OceanGate appoints investment banker as Titan company's new CEO after former chief Stockton Rush's death
7 August 2023, 17:56 | Updated: 7 August 2023, 18:03
OceanGate has appointed an investment banker as its new CEO after the death of its former chief, Stockton Rush, on the doomed Titan sub.
Gordon Gardiner, a former investment banker, has been brought in as CEO of OceanGate to oversee the company through its ongoing investigations after the Titan sub’s implosion in June.
The new head of the company has an extensive history leading companies, as he is also chairman of Seattle-based Quantum Holdings and a general partner at the investment firm Swiftsure Capital.
He was previously CEO at restaurant-ordering platform TableSafe from 2017-2021, and spent 15 years at JPMorgan.
Gordon has also spent the last 15 years as the board director at six other companies, often in the technology and manufacturing industries.
Confirming the appointment of its new CEO, OceanGate told Insider, Gordon is “to lead OceanGate through the ongoing investigations and closure of the company's operations”.
Speaking about the new CEO, the company said Gardiner previously graduated from Harvard with a bachelor’s degree and completed an executive programme at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Read more: 'Forget Stockton': Titan sub co-founder to build floating colony on Venus
Read more: OceanGate used $350 video game 'Second Life' to teach students how to use Titan sub
Elsewhere he was also captain of the heavyweight rowing team at Harvard, is a fan of skier and cycling, and has lived in Seattle for the last 26 years.
Gardiner’s appointment follows the death of OceanGate’s former CEO, Stockton Rush, who died after the Titan sub suffered a catastrophic implosion on its way to visit the Titanic wreckage in June.
The tragedy, which resulted in a catastrophic implosion, also killed British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul Henry Nargeolet, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.
Since the doomed expedition, it has emerged the former CEO Rush had a seeming disregard for safety when designing the sub and adhering to safety regulations.
Investigators are currently in the process of carrying DNA tests out on the human remains found in the wreckage of the sub.
In a statement US coastguard said: "United States medical professionals are conducting a formal DNA analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered from within the wreckage at the site of the incident."
The deep-sea exploration company has gone dark across the web after it announced it was suspending all exploration and commercial operations.
