A veteran of Seattle’s startup and investment scene, Gordon Gardiner, has been given the task of leading OceanGate through the aftermath of June’s controversial loss of the Titan submersible and its crew during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck — and eventually to the closure of operations.
Gardiner has been appointed as CEO and director of the privately held Everett-based company, which suspended commercial and exploration operations after Titan’s implosion in the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean. OceanGate’s previous CEO and co-founder, Stockton Rush, was among the five crew members who died.
The new CEO’s primary task is to lead OceanGate through the ongoing investigations and closure of the company’s operations, OceanGate said in a statement. The company already has shut down its Facebook page and X / Twitter accounts, and its website has been reduced to a single black-and-white page announcing the suspension of operations.
The U.S. Coast Guard has set up a Marine Board of Investigation to look into the causes of the submersible’s catastrophic implosion, in partnership with the National Transportation Safety Board and its counterparts in Britain, Canada and France.
In response to an email inquiry, a Coast Guard spokesperson told GeekWire that the board “remains in the fact-finding phase of the investigation and is collecting all relevant information.”
A public hearing is planned as part of the investigatory process, and Congress may conduct hearings as well. There’s also a chance that lawsuits might be brought by survivors of victims, or by creditors.
After the Titan’s loss, sharp questions came to light about the methods used to manufacture Titan’s carbon-composite hull. In 2018, a whistleblower raised concerns in a complaint that was sent to an inspector for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But the complaint was withdrawn in the face of legal threats, The New Yorker reported.
Rob McCallum, a founding partner of Eyos Expeditions and an expert on deep-ocean exploration, had similar concerns during Titan’s development. He told GeekWire that the next couple of years could be rough for OceanGate.
“The investigations will bring out the whole story … and there will be a lot of soul-searching by those that enabled Stockton [Rush] and OceanGate to succeed to the operational phase,” McCallum said in an email. “The senior staff, the board and the lawyers are all in for a fairly tough couple of years … and OSHA and the USCG will benefit from some self-reflection.”
Gardiner grew up in Boston, but has lived in Seattle for 26 years. In addition to his post at OceanGate, he is chairman of Quantum Holdings and a general partner at Swiftsure Capital, both of which are based in Seattle.
From 2017 to 2021, he was the CEO of TableSafe, a Kirkland, Wash.-based venture that pioneered self-swipe payment devices for restaurants and was acquired by Mad Mobile in 2021. Over the past 15 years, Gardiner has served as a director on the boards of six other companies involved in a variety of industries, including tech and manufacturing.
Gardiner started his career with an affiliate of J.P. Morgan, where he worked for 15 years in New York, San Francisco and Europe. He subsequently served as the chief financial officer of tech companies in communications software, information technology services and consumer internet services.
Other factoids from a bio provided by OceanGate:
- Gardiner earned his B.A. from Harvard University, where he was also captain of the heavyweight crew.
- He completed the Executive Program for Growing Companies at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
- He’s an avid skier and bicyclist.
