Meet the Team

Zdenek Sehnal joined IWCF as the Chief Executive Officer in September 2021. With almost 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Zdenek worked for 33 years at Equinor (Statoil) one of the world’s leading energy companies. He spent the rest of his career to date with Baker Hughes, DNV and Sunderland Polytechnic.

Zdenek has a broad depth of technical knowledge and experience in drilling, completion, interventions - particularly snubbing, well control and well integrity.

Having international experience in Azerbaijan, UK, Russia (Siberia), Denmark, Holland, Italy, Nigeria and the US, Zdenek has been involved with well control matters since his first experience on the Saga Petroleum, well 2/4-14, in 1989 working closely with Boots and Coots. At the time it was the most expensive blowout in the world. Since then, he has been involved in resolving numerous well control incidents both directly and as part of investigations teams.

From 2011 to 2021, Zdenek represented the Norwegian branch on the IWCF board of directors. In 2016 he was elected as Chair of the IWCF board, a position he held until his retirement from Equinor in February 2021.

Joanna Taylor oversees the Examination, Assessment Development and Accreditation departments and ensures the successful continuance of the business operations.

Reporting directly to the CEO, she ensures the certification programmes and activities align with the mission and goals of the organisation.

Joanna works closely with the accredited training centres to ensure that programme activities comply with all relative legislation and professional standards.

For any questions related to our programmes please contact Joanna.

Lynne manages all compliance and audit related activity for IWCF, working closely with the CEO and IWCF Board to ensure best practice is followed throughout the organisation.

Lynne manages the IWCF audit programme and quality assurance process and also develops and maintains the compliance programme.

Lynne’s main responsibilities include implementing and maintaining the regulatory policies and procedures across the business.

For any compliance, quality assurance or audit queries, please contact Lynne.

Joyce manages the accounting functions for IWCF and its’ subsidiaries.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, Joyce provides financial support including budgeting information and analysis to assist with effective decision making. She also works closely with the Finance Supervisor to ensure that they maintain good relationships with all members and suppliers.

For any questions related to accounts, please contact Joyce.

Kay is the main contact for our accounts receivable function and works with our customers to ensure all invoicing queries are resolved and invoice payments are received within our terms.

Kay helps to ensure the accounting functions of our organisation are carried out in a timely, accurate and efficient manner.

For any questions related to accounts, please contact Kay.

Rae is responsible for managing the accreditation process in line with IWCF procedures, including new Instructor, Assessor and Primary Centre applications.

Rae also works closely with the Media and Membership team to support new accreditation enquiries throughout their application to become an accredited centre.

Part of Rae's role also includes planning and managing the delivery of the Train the Trainer and Assessor Courses in global locations throughout the year.

Please contact Rae below for any accreditation enquiries.

Gemma is responsible for reviewing and approving all primary centre applications, as well as working with our current accredited centres to make any updates to their centre details.

Part of Gemma’s role includes planning and administering the delivery of the Train the Trainer and Assessor Courses in global locations throughout the year.

Please contact Gemma below for any accreditation enquiries

Jodie is responsible for reviewing and approving all associate centre applications, as well as working with our accredited centres to make any updates to the centre details.

Jodie is also responsible for the review of all instructor and assessor applications.

Please contact Jodie below for any accreditation enquiries

Sarah Lauenstein is the Regional Manager for Australasia. Based in the Australian office, Sarah manages the scheduling, certification and accreditation process for accredited centres in Australia, New Zealand and throughout South East Asia.

Sarah attends industry conferences, events, and the Australasian Branch Meetings; building rapport with members and communicating new initiatives and updates from IWCF.

Kerrie works closely with the Head of Compliance on all quality assurance and compliance related activity for IWCF.

Kerrie’s main responsibilities include assisting with scheduling all audits for IWCF, conducting investigations on behalf of IWCF, reviewing and approving all quality assurance documentation and regular statistical analysis of the continuous improvement notices.

Kerrie is responsible for ensuring that the IWCF audit programme is maintained and accredited training centres are adhering to IWCF policies and procedures.

Other responsibilities include ensuring internal staff are aware of the requirements of our ISO 9001:2015 certification as well as conducting the internal audits for IWCF.

For any quality assurance, compliance or audit queries, please contact Kerrie.

Kevin is responsible for auditing IWCF’s global network of accredited training centres. Kevin is involved in the planning and delivery of the audit programme and is also responsible for providing advice to centres to make sure they comply with IWCF regulations.

Rachael manages the examinations team in order to provide administration support to international training and assessment centres.

Working closely with the Head of Operations and FORUM development team, Rachael manages the scheduling and certification process for training centres.

For any examination or FORUM related questions or guidance, please contact Rachael.

Faye Tait is the Customer Account Supervisor within the Examinations team.

Faye works closely with our training centres and invigilators to ensure they have all the necessary information in place for assessments. Faye also supervises the recording and arranging of all assessment schedules and provides support and guidance to the Examinations team.

For any questions related to schedules or eCerts, please contact Faye.

Laura Goldie is an Account Coordinator in the Examinations team.

Laura works closely with our training centres and invigilators to ensure they have all the necessary information in place on FORUM for upcoming assessments. She is also responsible for approving new schedules in FORUM as well as issuing eCerts to successful candidates when they complete their assessments.

For any questions related to assessments or eCerts, please contact Laura.

Kirsty is an Account Coordinator in the Examinations team.

Kirsty works closely with our training centres and invigilators to ensure they have all the necessary information in place on FORUM for upcoming assessments. She is also responsible for approving new schedules in FORUM as well as issuing eCerts to successful candidates when they complete their assessments.

For any questions related to assessments or eCerts, please contact Kirsty.

Jenny Lindsay is responsible for maintaining our question database, eNetAssess. This includes editing, adding and generating new assessment materials.

Jenny works closely with the Taskforce department to address all candidate comments and reports on the findings regularly. Jenny also works closely with her team to offer support with translations and maintenance of questions in the system.

For any assessment quality questions, please contact Jenny.

Heather works within the Examinations Department to provide day to day administrative support, working closely with the Account Coordinators and Examination Administrators.

Leanne works within the Examinations Department to provide day to day administrative support, working closely with the Account Coordinators and Examination Administrators.

Kirsten manages all marketing, events and membership activity for IWCF.

Her main responsibilities include creating IWCF’s communication strategies and delivering these to our key stakeholders including members, candidates and training centres.

By working closely with all departments to gain understanding of new projects, Kirsten ensures these are communicated effectively to our global audience using information notices, monthly updates and social media channels.

Kirsten manages all of IWCF’s membership activity including welcoming new members and supporting all existing members including during the yearly renewal process.

Kirsten often attends industry events to meet with key stakeholders and liaise with potential members to promote IWCF’s values.

For any marketing, event or membership enquiries, please contact Kirsten.

Katrina is our Programmes and Assessment Development Officer.

A large part of Katrina’s role is working with question writers and technical committees to make sure all assessment content is in line with IWCF guidelines.

She is involved in the creation of new programmes and leads several IWCF projects.

Katrina is skilled in plain English writing and editing, and assists the IWCF team to create clear written communication.

She supports IWCF senior management by creating reports and proposals, as well as tracking costs.

As Project Supervisor, Laura is responsible for the recording and monitoring of all board approved projects.

Laura works closely with all Heads of Departments and FORUM development team to ensure successful completion of agreed project deliverables.

For any IT or project related questions or guidance, please contact Laura.

Paul is responsible for managing the translation process which includes the selection and recruitment of translators, translation quality assurance and the development of linguistic resources. Paul is also responsible for to improving translation consistency across all languages and programmes.

He works closely with the Exams Team to help make sure assessment materials are translated into different languages for our global network of training centres.

Paul is a Chartered Linguist (Language Specialist) and member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Linguists as well as an ECQA Certified Terminology Manager. He speaks English and Spanish, and also understands French (A1 level).

For any translation enquiries, please contact Paul.

Paula Ornelas is the Translation Coordinator within the Translation Team.

Paula is responsible for creating and managing translation projects, working with our external translation partner and internal technical translators and reviewers. She works closely with the Programmes and Assessment Development Officer and technical consultants to investigate and resolve technical questions related to translated content.

Paula speaks Portuguese and English, and also understands Spanish, French and Italian (A1 level).

For any translation enquiries, please contact Paula.

Gloria Garofalo is a Translation Coordinator within the Translation Team.

Gloria is responsible for creating and managing translation projects, working with our external translation partner and internal technical translators and reviewers. Gloria also works closely with the Assessment Supervisor to process translated questions and investigate question comments on translations.

Gloria speaks Italian and English, and also understands Spanish and French (A1 level).

For any translation enquiries, please contact Gloria.

Steven Ritchie is a Translation Coordinator within the Translation Team.

Steven is responsible for creating and managing translation projects, working with our external translation partner, internal technical translators and reviewers. Steven also works closely with the Assessment Supervisor to process translated questions and investigate candidate comments on translation.

Steven speaks Japanese, French and Scots Gaelic.

For any translation inquiries, please contact Steven