About Us

Neil Hopkins (Chief Executive Officer)

Neil started his career in the inspection business as a Chemist Surveyor in 1973 with Intertek (Caleb Brett, UK) and, after studying Chemical Engineering at University of Bradford, he joined Intertek (Caleb Brett, USA) in 1980. For the next eight years he held a number of management positions in the USA and South America. In 1988, Neil joined Inspectorate as Vice President of the US Gulf Coast region and later became Global Director for Oil and Petrochemicals. In 1993, Neil was appointed President of Inspectorate Americas. In July 2006, Neil took up the position of Managing Director of the Inspectorate Group.

Igor Komarov (Regional Director, Eastern Europe) 

Igor Komarov graduated from the Odessa Marine Academy in 1980 with a Marine Engineer Degree. He took the position of Chief Engineer on a commercial tanker. He then transferred to the position of Technical Superintendent on the tanker. Subsequent to that he was appointed Regional Technical Manager, Southern East Asia, with headquarter in Singapore. He was in charge of operations in Indonesia, Malaysia & Hong Kong. In 2001 he joined Inspectorate Ukraine as Director of O&P Department and in 2003 was promoted to the position of General Manager of Inspectorate Ukraine. In 2009 he took up the position of General Manager of RosInspectorate.  In 2010 he became EER Regional Manager. 

Richard Bryan (Group Financial Director)

Richard graduated in 1985 with a BSc in Business Economics and Accountancy from Southampton University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) with Baker Tilley in 1990. Between 1994 and 1996, he held positions in the in-house finance teams at Lion Insurance Company and Pitney Bowes and, in 1998, joined Inspectorate. Richard became Group Financial Controller in 1998 and has been a member of the Inspectorate Executive since 2000.

John Hodson (Regional Director, EMEA, India and S E Asia)

Having studied at Manchester Polytechnic, John joined Core Laboratories as a laboratory chemist in 1981, working in a number of positions, until in 1984 he was appointed Regional Manager for West African operations. In 1986, he took up a broader role, with responsibility for the whole of Africa, for Intertek (Caleb Brett). For the next 15 years, he held a number of regional directorships at Caleb Brett in the Middle East, Asia and, finally, the Americas. In 2003, John joined Inspectorate as Regional Director for it’s European, African and Middle Eastern operations.

David Lappage (Group Company Secretary)

David has worked in the inspection industry since the mid 1970’s after a short period with ICI Plastics as a Production Chemist working on raw material intake. David first joined Griffith, later acquired by Inspectorate, as a Technical Manager. He completed a postgraduate management studies diploma course at the London Polytechnic before joining the Inspectorate corporate management team taking roles in Switzerland, Germany and Holland as well as the UK. In 1991 he was appointed Company Secretary of Inspectorate PLC before transferring to BSI as Head of Internal Audit. David rejoined the Inspectorate group soon after its acquisition by Inspicio and is now Group Company Secretary with responsibilities including group company administration, risk management, compliance, insurance and claims management.

Ron Olivier (Group Information Systems Director)

Ron graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of London in 1983 after which he held a number of Analyst/Programming positions at various software houses and corporates. He joined Intertek in 1991 as IT Project Manager for Europe, Africa and the Americas and moved internally, in 1993, to Caleb Brett, where he held the positions of Head of IT for their European, African and Middle Eastern operations and Vice President of IT for Caleb Brett, Americas. Ron obtained his MBA degree from Henley Management College in 1999.  Ron joined Inspectorate as Group Information Systems Director in 2003, where he is responsible for IT strategy and IT service delivery to Inspectorate’s global network of offices.

Richard Downs(Trade Director, Metals & Minerals Division)

Graduated with BSc in 1984 commenced work as a geologist for Mount Isa Mines Ltd in their deep underground copper mines in Australia. Subsequently held commercial and technical positions in Shell Co of Australia and Aberfoyle Resources before moving back to MIM in a mineral exploration and business development role in 1995. Completed an MBA from LaTrobe University and moved to the UK in 2004 and joined Inspectorate as Technical Manager of the UK M&M inspection business and later GM UK M&M. Appointed Director for M&M Trade business in 2011.

Kevin Somers (President, Americas Region)

Kevin is a Master Mariner and has worked in the commodity inspection business for over 24 years. He joined the Inspection Industry in 1981 after serving 11 years in the British Merchant Navy with BP Tanker Company and Dilmun Navigation Company. In 1988 he joined Inspectorate as Vice President for the Gulf Coast Region (O&P) and was promoted to Senior Vice President of the Oil and Petrochemical Division in 1995. Kevin was appointed to his present position, President of Inspectorate America Corporation in July 2006.