Who We Are

Mr. Sheldon became the President of Gibbs & Cox in March 2022. He joined Gibbs & Cox as the Chief Operating Officer in 2016 following a 40 year career in the maritime industry with experience in professional services, systems integration and product delivery including; manufacturing, training systems, ship design, acquisition and lifecycle support. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture.

Mr. Catton was installed as the Managing Director of Gibbs & Cox Australia in January 2020. Mr. Catton holds broad naval program experience as a professional Naval Architect, Engineering Manager and Program Director covering all phases of the naval ship capability lifecycle. He joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as a Program Director supporting the SEA5000 program in December 2018. Previous to joining Gibbs & Cox Australia, he has held roles in engineering and acquisition management for Irving Shipbuilding on the Canadian Surface Combatant program, production engineering management for ASC Shipbuilding on the Hobart Class program, and prior roles with Thales Australia, DMO, and Navy Systems. Mr. Catton holds a Bachelor degree in Naval Architecture with Honours 1st Class from the Australian Maritime College, a Certificate in Complex Project Procurement Leadership from the University of Ottawa, and is currently studying an MBA.

Sonia joined Gibbs & Cox in 2019 following a government and corporate career that spans over 30 years. Sonia has lived, worked and studied in the UK, Canada and Australia, gaining a wealth of experience in defence, government and private sectors. Sonia studied Business Management (Finance) at Brighton University, UK, Accounting at Victoria, BC Canada, and she is currently working towards the completion of an MBA. Sonia’s previous roles as CFO and in corporate business management have provided extensive experience and knowledge in management of corporate services. Sonia has strong business acumen with significant experience in corporate management, accounting, audit & risk management, contracts and Human Resources. Sonia is a strategic member of the management team, focusing on Gibbs & Cox business and growth strategy, continuous improvement, and advancements to processes and compliance. Sonia plays a key role in managing our support to our clients.

Peter joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as a Principal Naval Architect in February 2020. He has wide ranging experience in the maritime industry, in defence and commercial shipping. Peter has developed deep technical specialism in ship stability, structures and survivability. Peter’s expertise was founded through working on a variety of projects in a commercial consultancy firm gathering and creating technical evidence for large ship design and upgrade programs, expert witnessing, and litigation. Latterly in his career, Peter developed defence experience through managing a Survivability team, and has had senior management responsibility in the defence industry across survivability, air and maritime structural assessment and management, and artificial ageing and evaluation of stores. Peter is a chartered engineering with the IMarEST, and gained his Master’s Degree (with merit) in Naval Architecture from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Matt joined Gibbs & Cox Australia in early 2022 as a Principal Shipbuilding Advisor, and now serves as Director Programs, Sustainment & Shipbuilding Operations. Matt is a nationally-respected expert in ship production and shipyard operations. He holds broad operational and delivery experience across a number of major shipbuilding projects, and maintains active working relationships across the Australian shipbuilding industry. Matt’s energy and expertise brings an advanced level of capability and insight to any project team’s management of production, project and shipyard operations issues. Matt graduated from University of Newcastle with a Bachelor Degree with Mechanical Engineering and UNSW with a Bachelor Engineering in Naval Architecture.

Allen joined Gibbs & Cox Australia in November 2022. Allen has broad experience as a Project Manager, Engineering Manager, Systems Analyst/Programmer and Naval Warfare Officer. Allen holds more than 40 years of experience with naval combat and C4I systems operation, research, development and in-service support for the Royal Canadian Navy. Allen’s career history includes five years in industry as PM leading the refurbishment of Canada’s mine warfare and route survey systems, three years as C4I Systems IPT lead on Canada’s Joint Support Ship Project, and the past eight years as Senior Combat Systems Engineering Manager and Deputy Project Director at Irving Shipbuilding with the Canadian Surface Combatant project. In this role Allen received a commendation from the Commander, Royal Canadian Navy for his outstanding services to the RCN in moving the CSC project from definition through to contract award. Allen has been a Project Management Professional since 2004 and recently completed his MBA at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada.

Andrew joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as an Integrated Logistic Support Engineer in December 2019. Andrew has developed a deep level of understanding through his 11 years working in the Integrated Logistic Support environment during both the build phase and in-service support of UK RN warships. He gained experience in dataset management and integration of the Logistic Support Analysis Record (LSAR), Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), Initial Provisioning (IP) and the associated technical manuals in S1000D format. His work included the management of design change and obsolescence into datasets, as well as the co-ordination and delivery of ships maintenance and their associated technical documentation contained within the Interactive Electronic Technical Publications (IETP). Andrew gained an HNC in Mechanical Engineering from Oxford Brookes University whilst serving in the Royal Air Force in 2001.

Simon joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as a Principal Mechanical Engineer in January 2021. Prior to this, he held senior roles as a General Manager and Non-Executive Director in New Zealand and the UK. He is a Marine Engineer by background and served over 20 years in the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy. His naval career included roles as the Marine Engineering Officer of a Type 23 Frigate and supporting the Type 45 Destroyer acquisition project. In the RNZN, his credits include Project Protector, ANZAC Frigate upgrades and acquisition work on the RNZN AOR. Subsequent roles after leaving the RNZN included Project Management, General Management, Emergency Management and Non-Executive Director positions. In 2019, he joined Strategic Sourcing Consultancy working for the RNZN on the Future Maritime Support Construct and the ANZAC Frigate Systems Upgrade programmes. Simon holds an MBA from Victoria University of Wellington and is a graduate of the NZDF Joint Staff Course. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Tim joined Gibbs and Cox (Australia) as a Schedule Manager in June 2021, bringing 30 years’ experience in complex projects within Defence and industry.

His early career with the RAAF and RNZAF afforded him the opportunity to experience the complexities of sustainment and mid-life capability upgrades of a variety of Defence platforms, before joining Defence industry in 2001.  Since that time, Tim has been fortunate to work on a number of major programs across Land, Air and Maritime domains, spanning the full capability lifecycle in each, in both hands-on and senior management roles.  Tim specialises in planning, scheduling, cost estimation and earned value management in high-value, low-volume acquisition environments.

Tim holds Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering from the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and was accredited as a Certified Practicing Project Director in 2017.

Andrew joined Gibbs and Cox in July 2020. Andrew has 35 years’ experience working for the US Department of Defense working in Submarines in all phases of the life cycle. He acquired submarine Combat and Weapons Systems design, test, build, integration, production, and sustainment experience while working in Engineering Stations, Navy laboratories, and Systems Commands and serving as an engineer, technical design agent, in service engineering agent, chief engineer, program manager, and submarine portfolio manager. He has an additional five years’ submarine experience seconded to the Australia Department of Defence as an engineering director, Principal Engineer, and executive director. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Military Institute and a ME in Systems Engineering from Old Dominion University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia.

Cameron joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as a Senior Naval Architect in April 2022. He is an experienced Naval Architect in both the defence and commercial sectors leading the delivery on a number of commercial design projects. Cameron’s experience in the commercial sector includes working on a range of ship designs from a 6m aluminium tourist boat, a 28m vessel refit, 35-60m ROPAX catamaran ferries and an 87m transhipment cargo vessel. His defence experience includes requirements development on the SEA5000 project and structural assessment of the Pacific Patrol Boats. He holds a BEng (Honours) in Naval Architecture from the Australian Maritime College and was awarded his Chartered Engineering Status by RINA in 2014.

Claire joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as a Senior Naval Architect in August 2021. Through Claire’s previous experience with the Australian Department of Defence she has a strong understanding of the Defence maritime sector. She has held roles as an engineering specialist and engineering manager, working across both sustainment and procurement, where she has undertaken technical analysis, witnessed engineering tests, provided technical advice and participated in international working groups. She is an expert in ship stability and is also knowledgeable in ship hydrodynamics and structures. Claire also has a strong background in Defence technical governance having lead and managed technical and policy teams. Recently, she has been utilising her skills in naval ship procurement and design development. Claire gained her Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture with First Class Honours from the University of New South Wales.

Peter has over 20 years’ experience as a Systems Engineer, Engineering Manager and Project Manager during both the build and in-service support phase of RAN warships, and has worked on every current RAN fleet unit at some stage during his career. Peter is an alumni employee of Gibbs & Cox Australia, having previously served during the Air Warfare Destroyer concept development phase during 2006/2007, and it is fantastic to have Peter back on the G&C team again. Peter holds a Masters of Engineering Science (Project Management) from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours from the Australian National University.

Kyle joined Gibbs & Cox as a structural engineer in 2011 after several years in the building industry. At Gibbs & Cox, he has taken on roles as the lead structural engineer for the integration of Aegis into a modular building design, supported the Virginia Class submarine structures technical warrant holder, and most recently, as subject matter expert in shock and structures for the Future Submarine Program. Kyle’s niche is finite element analysis and the response of structures to dynamic loadings; however, over his career, Kyle has had success in developing a wide range of products from radar installation procedures, tolerance analysis, shock test procedures, design method specifications, and engineering assurance plans. Kyle is a Professional Engineer (PE) with a bachelors and masters degree in civil engineering from the University of Connecticut and Virginia Tech. He is the author of several papers on the structural analysis of geogrid reinforcement.

Sam joined Gibbs & Cox Australia as a Senior Naval Architect in 2022. Sam has 10 years of professional experience across both the commercial and defence maritime industries. He spent the first three years of his career in Western Australia working in submarine maintenance, then followed that up with three years at small naval architecture design firm in remote coastal WA, where he designed everything from small tenders and workboats up to 50m offshore oil & gas crew boats. Up until recently Sam has been working on various RAN ships including the MHCs, ACPBs, DDGs, LHDs & Choules, as well as assisting with the docking of vessels in Newcastle and Garden Island. Sam is now helping define Australia’s approach to naval supply chain sovereignty, as well as applying his seemingly limitless talents to a portfolio of other small design and advisory projects.

Michael started with Gibbs & Cox Australia in early March as a Senior Electrical Engineer. Michael has taken on the challenge of bringing the electrical systems on the EMAPS prototype from preliminary design into production. Previous to working with Gibbs & Cox Australia, Michael has worked in both the commercial and Defence industries designing power and communication reticulation to service new development projects and followed that up with a year working a FIFO roster on a large windfarm in rural Victoria. For the past three years, up until recently, Michael has been working on various RAN platforms including the MHCs and ACPBs, where he led the engineering changes for electrical systems.

James started with Gibbs & Cox Australia in September and is working as a Project Engineer. James has been working as a Naval Architect for 8 years. He started his career in the commercial sector, working for specialist naval architecture firms in Sydney in the design of aluminium high-speed ferries, workboats and fibreglass white boats ranging in size from 5m to 100m plus.

From 2018 onwards, James has been working in the Defence space on engineering design and platform integration projects for RAN ships including the MHCs, DDGs, LHDs & HMAS Choules. He was also the Production Engineer for the ACPB 5-year renewal maintenance periods.