ENERGY PLAYERS

Sanchez Energy Corp. has appointed Howard Thill as executive vice president and CFO. Thill will oversee the company's financial reporting, accounting, treasury, tax and communications functions as well as play a role in developing and implementing corporate development, investor relations and financial strategies. Prior to joining Sanchez Energy, Thill served as senior vice president of communications and investor relations at Devon Energy. Prior to Devon, Thill served as vice president of corporate, government and investor relations at Marathon Oil Corp. He began his career with Phillips Petroleum Company as a drilling fluids engineer and subsequently held positions in natural gas operations, federal and international tax, international finance and business development before moving to investor relations. Thill holds bachelor's degrees in accounting and marketing as well as a master's in business administration, all from Oklahoma State University. He is a certified public accountant.

Bureau Veritas reaffirms commitment to North Sea with appointment of CEO

Bureau Veritas, a global provider of testing, inspection and certification (TIC) services, has appointed Paul Shrieve as CEO of North Sea offshore operations, marine and offshore. Shrieve, based in the company's Aberdeen office, has more than 15 years of experience in senior management in the oil and gas industry, including roles as senior vice president at other TIC organizations and as managing director at ATL Consulting Services, which was acquired by Bureau Veritas in 1999. The appointment marks a return to the company for Shrieve, who was vice president of North Sea oil and gas from 1999 until 2006.

EnLink Midstream names Garberding, Lamb to executive leadership team

EnLink Midstream LLC and EnLink Midstream Partners LP are making changes to the executive leadership team. Michael J. Garberding has been promoted to EnLink president and CFO. Benjamin D. Lamb was promoted to the executive leadership team as executive vice president of corporate development. Previously, Garberding held several positions with EnLink's Midstream's predecessor, Crosstex Energy, including executive vice president and CFO and, prior to that, senior vice president of business development and finance. He has more than 25 years of financial and accounting experience in the energy industry. Garberding earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Lamb joined Crosstex, EnLink's predecessor, in December 2012. Prior to joining Crosstex, he worked in the investment banking industry advising executives and boards of major corporations on critical strategic and financial decisions, including mergers, acquisitions, corporate and financial restructurings and financings in the debt, equity and bank capital markets. Lamb earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance, Economics and International Business from Baylor University.

Mayor named Global Sector Head of Energy and Natural Resources at KPMG

KPMG International has named Regina Mayor as the new Global Sector Head of the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) practice. Mayor, who is based in Houston, Texas, joined KPMG in the US in 2006 and has more than 25 years' experience in delivering large scale business and technology changes to major oil companies around the world. Mayor has been part of the ENR Leadership Team for a number of years as the US National Sector Leader for ENR and Chemicals and the Americas Oil and Gas Leader. She will continue to hold the US National Sector role. Mayor earned a bachelor's degree in Communications and Government from Cornell University and a master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. She has served as an adjunct professor at Rice University teaching a class on Energy Strategy for executive MBA students. Mayor was also commissioned as an officer in the US Army Reserve and co-leads KPMG's (US) national Veterans Network. Mayor succeeds Michiel Soeting who will be rotating off from the role after eight years to continue client leadership roles with KPMG in the UK.

Ramos joins Greenberg Traurig

International energy lawyer Alfredo Ramos is joining Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder from the Gardere firm. He was also previously Latin American Operations Legal Director and in-house counsel for the Lewis Energy Group.

French to succeed Roberts as Penn West CEO

David French has joined Calgary-based Penn West Petroleum Ltd. as president and CEO and will join the Board of Directors with effect from October 24, 2016 succeeding Dave Roberts who had been in the role since June, 2013. French most recently served as president and CEO of Bankers Petroleum Ltd. Prior, French held several executive roles at Apache Corp. including regional production manager for the western Canadian business, and global vice president of business development. French holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Swift Energy COO to serve as interim CEO

Swift Energy Co. has appointed Robert J. Banks as interim CEO. Banks replaces Terry E. Swift, who retired as CEO effective October 7, 2016. Banks will continue to serve as executive vice president and COO of the company, a position that he has held since 2008. The Board has commenced a search for a permanent CEO. Additionally, the company has appointed Marcus C. Rowland as chairman of the board, effective September 26, 2016. The chairman role was previously filled on an interim basis by another member of the board since the company's emergence from its Chapter 11 restructuring on April 22, 2016. Rowland will serve as a Class III Board member with a term expiring at the annual meeting of shareholders in 2019. Rowland is a seasoned oil and gas corporate executive, director, and investment manager with over 40 years of experience in all aspects of upstream and midstream business segments. He is the founder and senior managing director of IOG Capital LP and the former executive vice president and CFO of Chesapeake Energy.

EXCO names Farquharson acting CFO

EXCO Resources Inc. has made changes to its management team. Tyler Farquharson, EXCO's current vice president of strategic planning, will become EXCO's acting CFO and treasurer effective November 2, 2016 following the departure of Chris Peracchi, EXCO's current vice president, acting CFO and treasurer. Farquharson will continue to serve as EXCO's vice president of strategic planning and lead the investor relations function. Farquharson joined EXCO in August 2005. He received his bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Kansas. Peracchi joined EXCO in 2013 as EXCO's treasurer and director of finance and investor relations and became vice president of finance and investor relations in September 2014. He was named vice president and acting CFO in late August following the departure of Richard A. Burnett, EXCO's former vice president and CFO. Peracchi submitted notice of departure from the company on October 19.

Black Stone Minerals CFO to retire

Marc Carroll will retire as senior vice president and CFO of Black Stone Minerals LP, effective November 11. Carroll will enter into a consulting arrangement into 2017 to help ensure an orderly transition. The partnership expects to name a new CFO upon Carroll's retirement. Black Stone Minerals owns mineral interests and royalty interests in over 40 states and 60 onshore basins in the continental United States. The partnership also owns and selectively participates as a non-operating working partner in established development programs, primarily on its mineral and royalty holdings.

PwC appoints two partners to global energy leadership roles

Reid Morrison has been named as PwC's Global Energy Advisory Leader and Kenny Hawsey will lead the Global Energy Tax practice. Both are based in Houston. With more than 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Morrison joined PwC as a principal in 2010, as the US Energy Advisory leader. He advises clients on strategies and initiatives to improve operational and commercial performance. Morrison's projects have covered operating model restructuring, enterprise process redesign, M&A integration, supply chain, operational excellence, and refinery and upstream reliability and production improvements. He has worked in the energy industry both domestically and internationally in upstream and downstream (supermajors, NOC, and independents), bio-fuels and alternative/renewable energy, trading, midstream and pipelines, oilfield services, utility, chemicals, mining, and engineering and construction. Prior to PwC, Reid led the Global Energy & Chemicals practice at BearingPoint and Heidrick & Struggles. Kenny Hawsey joined PwC in 1990, and has over 25 years of US and international tax experience working with multinational corporations in the oil and gas industry across upstream, downstream, oilfield services and drilling companies. Most recently, Hawsey was the US Energy Tax Leader for PwC, after returning to Houston from a two-year overseas assignment in the Middle East. While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he led the Middle East Energy Tax practice, in addition to serving key clients in the region. His international experience also includes one to four-year assignments in Russia (Moscow), Azerbaijan (Baku), and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). Hawsey's experience includes dealing with a broad range of tax issues including cross border transactions and dealing with many concessions and production sharing agreements.

Verlander joins The Energists

Houston-based energy search firm and management consultancy The Energists has named Jonathan Verlander as Principal of the advisory and professional development practice areas. Verlander brings over 20 years of experience in domestic and international geoscience, portfolio analysis and energy finance gained at Enterprise Oil, Shell, RBS, Société Générale, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Prior to joining The Energists, Verlander headed up the oil and gas teams for Commonwealth Bank in London and Houston. He has a BSc and PhD from the University of Oxford, and is a member of the SPE and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

io oil & gas consulting appoints Dyson as CEO

io oil & gas consulting, the independent venture backed by GE Oil & Gas and McDermott, has appointed Richard Dyson as its new CEO. Dyson will be based in io's head office in The Shard, London and oversee all its global operations including offices in Houston, Texas and Perth, Western Australia. Dyson has previously held various international leadership roles including overseeing work in io's key markets of Houston and London as well as operating in a broad geographical spread as far afield as Brazil, the Middle East and the Caspian region and Kazakhstan. io oil & gas consulting is an upstream consultancy focused on the design and planning of offshore oil and gas developments.

Balagia to retire as VP, general counsel of ExxonMobil

Jack Balagia, vice president and general counsel, Exxon Mobil Corp., retired effective Nov. 1, 2016, after more than 18 years of service. It is anticipated that the board of directors will elect Randall Ebner as vice president and general counsel, Exxon Mobil Corp. Ebner is currently assistant general counsel, Exxon Mobil Corp. Balagia joined the Exxon Company, USA Law Department in May 1998 in Houston as counsel in the litigation group. He became coordinator for Upstream litigation in 1999 and assistant general counsel in 2004. He was named to his current position in March 2010. Balagia, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of 65 in October, earned his JD degree from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and a bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Austin. Ebner joined the Exxon Company, USA Law Department in May 1980 in New Orleans, where he was an attorney in the litigation group. He became coordinator of Upstream litigation in Houston in 1998 and undertook several special assignments before being named chief attorney of ExxonMobil Chemical Company in 2000 and chief attorney of ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing Company in 2003. Ebner was named assistant general counsel for the corporation in 2009. Ebner earned a JD degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey adds Sill to equity research team

Ken Sill has joined the equity research team at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (STRH), and will cover the oilfield services and equipment space out of Houston, TX. Sill joins STRH as a managing director, bringing 20 years of combined experience in sell-side and buy-side equity research, as well as previously serving as a CFO of a publicly traded pressure pumping company. Most recently, Sill covered oilfield services at Seaport Global. Prior to that, he spent 12 years at Credit Suisse. Before entering finance, Sill worked in consulting and audit for Solvay, Price Waterhouse, and Arthur Young. He earned a MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, a BA in Economics from Rice University, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Piper Jaffray names Harrison senior research analyst for energy

Piper Jaffray Companies has promoted Kashy Harrison to senior research analyst in the energy space. He is based in the Houston office. Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, Harrison worked for Deloitte & Touche LLP in its audit and enterprise risk services group where he focused on exploration and production companies within the oil and gas industry. Harrison was part of Simmons & Company, an international investment bank specializing in the energy industry, prior to its acquisition by Piper Jaffray in early 2016. Harrison received his bachelor's degree in accounting from Baylor University. He is a certified public accountant licensed in the state of Texas.

NGP names new partners

Brian Patterson has joined NGP, a private equity firm in the energy and natural resources industry, as a partner, responsible for Investor Relations. Patterson will focus on the firm's capital raising and investor relations activities. Additionally, Jeff Zlotky, NGP's general counsel, has been promoted to partner. Patterson was previously an investment manager with the University of Notre Dame. He joined the institution in 2009 and served as a senior investment team member where he actively managed and invested the global real asset portfolio as part of a $10 billion endowment. Patterson oversaw Notre Dame's global energy efforts; sourcing, underwriting, recommending and monitoring investments in the onshore and offshore E&P, services, midstream and power sectors. Prior to 2009, Patterson was an attorney with Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, MA and Verrill Dana LLP in Portland, ME, where he specialized in negotiating and structuring private equity and mergers and acquisitions transactions, equity and debt offerings, and joint venture transactions. Zlotky joined NGP in 2015 as general counsel and will continue to serve in that role. Prior to joining NGP, Zlotky spent his entire professional career with the global law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP, where he was a partner in its Corporate and Securities practice group, with an emphasis on energy finance and private equity.

Bobby Tudor honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

On Thursday, October 13th, the Oil & Gas Council awarded Bobby Tudor, Chairman and CEO of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., with a Lifetime Achievement Award honoring his decades of outstanding contributions to the energy industry. "It was a pleasure to join this tribute to Bobby's contributions to the industry. One of Bobby's many strengths is his ability to develop and maintain friendships which go back over his entire career," said Keith Fullenweider, Partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP. "As a result, leading companies and entrepreneurs trust Bobby to help them grow their companies and achieve their full potential." Bobby Tudor was previously a partner with Goldman Sachs prior to founding Tudor Capital. During his nearly 20-year career with Goldman Sachs, he worked in the New York, London and Houston offices, in varying capacities including head of southwest region and head of European industrial & natural resources group. Tudor holds a BA in English and Legal Studies from Rice University and a JD from Tulane Law School.