Marine Log - January 2008 - (Page 26) BY SHIRLEY DEL VALLE INTERVIEW EPIC’S JULIE RODRIGUEZ ON HOW SHE TURNED A SMALL FAMILY BUSINESS INTO AN EPIC SUCCESS F ounded in 1972 by Lawrence J. “Pie” Rivet, Epic Divers Inc., was originally a commercial diving company whose focus was to “provide safe, quality oriented, customer focused, underwater diving services to the offshore/inland industry.” Under Julie Rodriguez, not only does EPIC stand by its original mission but it’s also now, a “one stop shop” for diving vessels and diving services. The president and CEO of EPIC Divers & Marine, Julie Rodriguez had no intention of taking over the family business. In fact when she began at EPIC, some 31 years ago, she planned for her job as a receptionist to solely be a temporary one. Rodriguez, who worked her way up the company ladder to reach the seat of vice presidency, credits the oil crash of the 80’s with sealing the deal. “We survived the oil crash of the 80’s, that’s when I knew this is what I wanted to do. I enjoyed the company, the people and the industry. I believed if we survived the 80’s, we could survive just about anything. With that experience under my belt, I felt I could really contribute to this industry.” According to Rodriguez she was also, “truly motivated to enter the marine business to answer the call of the clients who were looking for more of a ‘one stop shop,’ meaning the company supplies the diving services along with the dive support vessels.” In 1991, she purchased the company from her father, Rivet. What followed was a series of vessel acquisitions, company expansion and great success stories. Rodriguez launched the marine part of the company, EPIC Marine, six years after acquiring the company. In 1998 she expanded the company into EPIC Companies, which houses EPIC Divers, Inc., a full service commercial diving company, and EPIC Marine L.L.C., a marine vessel company. “My real motivation to continue growing the marine business was to meet the needs of my diving personnel. We at EPIC, as a Gulf of Mexico diving company have the experience and the desire to do more things. My employees were MARINE LOG JANUARY 2008 eager to get into deeper water and do other things. That meant we had to get larger vessels that could work in deeper water. The company has expanded from 100 employees to 400 and can dive to depths of 1000 ft from our 4 pt anchor surface supplied gas or saturation dive vessels and our DP 3 Saturation Dive Vessel.” In 1999, she purchased her first 4 pt anchor dive support vessel EPIC Seahorse. “When I entered my search for that very special dive boat, I was given the opportunity to purchase three vessels. At the time of purchase only one of the vessels, the EPIC Mariner, was suited to perform diving services and two of the vessels, the EPIC Endeavor and the EPIC Pioneer, were suited to provide utility/production type services to the oilfield industry.” In 2005 before Hurricane Katrina, she purchased what would be her second 4pt Anchor 1000 ft Saturation Dive vessel, the EPIC Explorer. Katrina brought with it a change for EPIC explains Rodriguez, “After Katrina, the industry had a strong demand for diving services. EPIC was purchased by TETRA Technologies out of Houston, Texas, to help support their well abandonment and decommissioning division and at the same time the acquisition provided financial strength to EPIC.” TETRA purchased EPIC for $50 million. Julie Rodriguez and her father, Epic Divers founder, Lawrence J. “Pie” Rivet Rodriguez: “I have to attribute my success to the people whom I have chosen to surround myself with over the past 31 years ” Soon after, EPIC took delivery of its first DP 2 1000 ft Saturation Dive Vessel, the EPIC Diver. Rodriguez states that her motivation to continue working and remaining successful comes from the people she works with. She says: “I really have to attribute my success to the people whom I have chosen to surround myself with over the past 31 years. I love what I do and I love the great people I work with. I have some employees who have grown with me since the day I acquired the company. They believed in me and trusted me since day one. They are the reason I work as hard as I do. And of course, my family, whose patience,understanding and willingness to sacrifice made the difficult times of being away from home because of business, easier to deal with.” When asked what advice she would give someone interested in joining the marine business Rodriguez says, “When you choose to go into any business, be sure you surround yourself with people who believe in you, it will make the tough days a lot easier to handle and give you reason to get up the next day and begin all over again. And most of all, when faced with life’s challenges use them as the springboard for change and ML growth.” www.marinelog.com 26 http://www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com
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