ENERGY PLAYERS

Legend Oil and Gas Ltd. has appointed Andrew Reckles as its chief restructuring officer and Warren S. Binderman, CPA, as its executive vice president, CFO, and principal accounting officer. Reckles is the managing partner and founder of Northpoint Energy Partners LLC and Binderman is the managing director and founder of Binderman Group LLC. In 2010, Reckles founded Northpoint (fka, C4 Capital) which provides financing solutions and advisory services to oil and gas companies. He attended Arizona State University. Binderman has over 25 years accounting, finance, and business experience. He has held positions at national firms as both an auditor and transaction services/due diligence director and audit partner. He has served several entities as CFO and principal accounting officer. Binderman graduated with a bachelor's degree in business and management, concentrating in accounting, from the University of Maryland, magna cum laude, and is currently a practicing CPA.

Riverstone adds energy-focused credit and capital markets team

Riverstone Holdings LLC, an energy and power-focused private equity firm, has hired a team of energy-focused leveraged finance professionals who will spearhead the firm's expansion into credit and capital markets activities. The team is comprised of Christopher Abbate, Jamie Brodsky, and Daniel Flannery. Abbate joins Riverstone as a managing director and will lead the new team. He spent his entire 17-year career financing energy companies, mainly in the leveraged capital markets. Prior to joining Riverstone, Abbate was a managing director and head of energy leveraged finance at Citigroup. Brodsky joins Riverstone as a managing director and Flannery joins as a vice president. Both had previously worked at Nomura Securities International. Brodsky holds a BA from Duke University and an MBA from Columbia and London Business Schools through the EMBA Global Program. Flannery received a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in 2006. Prior to their respective roles at Citigroup and Nomura, Abbate, Brodsky, and Flannery worked together on the energy leveraged finance team at UBS Investment Bank, where Abbate was also head of Leveraged Finance Origination. The team is based in Riverstone's New York office. Brodsky, formerly a managing director at Nomura and prior to that an executive director at UBS, has 14 years of experience in investment banking, primarily as an energy-focused leveraged finance professional.

New Zealand's PEPANZ appoints new CEO

The Petroleum Exploration & Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ) has appointed Cameron Madgwick as the organization's new CEO. He will join the PEPANZ team on Sept. 22. Madgwick has a background as a lawyer and governance professional in the energy sector. His most recent role at New Zealand Oil and Gas was as the community engagement manager.

Locke Lord adds Schumacher to energy practice

Locke Lord LLP has added Jason Schumacher as partner in the Corporate Department and Energy Practice Group. He will operate out of the firm's Dallas office. Schumacher joins Locke Lord from Dentons' Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure Practice Group. He has documented and closed more than $4.5 billion in transactions and projects. His practice is based in Dallas and Houston and focuses primarily on serving clients in the energy industry and the oil and gas sector. He assists clients in major acquisitions and divestures, joint development projects, operational affairs, project development for energy facilities and financing arrangements for energy and oil and gas companies. He also serves as outside general counsel for oil and gas companies, and advises on a wide range of other matters including litigation, tax advice, corporate governance, and employment matters. Schumacher received his JD from The University of Texas School of Law and a BBA from Abilene Christian University.

Tesco president, CEO to retire

Tesco Corp. president and CEO, Julio M. Quintana, has elected to retire at the beginning of January 2015. In accordance with the company's succession plan, the board has designated Fernando R. Assing, currently executive vice president and COO, to succeed Quintana. Quintana expects to formally retire on Jan. 1, 2015. However, the transition of responsibilities to Assing is planned to be completed by mid-December. Assing came to Tesco in 2009 as senior vice president of marketing and business development. He was subsequently promoted to the role of senior vice president and COO in 2011 and executive vice president and COO earlier this year. Prior to coming to Tesco in 2009, Assing served in a series of operational and management roles of increasing responsibility during 12 years at Schlumberger Ltd. and six years at Technip. Assing graduated from Jose Maria Vargas University in Caracas, Venezuela.

Chesapeake names Sylvester VP

Chesapeake Energy Corp. reports that Brad Sylvester will join Chesapeake as vice president of investor relations and communications. Sylvester joins Chesapeake from Southwestern Energy Co. Sylvester served in various roles at Southwestern Energy Co. from 1996 to 2014, most recently as vice president of investor relations. Sylvester holds a CFA designation and received his MBA from Texas Christian University and his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from John Brown University.

Schensema named managing director at GAC

GAC, global provider of integrated shipping, logistics and marine services, has moved Claus Schensema, from his position as managing director in Shanghai, China, to Houston, Texas, to take the helm of GAC North America Logistics. Schensema brings 25 years' experience in shipping and logistics to his new role at GAC. Prior to his latest appointment, he served as managing director of GAC China for 12 years. Schensema will work to expand the company's work with the oil and gas, mining, and project logistics industries in North America.

Schramm names Bryan COO

Schramm Inc., a manufacturer of mobile, land-based hydraulic drill rigs used extensively in the global energy industry, has appointed Bobby Bryan to the newly created position of COO based in West Chester, PA. Bryan brings decades of oilfield equipment and services experience to the position which he gained through a 20-year career at National Oilwell Varco. He most recently served as vice president of business development of NOV's Land Rig Solutions division.

LLOG names CFO

LLOG Exploration Co. LLC has named Philip S. LeJeune as its CFO to replace John Newman who retired after serving as LLOG's CFO for the last eleven years. LeJeune brings nearly 20 years of experience to his position. Most recently, he held the position of vice president, Planning & Budgeting at LLOG. During his seventeen years with LLOG, LeJeune has held various positions of increasing responsibility in the marketing, production accounting, A&D, planning and finance departments. LeJeune received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Louisiana State University and his MBA from Loyola University. LLOG Exploration Company, L.L.C. is a privately owned and operated oil and gas firm with corporate headquarters in Covington, Louisiana and offices in Lafayette, Louisiana and Houston, Texas.

Circulation Solutions appoints Beeson as CEO

Circulation Solutions, LLC, a products company specializing in lost circulation issues, has appointed Jerry Beeson as CEO. Based in Decatur, Texas, Beeson will oversee all corporate management functions and play a direct role in all departments. Beeson previously served as vice president of sales where he led the company's sales and business development initiatives. Beeson has 15 years of drilling and completions experience, with 10 years focused within corporate oil and gas sales.

Occidental names CRC leadership, new Occidental management roles

Occidental Petroleum Corp. has named the leadership team for its subsidiary, California Resources Corp. (CRC), appointing Todd A. Stevens as president and CEO, Marshall D. (Mark) Smith as senior executive vice president and CFO, and William E. Albrecht as executive chairman of the board. CRC will be an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company focused on high-growth, high-return conventional and unconventional assets exclusively in California. Stevens, a 19-year veteran of Occidental, has served as vice president, corporate development, since August 2012. Smith was most recently senior vice president and CFO at Ultra Petroleum. Smith's 32 years of experience in the energy industry spans operations, strategic planning, corporate finance and business development. Albrecht has been president, Occidental Oil and Gas - Americas, and vice president, Occidental Petroleum Corp., since 2011. Following these CRC leadership appointments, Occidental announced new executive management responsibilities. Effective immediately, certain executives will head key operations as direct reports to Stephen I. Chazen, president and CEO of Occidental Petroleum. WCW (Willie) Chiang, executive vice president, operations, will continue to oversee the midstream businesses, worldwide engineering, corporate reserves and the capital allocation process, adding supply chain to his purview. In addition, Chiang will assume responsibility for Occidental's Chemical operations (OxyChem) and government affairs. Vicki A. Hollub has been named president, Occidental Oil and Gas, Americas. Hollub has been executive vice president of US operations, Occidental Oil and Gas, with responsibility for domestic production, asset growth and drilling. In her new role she will also oversee the Latin America operations as well as worldwide exploration. Edward A. (Sandy) Lowe serves as president, Occidental Oil and Gas, international. He retains his current responsibility for oil and gas producing assets in the Middle East region as well as the Major Projects Development Group, non-operated assets in the Middle East, and international drilling functions. Staff functional leaders also reporting to Chazen include the following executives: Marcia Backus will continue as vice president and general counsel and assume the roles of corporate secretary and chief compliance officer; Chris Stavros is appointed executive vice president and CFO. As CFO, Stavros will lead the controller, treasury and tax functions as well as investor relations and communications and public affairs; Glenn Vangolen is appointed executive vice president, business support, with responsibility for the Human Resources, Information Technology and Health, Environment and Safety functions; Cynthia Walker is appointed executive vice president, strategy and development, adding business development and land activities to her current responsibility for financial planning and analysis. New corporate vice presidents have also been appointed: Ioannis A. Charalambous, vice president and chief information officer; Ben Figlock, vice president and treasurer; and Jennifer Kirk, vice president and controller.

Moore joins Mayer Brown in Houston

Thomas J. Moore has joined the Houston office of Mayer Brown as a partner in the Corporate & Securities and Oil & Gas practices. Previously, he was a partner with Baker Botts in Houston. Moore brings a wide range of corporate, commercial and financial experience to the energy and infrastructure industries. He has played a lead role in many major energy assignments worldwide, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the United States and Africa, petrochemical plants in the Middle East and gas fired generation facilities around the world. Moore represents Chinese and the Korean state and investor owned oil companies in acquisitions in Africa, Asia, South America and the US, and has represented a wide range of energy companies and investment funds in acquisitions and divestitures of other energy assets of all kinds. Moore earned a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School and received an AB from University of California at Berkeley.