Rachel Ward - Operations Director

Developing a fascination for geoscience whilst mucking about in rock pools and sand dunes may seem odd for someone who grew up a near two-hour drive away from a beach. Yet those family holiday adventures around the British coastline helped Rachel to pinpoint that a degree in geophysics was what she wanted, so off she went to the University of Southampton… on the south coast of England.

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Rachel has organisational superpowers. She is methodical in her approach to any challenge she comes across. How to get a job post-university? Get some experience first! So, each summer break was spent grabbing experience in internships at some of the most glamorous locations in the seismic industry… Aberdeen, Crawley and… the North Sea. It takes courage to join a seismic survey vessel as the only female (and student), but it didn’t put her off, it only encouraged a deeper understanding of geophysics and the industry.

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This wealth of experience helped land Rachel a job with TGS in 2012 (where she first met her future RockWave Co-Founders). Working on seismic processing and imaging projects allowed those superpowers to thrive, to the point where colleagues would breathe a sigh of relief when Rachel was placed in charge of their project, knowing there would be an achievable plan to deliver to the highest standard.

Embracing the opportunity to form RockWave presented Rachel with a chance to build from scratch a service company that delivers exceptional service as standard, alongside fellow Directors that bring ‘other superpowers’* to the table. Swapping a daily two-hour commute for extra time with the family is an added bonus!

*a nice way of saying that some of us are unorganised.