SOCO International plc announced that with immediate effect Dr. Mike Watts will be stepping down from the Board of Directors. Rob Gray, currently Senior Independent on SOCO's Board of Directors, will assume the chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. On 6 February 2017, Dr. Watts and Jann Brown will be joining the Company to co-head the Company's newly formed Business Development group. Both Mike and Jann were Executive Directors at Cairn Energy during its rapid growth to become a FTSE 100 company. They left Cairn in 2014 to form a private equity backed start up. Dr. Mike Watts has served as an independent non-executive on the SOCO Board of Directors since August of 2009. He has served as Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee since 2014. He has over 36 years' experience in the oil and gas industry. Ms Jann Brown was co-founder with Dr. Watts of Magna Energy Ltd. where she served as Joint Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.