Our Personnel

REM Associates prides itself on its staff, a team of internationally experienced and qualified fire, marine, environmental, emergency response and management professionals. All our personnel have real-world experience in managing and responding to incidents and emergencies and bring this knowledge to bear on developing and delivering services to our clients.

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Alex Spence
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Managing Director

Alex Spence is an internationally experienced, Crisis Management & Emergency Response professional with over 18 years experience in Australia, Middle East and Asia-Pacific Regions.

He is currently the Managing Director for REM Associates and has been in the Middle East region for more than eight years. He was the Program Manager for Emirates Response Services, a private aviation fire & rescue service based in the UAE and the Regional General Manager for SEACOR Response Ltd prior to this.  Early in his career, he worked for the Australian government and oil and gas industries throughout the Asia-Pacific region on marine environmental protection and marine pollution response projects.

Before his involvement with SEACOR, Alex was employed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) for four years, coordinating the national marine spill contingency arrangements and responding to incidents in Australia and internationally as part of the National Response Team.

He has been involved in major responses at all levels of command, planning and operations teams, and he has responded to incidents in more than 20 countries worldwide, including the MC-252 Deepwater Horizon Response in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

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Chris Dayton

​Principal Marine Associate

Chris Dayton is an internationally experienced, maritime industry professional who has held a number of prominent positions at a senior level in a range of operational, executive, consulting and advisory roles.

Following a seagoing career with Associated Steamships, he accepted a shore based position with the company and progressed to being appointed as its Managing Director with responsibility for the operation of Australia's largest fleet of vessels. This was followed by an appointment as Chief Executive of ASP Ship Management. He established a successful marine consultancy practice specialising in the operational, commercial and policy areas of shipping, which included being contracted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to provide the Secretariat to develop and execute the Asia-Pacific Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (the Tokyo MOU) to combat sub-standard shipping trading in the region.

This was followed by an appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian Coastal Shipping Commission (Stateships) that was a significant State Government agency operating in a competitive commercial shipping environment. He was appointed as Principal and Director of Thompson Clarke Shipping, Australia’s leading shipping consultancy practice before being invited to move to the Middle East as an Advisor to the Department of Transport, developing the marine strategy for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Andrew Stanbury

​Director - HSE and Emergency 

Andrew is a HSE and Emergency Management Specialist with over 20 years’ experience across many industry sectors in Australia. Mr. Stanbury has extensive experience in developing and delivering emergency and incident management exercises and training for government and private industry with significant real life experience derived for 10 years with the State Emergency Service in Western Australia.

He also has extensive experience in risk mitigation across all disciplines and at all levels of the organization from ground level HSE to business continuity and high level policy and standard development including working closely with regulators to develop National Standards and Codes of Practice.  

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Paul Swinn

​Principal Upstream Associate

Paul is a highly qualified and experienced emergency response and crisis management specialist, with an outstanding track record of emergency management, upstream, OPITO, safety training and consulting assignments.

He is a highly motivated, energetic and personable coach and mentor, who delivers outstanding results through people and whose opinions and advice are widely sought. Paul is an approved OPITO Assessor and has delivered a range of OIM and offshore training and consultancy projects throughout the Asia-Pacific including Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

With a high level of integrity combined with well developed communication and interpersonal skills, Paul provides clear and effective direction and has an ability to forge strong relationships at all levels.

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William Wilson

​Principal Fire Associate

William has worked with fire and rescue services in the United Kingdom and Middle East in Officer and Senior Management roles for over 20 years. He is a highly trained and operationally experienced fire and rescue professional with a strong background in Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF).

Commencing his career with the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, William then moved to Heathrow International Airport as part of the Airport Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) service. He transferred to Edinburgh Airport and progressed to Watch Manager before further developing his career into Senior Officer positions.

He has continued his education through professional development with professional Training, Assessment, Fire Engineering and Safety qualifications.