Meet the OATS team
OATS has developed an enviable reputation as provider of the world’s leading lubricants recommendations database. This reputation has been built by a team of experts, many of whom have been working for, or as partners with, OATS since we began 25 years ago. A forward-thinking team with a passion for providing the best, most accurate and cost-effective lubricants data available worldwide.
Key contacts
SEBASTIAN CRAWSHAW
Chairman and CEO
Over the past 15 years, I and my team of dedicated researchers, developers and salesmen, have helped to build OATS into the international leader for information and productivity solutions for the lubricants sector of the oil industry. My background as the MD of an information services company, the former Chairman of the Association of MBAs and my previous experience working in the security printing, engineering and telecommunications industries have all proved invaluable in bringing together the mix of skills and experience necessary to make OATS such a successful business.
Email: scrawshaw@oats.co.uk
JEREMY HYDE
Sales Director and EARL subscriptions
As Sales Director, I'm responsible both for customer support across the 100 countries where our EARL system is used, as well as managing our in-house team of customer liaison staff who are dedicated to the efficient handling of our complex web, CD and print output.
I was previously Director of Technical Design at a manufacturing company and, after joining OATS 10 years ago, have gained wide experience in all aspects of the company's operation. Please email me on any OATS sales topics.
Email: jhyde@oats.co.uk
OEM liaison team
OATS' global OEM liaison network gathers lubricant specification information at local level, worldwide. The EARL System data is acquired, checked, updated and validated to ISO 9001:2000 procedures.
From left to right: Gerry Saunders, Harold Cook, Ian Ouldridge, Neil Kane (now retired), Paul Stephenson and Martin Hayler
PAUL STEPHENSON
OEM Liaison Manager
Before joining OATS I had 30 years experience working for Engen Petroleum, Southern Africa's largest integrated refining and marketing company, where my roles included refinery maintenance, and lubricants and fuels technical marketing for the mining, transport, marine and industrial sectors. I was a member of the South African Petroleum Industry Association Technical Committee and represented Engen on the government's bio-fuels sub-committee.
Email: pstephenson@oats.co.uk
DR MARTIN HAYLER
Industrial specialist
After 30 years working at Esso, primarily as an industrial lubricants specialist and subsequently in product quality management, I joined the OEM Liaison team at OATS where I am pleased to be able to use my industrial lubrication knowledge to the full.
Email: mhayler@oats.co.uk
IAN OULDRIDGE
OEM Liaison/Customer Support
My role in the OEM Team is to provide practical lubricants industry experience based on my manufacturing apprenticeship and over 20 years work in lubricants sales with two of the UK's leading independents.
Email: iouldridge@oats.co.uk
GERRY SAUNDERS
Technical Assistant
Since joining OATS in 2006 I've found that the knowledge and experience gained from 15 years in the Royal Navy marine engineering branch, an HND in Agricultural Engineering, and 15 years in various roles at Esso's European lubricants test and development centre (including running the ExxonMobil Technical Desk), has been invaluable in my role on the OEM Liaison Team.
Email: gsaunders@oats.co.uk
Range Manager support team
Harold Cook (from the OEM team) and Kevin White (from the Sales support team) together provide EARL subscribers with training and support for the Range Manager lube match process.
Harold Cook - OEM Liaison and Range Manager Support
I have worked at OATS for 18 years now, making full use of my background as an automotive technician for seven years, with a further two years in full time study gaining an HND in Mechanical Engineering. I now provide Range Manager support for the company's EARL customers to ensure that their individual product brand names are correctly applied to all our 462,414 records.
Email: hcook@oats.co.uk
Kevin White - Branding and global technical support
I have worked at OATS since 2004, putting to good use my 30 years of experience in the automotive industry – including running my own business – as a specialist in both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. I now provide global Range Manager support for the company's EARL customers to ensure that their individual product portfolios are correctly applied both in Europe and the US.
Email: kwhite@oats.co.uk
IT and product development team
JAMIE ANDREWS
IT and Development Manager
Running the IT Dept. in a company that develops and markets its own software products is never going to be a quiet life! So I'm really glad that my varied training in the hothouses of top-name printer software development followed by internet and security software solutions implementation, has given me the necessary skills.
MIKE HOLDSHIP
Systems and Operations support
I joined OATS direct from Bristol University where I studied electrical engineering. As one of the founding members of what was to become the IT and Product Development Team at OATS, I have had a wide range of responsibilities, including the production and shipping of EARL CDs, maintenance of EARL websites, IT maintenance and client IT support. My main focus is now on EARL product development.
Sales support team
To meet the continuing rapid growth in customers across more than 75 countries around the world, OATS has assembled a multi-skill/multilingual sales support team.
ANDRÉ DEKERF
Sales Manager for Europe, Middle East and Asia
I am responsible for managing OATS' website and desktop EARL business throughout the Middle East, Asia and Europe – where my fluency in German and English, added to my bilingual Dutch and French background, has proved invaluable. I studied international contract law at Maastricht University after being awarded my degree in International Hospitality Management. Before joining OATS I worked as a multi-lingual consultant advising blue chip private and public sector organisations across Europe. I'm now in the final stages of studying for an MBA at Aston University.
Email: adekerf@oats.co.uk
ARIES AQUITANIA
Account Executive for Europe, Middle East and Asia
As the OATS Account Executive for Asia Pacific, I am responsible for developing the company's business in the fastest-growing market in the world – a region where my understanding of Asian culture, allied to my knowledge of the oil industry, is proving invaluable. For Europe, I specifically manage our client portfolio in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, but also play an active role in expanding the business outside these countries. I have worked on the sales and business development teams of Shell Philippines, and also headed a fuel distribution company prior to coming to the UK. I have an Industrial Engineering degree and will obtain my MBA from Oxford University in 2009.
Email: aaquitania@oats.co.uk
BRIAN FENWICK
Publications and Production Manager
My engineering and manufacturing production background has proven to be invaluable in managing the complexity of producing recommended grades guides for our clients and in supervising the quarterly production and shipping of EARL CDs around the world. My wide range of experience at OATS has also given me a particularly good understanding of all aspects of our clients' publishing needs.
Email: bfenwick@oats.co.uk
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