TAYLOR NAMED TIDEWATER CEO

TAYLOR NAMED TIDEWATER CEO    Dean E. Taylor has been named chief executive officer of Tidewater Inc. succeeding William C. O'Malley, who is retiring.
   Taylor has served as president of Tidewater since October 2001, when O'Malley announced his retirement, effective this month.
   Taylor joined Tidewater in 1978, spending most of his career overseeing a number of the company's foreign operations, most recently in Central and South America, West Africa and the North Sea. He worked his way up to executive vice president in December 2000 and was named as O'Malley's successor less than a year later.
   Malley has served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the New Orleans-based vessel operator for eight years, and will continue to serve as non-executive chairman until July 2003. He joined the company in 1994.
   Tidewater owns and operates 565 vessels, including the world's largest fleet of vessels serving the offshore energy industry.