Phoenix International Holdings, Inc. (Phoenix) Senior Leadership
Phoenix’s senior leadership team and board of directors are composed of highly experienced and dedicated executives and owners. As an employee-owned company, our leadership works collaboratively with team members at all levels to harness collective underwater expertise and deliver exceptional value.
This ownership model fosters a strong culture of accountability, innovation, and shared success—benefiting our employee stakeholders, clients, and the communities we serve around the world.
Patrick Keenan
President, Phoenix International Holdings, Inc.
Patrick Keenan brings over four decades of experience in naval engineering, marine salvage, and underwater ship repair to his role as President of Phoenix International Holdings, Inc.
Patrick served 30 years in the United States Navy as a diver, salvor, and engineer. His sea tours included deck and engineering officer roles aboard ATF- and ARS-class salvage ships, as well as Seventh Fleet Salvage Officer based in Singapore. His shore assignments were equally distinguished, including roles as Hyperbaric Maintenance Superintendent at a diving research facility; Drydocking and Diving Officer at a naval shipyard; Officer in Charge of Ship Repair Unit Bahrain; Commanding Officer of the Navy Experimental Diving Unit; and Director of the Naval Construction and Engineering Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He culminated his military service as the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving and Director of Ocean Engineering.
Following his Navy career, Patrick served as Global Director of Operations for TITAN Salvage, leading major commercial salvage projects including the successful removal of the M/V Costa Concordia off the coast of Giglio, Italy. He joined Phoenix International Holdings shortly thereafter to manage its commercial underwater ship repair service line and was appointed President in November 2016.
Patrick is a registered professional engineer and certified marine surveyor. He holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Materials Engineering, and a Naval Engineer Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research on waterborne ship repair has been published in the Naval Engineers Journal, and he holds a U.S. patent titled Method and Apparatus for Thermal Insulation of Wet Shielded Metal Arc Welds.
In recognition of his leadership in the salvage and heavy-lift operation that returned USS Cole from Aden, Yemen, to the United States, Patrick was awarded the American Society of Naval Engineers’ Claude A. Jones Award for excellence in naval engineering.
Phoenix International Board of Directors
Mike Kutzleb
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board
Mike Kutzleb is a founding member of Phoenix International Holdings, Inc. and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors. He brings over 40 years of full-time experience—and an additional 8 years of part-time involvement—in marine field operations and executive management.
Mike has led and participated in a wide range of complex underwater projects, including underwater ship repair and deep ocean search, survey, and recovery operations at depths ranging from 20 to 20,000 feet. His extensive expertise spans the use of advanced subsea technologies such as search sensors, sonars, divers, manned submersibles, and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). Under his leadership, Phoenix has become a trusted name in subsea operations worldwide.
John Smith
Vice President & Member, Board of Directors
John Smith brings over four decades of experience in the commercial diving and subsea operations industry. He began his career in 1975 as a diving tender with Oceaneering International, where he spent 22 years steadily advancing through the ranks to become Diving Superintendent of Navy Operations.
In 1997, John co-founded Phoenix Marine—now Phoenix International Holdings, Inc.—alongside Mike Kutzleb and five other partners. Today, he serves as Vice President and sits on the company’s Board of Directors, helping guide Phoenix’s growth and operational excellence.
A native of Fall River, Massachusetts, John is a graduate of the Coastal School of Deep-Sea Diving and holds a welding certification from Laney College. He is also a certified Diving Instructor with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), underscoring his lifelong commitment to safety and technical excellence in the diving profession.
Eric Lindberg
Member, Board of Directors (Retired Chief Technology Officer)
Eric Lindberg is a seasoned ocean engineering professional with decades of experience spanning government service, private industry, and advanced underwater technologies. After earning his bachelor’s degree in Ocean Engineering from Florida Atlantic University, Eric began his career as a General Engineer at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
His career path took him through key technical and leadership roles with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (00C), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Data Buoy Office, and private industry before returning to NAVSEA 00C. There, Eric served as the first Division Head of the Underwater Ship Husbandry (UWSH) Division. He was instrumental in earning approval for both permanent and temporary underwater wet and dry chamber welding on U.S. Navy ships and submarines. He also championed the use of diver Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques, authored the UWSH Technical Manual outlining critical underwater work practices, and developed the U.S. Navy training plan for diver-based procedures.
Following a brief period in the consulting sector, Eric became one of the founding members of Phoenix Marine—now Phoenix International Holdings, Inc.—where he served as Chief Technology Officer until his retirement in July 2018. He has remained active in a leadership capacity as a member of Phoenix’s Board of Directors since 2019.