About

David Blackmon is an individual with extensive experience in managing large legal teams across multiple locations. Over the years he has accumulated experience in international commercial negotiations, contracts and dispute resolution with a decade of experience in senior management teams and the related business acumen. Blackmon joined Heerema Marine Contractors, a leading marine contractor in the international offshore oil and gas and renewables industry, in October 2013 taking responsibility for all legal matters, taxation and insurance, also including acting as company secretary. This invovled voersight of 35 legal and tax professionals and seven support staff. As of January 2019, Blackmon’s role has changed as he has gained responsibility for tax matter with added responsibility for QA, QC, HR, ICT and general affairs as director of services, and consequently developed solid knowledge about how to create better outcomes through the close interaction between legal and taxation departments. ‘I have been privileged to augment my legal roles with key other responsibilities which has had an impact on my effectiveness as in-house counsel’, says Blackmon. Prior to joining Heerema Marine Contractors, Blackmon worked at Shell Eastern Petroleum Singapore as vice president and associate general counsel upstream international Asia, where he was also appointed as Chairman of STOS, a Shell and Todd joint venture and at the time the largest energy producer in New Zealand. This process shaped Blackmon’s thinking on effective governance and the set-up of joint venture structures. As a dedicated leader, Blackmon takes pride in developing and empowering his staff to reach their fullest potential: ‘By giving them key responsibilities their development was accelerated. The identification of opportunities that challenged them and gave them valuable internal and external exposure nicely complemented their development. This has made the department significantly more effective and appreciated throughout the company’, explains Blackmon.