Company Story
Velvet Sea Environmental was founded on a simple observation: complex projects rarely fail because people did not work hard. They fail when information fragments, responsibility blurs, and field reality reaches decision-makers too late.
Built from more than a decade of offshore, hydrographic, environmental, and geospatial work, VSE brings field judgment, technical discipline, and modern delivery methods into one operating model. We support maritime, coastal, terrestrial, and infrastructure projects where data, people, and execution must work as one system.
Our aim is straightforward: surface truth earlier, reduce avoidable friction, and leave clients with stronger capability than they had before we arrived. Technology helps us move faster. Stewardship, judgment, and care for people determine whether the result is worth having.
Capability Statement
Capability Built for the Field
VSE provides senior-led environmental, geospatial, marine, and project-assurance services for government agencies, infrastructure owners, energy developers, prime contractors, and specialist project teams.
Our capability statement summarizes our core competencies, representative experience, procurement information, and flexible teaming approach.
LEADERSHIP
Field experience. Technical judgment. Modern execution.
OFFSHORE ENERGY | CLIENT REPRESENTATION | PROJECT ASSURANCE | HYDROGRAPHY & GEOSPATIAL QA/QC | SUBSEA INFRASTRUCTURE | GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING | HUMAN-CENTERED TECHNOLOGY
Joshua Domenico
FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Joshua founded Velvet Sea Environmental after more than a decade working across offshore energy, hydrographic survey, subsea cable, marine infrastructure, environmental programs, and client-side project delivery. His career has consistently placed him between the people doing the work and the people responsible for the outcome.
That experience shaped the way VSE is being built. Joshua believes complex projects work better when senior judgment stays close to execution, technical risk is made visible early, accountability is clear, and unnecessary layers are removed.
At VSE, Joshua leads company strategy, technical consulting, client representation, project assurance, geospatial and marine-data QA/QC, government-contracting development, and the design of a lean operating model built around experienced people solving real problems. He is also developing VSE’s longer-term human-centered technology vision, exploring how AI and better systems can reduce administrative friction and give people more time to focus on meaningful work.
Outside VSE, Joshua is usually chasing live music, snowboarding, traveling, writing, or thinking about how work could be done differently.
“The purpose of technological innovation is not to add more stress or take more time away from the human experience. Technology should give time back to us, because time is our most precious gift in this one brief glimpse of reality.” — Joshua Domenico
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT | CAPTURE & PIPELINE | CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS | ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS | GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING | GIS & FIELD DATA
Tommy Gorak
Founding Principal | Director of Business Development & Environmental Programs
Tommy sits at the intersection of business development, environmental programs, and client relationships at Velvet Sea Environmental. His role has quickly expanded from environmental and field-data support into helping turn VSE’s technical capabilities into real conversations, opportunities, and contracts..
His environmental science, GIS, and field-data background gives him technical grounding behind the work he is helping sell. As VSE grows, Tommy’s path is toward building and leading the company’s business-development function, creating a repeatable system for capture, pipeline development, client growth, and the team that will eventually support it.
Tommy brings curiosity, humility, loyalty, and genuine kindness to the company, and his growth within VSE reflects a core belief of the firm: give good people room to grow into where their strengths naturally take them.
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream, a dream you dream together is reality" - John Lennon
TECHNICAL OPERATIONS | HYDROGRAPHY | MARINE GEOSCIENCE | QA/QC | DATA PROCESSING | SURVEY SYSTEMS | WORKFLOW & SOP DEVELOPMENT | PROJECT DELIVERY
Michael Reed
FOUNDING PRINCIPAL | DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL OPERATIONS & MARINE SYSTEMS
Michael Reed is a founding principal of Velvet Sea Environmental with extensive experience across hydrography, geophysics, offshore wind, subsea cables, marine survey systems, QA/QC, data processing, and technical project delivery.
That experience shapes the way Mike approaches technical operations at VSE. He believes strong delivery comes from clear standards, practical innovation, repeatable processes, and experienced people having the tools they need to solve difficult problems.
At VSE, Mike leads technical operations and marine systems, including hydrographic and geophysical workflows, survey systems, QA/QC, data processing, SOP development, and technical troubleshooting. He is building the standards and technical capability needed for VSE to grow while keeping quality and accountability close to the work.
Outside VSE, Mike is usually enjoying life with his wife, exploring somewhere in the forest or farther afield, taking care of his dogs, or thinking about how something could be built or done better.
OFFSHORE STRATEGY | PROJECT DEVELOPMENT | CLIENT REPRESENTATION | SUBSEA CABLES | MARINE CONSTRUCTION | SURVEY & ROV | BID & SCOPE DEVELOPMENT | INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY
James Alexander Franko
FOUNDING PRINCIPAL | OFFSHORE STRATEGY & PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
James brings more than two decades of international offshore energy and marine infrastructure experience to Velvet Sea Environmental, spanning offshore wind, oil and gas, subsea cables, survey, ROV operations, geophysics, geotechnical programs, construction, and asset integrity. He has worked across more than 20 countries and throughout the full project lifecycle.
That experience shaped the way James approaches project development. He focuses on whether an opportunity is technically sound, whether the scope can actually be executed, where risk is hiding, and what needs to happen before VSE commits its people and reputation to the work.
At VSE, James leads offshore strategy, project development, client representation, bid and scope development, subcontractor and delivery models, international market development, and the growth of VSE's technical delivery organization. His experience bridges technical capability, commercial reality, and offshore execution.
James brings the candor of someone who has spent his career close to the work. He and Joshua share a relationship built around challenging assumptions, speaking plainly, and asking the simple question that often matters most: is this actually going to work?
When James is not offshore working on a vessel he is at his home in Nova Scotia being the best husband he can be to his beautiful family and his: adopted cow, two adopted pigs, donkey, horse, cow, random animals etc.
‘Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.’ - James
STRATEGIC ADVISORS
EXPERIENCE. PERSPECTIVE. REALITY CHECK.
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS | MARITIME RISK | CLIENT REPRESENTATION | HSSEQ | OPERATIONAL ASSURANCE | MARINE CONSTRUCTION | SUBSEA CABLES | HUMAN-CENTRIC LEADERSHIP
Gordon Foot MNM
STRATEGIC ADVISOR | OFFSHORE OPERATIONS, MARITIME RISK & HUMAN-CENTRIC LEADERSHIP
Gordon brings more than 35 years of maritime and naval leadership to Velvet Sea Environmental, with experience across offshore renewables, subsea cables, oil and gas, marine construction, and complex offshore operations. A recipient of the Merchant Navy Medal, he has represented major energy companies in demanding marine environments around the world.
That experience shaped Gordon’s approach to offshore leadership. He believes technical systems, processes, and engineering decisions only succeed when they support the people responsible for executing the work safely under real operational pressure.
At VSE, Gordon advises on offshore execution, maritime risk, client representation, HSSEQ, operational assurance, and safety culture. As a Chartered Marine Technologist and Marine Warranty Surveyor, he helps identify where risk is developing, connect shore-side decisions with offshore reality, and ensure technical plans remain practical in the field.
Outside VSE, Gordon is rarely standing still. When he is not at sea, he can usually be found taking on another adventurous fundraising expedition in support of seafarers and the wider maritime community.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
COMMERCIALIZATION | TECHNOLOGY SCALING | BUSINESS FORMATION | ENTERPRISE GROWTH | STRATEGIC RISK | EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE
Eric Speck
STRATEGIC ADVISOR | COMMERCIALIZATION, TECHNOLOGY SCALE & ENTERPRISE GROWTH
Eric brings decades of senior commercial and technology leadership to Velvet Sea Environmental, with experience spanning technology, distribution, international growth, and the development of businesses at scale. His background includes senior leadership at Sabre, where he worked at the intersection of technology and commercial strategy.
That experience shapes the way Eric thinks about growth. He believes strong ideas need the right structure behind them to become sustainable businesses, and that decisions made early can determine whether growth creates opportunity or unnecessary complexity.
At VSE, Eric serves in a non-governing strategic advisory capacity, providing perspective on commercialization, technology scaling, business formation, strategic risk, and long-term growth. He helps the leadership team challenge assumptions, pressure-test major decisions, and think beyond individual projects toward building a durable enterprise.
Eric brings the perspective of someone who has seen organizations move from promising concepts to broader commercial adoption. His role is to help VSE grow deliberately, preserving what makes the company effective while building the systems needed for what comes next.