A Legend Leaves OceanWise

In December 2021 we said a huge fond farewell to a legend of the business, and the marine geospatial industry, John Pepper. After 12 years at OceanWise, John took the final leap into retirement last month and stepped down from his post as Chairman.

John has over 50 years’ experience working in the geospatial information industry, joining Ordnance Survey GB from school where he first trained as a land surveyor, and then transferring to the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO), before joining Mark, Caroline and Mike at OceanWise soon after the company was founded almost 12 years ago. John has been a key figure in promoting the need for our marine mapping products, having helped establish and then chairing the International Hydrographic Organisation’s (IHO’s) Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) Working Group from 2008 – 2014. The neologism ‘hydrospatial’ was coined by John when he was at the UKHO in 2004. Hydrospatial was the name given to the first of our marine mapping datasets and is now used widely by the IHO and elsewhere meaning ‘marine geospatial’. Read more about John’s involvement in Our Mapping Journey.

As our Marketing Director, John drove forth our business development and marketing portfolio and helped create and deliver our world-renowned Marine Data Management training courses. John has travelled the world attending and speaking at industry events, chairing conferences and delivering training courses – passionately training hundreds of marine professionals during his career.

John leaves OceanWise to pursue his love of travel, sport, and food and wine and to spend more time with his wonderful family. He will be sorely missed by all at OceanWise and by those who knew him within the industry. We wish him all the very best in his retirement and his future travels.