and everybody involved in the industry.”

He encouraged the audience to go back to their offices and find colleagues who aren’t involved with IADC and get them involved. “They will be better off and so will your organization,” he said.

Mr Auth entered the drilling industry in 1980, when he joined Global Marine in its human resources department in Los Angeles. After 18 months, he received a promotion to Global Marine’s drilling company headquarters in Houston as personnel manager. During his career, he has worked for ENSCO, Chiles Offshore and Noble Corp. In 1995, he joined Diamond Offshore Drilling as manager-HSE. He now provides HSE supervisory development training and acts as an industry liaison for Diamond in the HSE area. Mr Auth is a graduate of Syracuse University and served in the US Peace Corps in India. He and his wife, Judy, live in Houston.

Mr Roth obtained his business degree from Louisiana State University in 1976 and completed the Program for Manager Development at Duke University. He started his career in the contract drilling industry in 1976 and has worked for several drilling contractors, including ODECO and Transocean. Mr Roth and his wife, Donna, live in Houston and have two grown sons.