OUR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Michelle Handforth is the Managing Director of Global Offshore at Aramark, a role she stepped into in October 2024. With over 25 years of Board and Non-Executive experience across diverse industries—ranging from aviation and tour operating to rail, financial services, maritime, offshore helicopter services, construction, and infrastructure—Michelle brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table.

Her career has taken her around the globe, working in safety-critical and regulated environments in the USA, Australia, India, and Europe. Michelle began her professional journey in the legal field before transitioning to the aviation industry, where she led global inflight services, catering, and airport retailing operations for a major European tour operator.

A passionate advocate for safety, people, and customer service, Michelle has served on several Boards, including National Rail Enquiry Services, the Association of Train Operators, the Committee for Sydney (Australia), the British Ports Association, Opportunity Northeast, and DOHL (Rail Industry).

Michelle holds a BA (Hons) in Law and is a qualified Barrister and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is currently pursuing a Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching at Henley Business School. As a mentor and coach for young leaders, she has been an active executive sponsor for gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. Michelle is dedicated to delivering excellent customer service, ensuring operational safety, fostering authentic client relationships, and building high-performing teams in dynamic, fast-moving environments.

Alistair is an accomplished sales leader with over 15 years’ experience in the field of offshore catering & hotel services. Having joined the Aramark team in 2008, Alistair has worked in various business development roles covering onshore and offshore.

Supported by a team of sales professionals, Alistair has overall accountability for the retention and new-business growth across our global offshore business; covering the Americas and North Sea.

Alistair is a graduate of the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen where he holds a BA Hons degree in Business Management.

Neill Murray, Director HSEQ Offshore Global is a Chartered Occupational Safety and Health Practitioner with over 20 years’ experience in the sector. Before joining Aramark, Neill had a strong background in health care, providing hotel services and nutritional care.

Neill has responsibility for the Health, Safety, Environmental, Quality and Food Safety management systems and their development and for the strategic planning and progress of HSEQ. Responsibility for the Aramark Competence Assurance Management System and its development also lies with Neill.

There is a team of four reporting directly to Neill, which ensures prompt local support and advice is given in all countries of operation.

Mairi is an accomplished HR leader, with over 20 years’ experience in the energy industry at a senior level.

Mairi has previously worked for Baker Hughes and Wood plc in senior HR roles before joining Aramark in May 2024. Mairi joins as a key driver for our HR operations, in addition to joining our Global Offshore Leadership team with the aim of building a robust and effective People Strategy that supports the ambitious growth plans of the offshore business.

Gary has been with Aramark since 2007, when he began working as Chef Manager on board the Harding platform. He then quickly joined the office-based staff as Field Manager, progressing to Operations Manager and has recently become the Offshore Supply Chain Manager.  Gary is responsible for all Offshore suppliers from the Arabian Gulf to the Gulf of Mexico and anywhere in between.

Gary has 35 years of experience within the catering industry. His career began in hotels and then relocated into industrial catering, firstly in-flight catering where he worked from Head Chef to General Manager in inflight catering, eventually making the switch to the Offshore industry.

Gary is a qualified Chef, Pâtissier, Auditor and a keen member of the Institute of Hospitality.
When not working Gary likes nothing more than to get outdoors in the fresh air and enjoy time on his Triumph Bonneville Motorcycle.

Robert is the Aramark Offshore Finance Director. He joined Aramark Offshore in late 2022 to cover a temporary finance/commercial role, then assumed the US Offshore region finance manager position, became interim finance director in July 2023 and has now assumed the role on a permanent basis.

Robert has over 30 years experience in a variety of financial and management roles. He spent over 20 years with Shell working in various financial and commercial roles both nationally and internationally. Since leaving Shell in 2009, he has worked for several large energy service companies both locally in Aberdeen and in other parts of the world. He also spent some time working in both the waste and education sectors before returning to energy services with Aramark Offshore. Robert has a BSc and an MBA; he is also a very keen golfer, a musician, a pilot and a grandfather (not in order of priority).

Ian joined Aramark in 2019 as Business Development Manager before transferring to his current role in late 2020. Ian has brought a wealth of experience with him as he has been in the service industry since leaving higher education and has gained valuable experience in the energy sector, having been involved in it since early 1991.

Ian has been an active member of industry forums and through his involvement in Step Change in Safety, has developed a very high level of expectations around the team delivery of safety and the wellbeing of individuals.

As a Hotel Management graduate, service delivery is very important to Ian and it means that the focus on delivering great services is paramount in his management of the operations.

Ian is a very proud Grandfather and loves nothing more than spending time with them and seeing them develop and grow.

Lars joined Aramark Denmark in 2015 as Development Operations Manager and was promoted to Operations Manager in 2017. In June 2018 Lars was appointed Director of Operations Nordic and joined the Global Offshore Management Team.

Lars is a member in the Board of Representatives in Horesta as well as in The Competence Development Fund under Horesta & Co-Sea.

Lars is a professionally trained chef and has a great interest in Food Waste Management. Lars has a broad leadership background within the hospitality and catering industry. Lars holds a BA in commerce from Niels Brock Business College, Copenhagen and has attended leadership programs from Probana Business School, Copenhagen and IMD Business School, Lausanne.

Lars is a big fan of modern art and Danish Design.

Rob joined Aramark in 2014 as an Offshore Facilities Manager and later was promoted to Operations Manager in 2016, joining the onshore leadership team. In 2017, Rob was promoted assuming the appointment of Director of Operations for the UKCS, and joined the Senior Leadership team of Aramark’s Global Offshore Operations.

In October 2020, Rob embarked on a new appointment of Regional Director for the Arabian Gulf, remaining a member of the Senior Leadership Team of Aramark’s Global Offshore Operations.

In January 2024, Rob returned to the position of Director of the Operations for the UKCS.

Prior to this Rob enjoyed a highly successful career in the Armed Forces attaining a Queens Commission, having conducted various senior appointments throughout his 24-year career. He holds accredited membership in MCGI, a Level 7 diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management and graduated with a Masters Degree in Business Administration

David Kreiner is Director of Operations in the Gulf of Mexico, US business.

In 2011, he joined Aramark and used his industry knowledge to quickly promote to Operations Manager in 2013 and soon elevated to General Manager by 2015.

While focusing on running the operations, David has been leading the way for innovative thinking and processes in the offshore market. His passion for trying the unexpected has not only been the driving force behind raising our standards, but it has changed how our client expectations are achieved.

With his forward thinking and determination, David began leading our Gulf of Mexico Region as the Director of Operations in early 2019.

David obtained a degree in Hospitality Management and graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu before entering into his career in the Food Service Industry.

He has continued to rely on his culinary roots to define the possibilities of what can be explored as new and cutting edge within the often limiting circumstances of oil and gas remote locations.