Interviewer: Victoria Phaneuf

Affiliation: University of Arizona

An individual in my yoga class knows Ron Schnoor and said he would tell him about our study. He did, and Mr. Schnoor said I could contact him. I was able to arrange to meet him and conducted this interview.

Mr. Schnoor is the chief operating officer of Signal International in Mississippi and Texas. He began his career with Brown & Root, and went to work for Ham Marine in 1984 as a project manager. He progressed through the company and watched it grow and merge with other companies (e.g., Friede Goldman) to become more vertically integrated. In 1995 he was named president. When the company was bought out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by investors to form Signal International, he was named senior vice-president of operations, the position he holds today. In this interview, he describes the evolution of his company, particularly their strengths and the ways they have diversified over the years. He discusses with some detail the labor issues the company has recently faced and their use of H2B visa workers through contract companies and their own recent troubles with sponsoring H2B visa workers. He sees the future of offshore oil and gas work in the Gulf of Mexico in the deepwater.