Occidental Petroleum names Cynthia Walker CFO
Occidental Petroleum Corp. has appointed Cynthia L. Walker as executive vice president and CFO, effective August 6, 2012. Walker will assume the position from James M. Lienert, who has been Occidental's CFO for the past two years. Lienert will continue with the company as executive vice president – business support. Walker, 35, has most recently served as managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she enjoyed a 12-year career. While at Goldman Sachs, Walker provided clients with strategic advice in high-profile energy industry transactions as a senior member of the Global Natural Resources Group located in Houston. She was also a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Group.Walker holds a BBA in accounting with High Honors from the University of Texas at Austin.
Hill promoted to CEO as Vess Oil founder assumes role of chairman
Vess Oil Corp. has promoted Barry Hill to CEO. Hill previously served as vice president and CFO since he joined the company in February 2010. Mike Vess, founder of Vess Oil, will assume the role of chairman. Vess previously served as president and CEO since the company's inception in 1979. Vess Oil Corp. is an independent oil and gas company that acquires, exploits, develops and explores for crude oil and natural gas, primarily in Kansas, with growing operations in Texas, Montana and Oklahoma.
O'Donnell suceeds Marquez as Venoco CEO
Ed O'Donnell was promoted to CEO of Venoco Inc., effective August 1. Tim Marquez became the executive chairman of the board on that date. He will continue in an active role directing the company's growth and acquisitions strategy. O'Donnell was promoted to COO in January of 2012 at which time the company announced a CEO succession plan. Prior to that, beginning in 2007, he served as senior vice president for Southern California operations. He originally joined Venoco in 1997. O'Donnell has served two terms on the board and served as president of the company's domestic division from 2001 to 2002. Prior to joining Venoco, O'Donnell worked for Unocal for more than 20 years. He has a bachelor's degree from Montana Tech, a master's degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Ensco shuffles management
William S. Chadwick, Jr., executive vice president and COO of Ensco plc, will retire from the company effective August 31, 2012. Mark Burns, currently senior vice president – Western Hemisphere, will succeed Chadwick as executive vice president and COO. Chadwick joined Ensco in June 1987 as one of the organization's first employees and served in leadership positions throughout his 25-year tenure. He was elected to his current position in January 2006. Burns joined Ensco in 2008 and became senior vice president—Western Hemisphere last year. Steven J. Brady, currently vice president – Europe and Mediterranean, will succeed Burns as senior vice president. Brady joined Ensco in December 2002 and served in various business unit leadership positions in the Eastern Hemisphere prior to being named to his current position in May 2011. Prior to joining Ensco, Brady spent 18 years in various technical and managerial roles for ConocoPhillips. Brady holds a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University. Julian Hall, currently manager – operations, Europe and Mediterranean, will be promoted to vice president – Europe and Mediterranean. Derek Kent has been named vice president – Middle East and Africa. Kent has been vice president - Safety, Health & Environment since May 2011. The company has also noted that CFO James W. Swent III has been promoted to executive vice president. Swent has been senior vice president – CFO since 2003. In addition to overseeing the Finance, Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Information Technology, and Investor Relations and Communications departments, Swent will assume responsibility for the Human Resources and Supply Chain departments.
Reamco names Lane CEO
Reamco Inc., an international drilling tool manufacturing, rental and refurbishing provider, has named Ashley Lane as CEO. Familiar to Reamco, Lane assisted with the startup of the company in 1986 and progressed from operations manager to vice president during his 12-year first tenure. Altogether, he holds 32 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He garnered additional entrepreneurial and management experience through roles as international business development manager of Superior Energy Services Inc. and president of Drilling Logistics Inc., a downhole rental and manufacturing company he spearheaded in Lafayette, La.
Buccaneer Resources names Huff CFO
Buccaneer Resources LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian-listed Buccaneer Energy Ltd., has appointed Ron Huff as CFO. Huff has over 30 years of financial experience in the energy industry, most recently serving as the CFO of EdgeMarc Energy Holdings, a private equity exploration & production company focused in the Marcellus and Utica plays in the Appalachian Basin. He has also worked for as Atlas Energy, Aurora Oil & Gas Corp. and Transco. Huff has completed in excess of $700 million in financings during his career including leading Aurora Oil & Gas Corp.'s first public equity offering, raising $60 million and securing a listing on the American Stock Exchange. He developed processes, procedures, models, and reporting structures to prepare Visual Edge Technology Inc. for rapid growth and he established and developed a private equity firm, TriMillennium Ventures LLC. He also directed a merger and acquisitions program for Belden & Blake Corp. that completed 14 major acquisitions that grew the company's revenue 1,000% and increased market capitalization from $25 million to $400 million in five years, which delivered 40% compounded annual returns to shareholders.
Copano Energy makes executive appointments
Midstream natural gas company Copano Energy LLC has expanded its management team. Bryan W. Neskora has joined Copano as COO, and Susan B. Ortenstone has joined Copano as chief administrative officer. They will report to R. Bruce Northcutt, Copano's president and CEO. Neskora previously served as senior vice president of operations of El Paso Corp.'s Pipeline Group and prior to that, as senior vice president and chief commercial officer for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. Ortenstone previously served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer at El Paso Corp. Neskora has more than 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor of science degree in economics and earned his MBA from the University of Houston. Ortenstone has more than 30 years of experience across diverse functional areas and business segments in the energy industry. She earned a bachelor of science degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
New CFO joins GTI team
Jim Ingold has joined Gas Technology Institute (GTI) as the new vice president of finance, treasurer, and CFO. Ingold comes to GTI from CouponCabin.com, where he served as CFO. Ingold earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois, and an MBA from DePaul University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the Illinois CPA Society. GTI is a research, development, and training organization addressing the nation's energy and environmental challenges with technology-based solutions for consumers, industry, and government.
Rheault joins Preferred Sands as president
Preferred Sands, a frac sand and coated proppant company, has named Christian Rheault to the executive management team as president. Rheault holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Laval (Quebec, Canada), Diploma in Administration from University de Serbrooke (Quebec, Canada) and attended Stanford Law School Director's College.
Afseth resigns president, CEO posts at LNG Energy
Dave Afseth has resigned his position as president and CEO of LNG Energy Ltd. for personal reasons. Afseth will remain on the company's board. David Nelson, the company's current general manager, Europe, has been appointed as president and CEO as of July 2, 2012. Nelson is a geological engineer with over 32 years of geological, engineering, and commercial experience in the energy industry, focusing the last 20 years on European and Central Asian oil and gas provinces. Prior to joining LNG, Nelson served as president and COO for Direct Petroleum Exploration and as business development engineering manager for TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. Additionally, Dr. Robert Gayton has resigned as director effective July 2, 2012 for personal reasons.
Jaggard to lead European transaction banking for Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered Bank has appointed Richard Jaggard as the Head of Transaction Banking, Europe. Jaggard is based in London, and is responsible for the bank's cash management, trade finance and securities services in the region. Jaggard brings with him over 25 years of experience gained in treasury and finance roles within multinational corporates as well as in transaction banking sales in financial institutions. Before joining Standard Chartered, he worked for HSBC as Head of Sales for Global Payments and Cash Management, Asia Pacific for seven years and was located in Hong Kong.
Data center ViaWest adds Buie to senior management
ViaWest, a large, privately held data center, cloud computing and managed service provider, has named James D. Buie to the company's senior management team. Buie will hold the position senior vice president of financial planning and analysis. He holds more than 20 years of experience in the industry. ViaWest owns and operates 22 enterprise-class data center facilities in Colorado, Texas, Oregon, Utah, and Nevada.
