Dive deeper into the journey of Aqueos Corporation as it appoints new leadership
For nearly 25 years, Aqueos Corporation has been a true innovator in the energy industry. By supporting existing energy sources and responding to the demand for offshore renewable energy, Aqueos maintains the foundations and infrastructure of the civil, military, renewable, and oil and gas sectors through its expert marine construction and commercial diving services.
The company was founded by Theodore (Ted) Roche IV in 2000, who served as President and Chief Executive Officer until July 2024. Since then, Eric Legendre has stepped into the position, and we had the privilege of speaking to him about his journey with the business.
“Our predecessor would tell you that Aqueos is a diving company, but I prefer to call us a project management company,” Eric begins. “We deliver projects as our core business, but commercial diving is undoubtedly the backbone of what we do.
“We’ve mostly serviced the oil and gas industry, but we’ve also done civil and military projects. We do underwater construction, inspection, repair and maintenance, and civil projects for municipalities, so we’re pretty diverse.”
Eric joined Aqueos in 2019 after meeting Ted Roche a year before, already having a wealth of experience under his belt following a previous longstanding career in Projects and Operations at a major EPC contractor.
“Ted and I met in 2018,” Eric shares. “In May 2019, I decided to move over and join him, and I can tell you that I’ve never looked back once. I really had such a great experience working with Ted and having the opportunity to take a smaller subsea company and turn it into what it is today.”
In the following years, Eric and Ted worked together to maintain the business’ growth trajectory and solidify its position as a true industry leader. In 2022, Aqueos was acquired by the Michels family of companies – a strategic move helping to exemplify Ted’s legacy – and continued to extend its scope of capabilities to serve its ever-expansive client base, further amplifying its golden reputation.
When Ted made the decision to step down as President, he entrusted Eric to lead Aqueos with his passion and expertize. Inspired by Ted’s leadership, Eric was keen to follow in his footsteps.
“When I was in high school, I was a backup quarterback to a guy named Jake Delhomme, who later led the Carolina Panthers to a Super Bowl. After he left, I had big shoes to fill. I think that experience at a young age really prepared me for this role because I have to fill some really big shoes now. Ted is a pioneer in our industry. He is an advocate for divers’ safety and he has built a fantastic company.”
Like Ted, Eric prioritizes the safety and care of his people, as well as that of the equipment and environment. Aqueos is proud to boast a zero percent recordable incident rate, demonstrating its dedication to the protection of its workforce.
“Our core values are excellence, professionalism and safety,” Eric explains. “With every project that we accept, we accept it under the mantra that it’s going to be done without harm to our people, equipment or the environment. 
“We have a diving safety management system that was put together based on various regulations, recommendations and industry-safe practises. That really boils down to keeping the person at the end of the hose safe in everything that he or she does.”
Strategic projects
Presently, Aqueos is working on some exciting projects in the West Coast, Mexico and Gulf of Mexico.
“The project that we’re executing in Mexico is surrounds a large gas pipeline, and we are assisting with various construction activities,” Eric details. “We started off using our flagship, the Kelly Ann Candies. She is a 280’ DP2 Diving Support Vessel with an integrated saturation diving system, a twin LARS air diving system and work class ROV. We also have a fleet of inspection ROVs that we operate on the West Coast.
“Right now, we have a lift boat with our dive teams on board doing some tie-in work to this large pipeline. We have just about finished another project in the city of Ventura. It’s a large civil project that we won last year which we call a ‘One Michels’ project. We used other entities within Michels to satisfy this work, so it was a perfect project for the Michels family of companies. We’ve also had other projects where we’ve mobilized other vessels of opportunity to utilize our diving and subsea services.”
2024 has been a busy year for Aqueos and as the company moves into the future, Eric is eyeing further growth and international expansion. Aqueos is looking towards more strategic projects either through acquisition or partnerships with others, both as a company and in collaboration with other businesses within the Michels family.
“We want to look at locations where we can expand strategically,” Eric describes. “While the market outlook is great, there’s always ebbs and flows; we certainly don’t want to build a business with so much overhead that you can’t sustain it. We’re very proud of our blue-chip client base and we want to ride their coattails; wherever our current customers are operating is where we want to be.”
With Eric leading at the helm, Aqueos is propelling into a prodigious future. As the company continues to grow and maintain its success, Eric will never forget the journey and the man who helped him along the way.
“Ted founded the company in 2000. He stepped down as CEO on July 1st of this year, and I was the heir apparent – that’s why he hired me,” Eric reflects.
“It was such a good fit for the both of us. We’re very similar in a lot of ways. My skill set really complemented his skill set. I think both of us are proud of what we’ve done over the last five years, and of course, we are incredibly proud of all of our committed employees and what has been accomplished over the last 24 years.
“Ted’s legacy is probably the most important thing to me. I can’t say enough about Ted. He’s a mentor. He’s a friend and has left some big shoes to fill, but I certainly look forward to the challenge and to continuing on with his legacy.”
Ted Roche himself sums it up in one sentence: “I feel 100 percent confident with Eric at the helm, and with the support of his executive leadership team and the Michels Family, Aqueos has a long, long legacy, and the best is yet to come.”