Richard Bates
Vice President – Mergers and Acquisitions
Duke Energy

Richard Bates is vice president of mergers and acquisitions for Duke Energy. Before joining Duke Energy in June 2000, he served as senior vice president of Sonat Inc. and president of Sonat Energy Services Inc. in Birmingham, Ala., from 1994 to 1999. He also was an executive at Sonat Exploration Company for nine years, last holding the position of executive vice president and general counsel. Prior to his tenure with Sonat, Bates served as general counsel of ITT Eason Oil Company, and vice president and general counsel for an independent oil and gas producer and drilling contractor. He was also an attorney in private practice in Oklahoma City, Okla. Bates graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and history from the University of Oklahoma, where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million customers in the Carolinas and the Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas in Ohio and Kentucky. Its commercial power and international businesses operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing renewable energy portfolio. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

 

J. David Bickham, Jr. 
Partner 
K&L Gates

David Bickham is a partner in the Austin office. Mr. Bickham has extensive experience in the energy regulatory arena, handling a variety of matters at the Texas Public Utility Commission, and in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Mr. Bickham represents a variety of power generation companies and alternative energy developers. He is extensively involved in the wind generation arena, handling several matters for wind developers at the Texas PUC in contested cases and rulemakings, and in the trial courts on related matters. He has also represented many energy companies in various phases of acquisition, mergers, unbundling, and divestiture.

Mr. Bickham has participated in numerous state and federal court challenges to applicability or constitutionality of statutes, as well as challenges to administrative agency rules, regulations, and orders and he has extensive state and federal court trial and appellate experience. He also has a great deal of experience and expertise in handling matters before the American Arbitration Association and similar tribunals.

Mr. Bickham also represents healthcare entities in antitrust matters and other commercial disputes. He also represents broker/dealer organizations, accounting firms, high-tech companies, healthcare companies, investment partnerships, and manufacturing companies against claims of securities fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, professional malpractice, and related matters. Mr. Bickham has also served as lead counsel in a wide variety of commercial litigation cases involving contract issues, alleged deceptive trade practices, and other business torts. He has represented public utilities, state agencies, pharmaceutical companies, national insurance companies, and political subdivisions in actions that involved challenges to the constitutionality or applicability of various statutes, as well as challenges to administrative agencies' orders and rules.

Representative Experience

Energy Regulatory and Energy Transaction Matters

• Served as lead counsel for major Texas power generation companies in a variety of disputes at the Public Utility Commission
• Served as lead counsel representing a variety of wind developers in matters at the Texas Public Utility Commission related to the development of Competitive Renewable Energy Zones in Texas
• Served as counsel handling a variety of regulatory matters for energy companies involved in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures

Bar Admissions

• Bar of Texas

Education

• J.D., University of Texas
• B.A., University of Texas

 

Geoff Broglio
Vice President
Hudson Clean Energy Partners

Geoff Broglio joined Hudson in October 2008. Before joining Hudson, Mr. Broglio was an Associate at First Reserve, a $12 billion energy-focused private equity firm. At First Reserve Mr. Broglio focused on due diligence, structuring, financing and portfolio monitoring. Prior to that, he was an Analyst in the financial sponsors group of Citigroup's investment banking division. Mr. Broglio graduated from Virginia Tech with BS degrees in Finance and Business Information Technology.

 

Kevin Brown
Chief Executive Officer and Director
ARC Financial Corp.

As CEO, Kevin has overall responsibility for managing ARC Financial Corp., including oversight of the investment decision-making process and strategy for the ARC Energy Funds. Kevin has over 20 years of energy related finance, investment research, corporate strategy and direct investment experience, primarily with ARC which he joined in 1989. Prior to joining ARC, Kevin worked for the Canadian Energy Research Institute where he was extensively involved in the economic analysis of global and North American energy markets. During his time at ARC, Kevin lead ARC's investment research business from 1993 to 2001, co-lead ARC's corporate advisory business from 1996 to 1998, and was President and Chief Executive Officer of ARC Strategic Energy Fund, a publicly traded close-ended fund formed in 1998 and successfully wound-up in 2001. Kevin is currently a member of ARC's Executive, Investment and Strategy committees, and represents ARC on the board of Secure Energy Inc. and Unconventional Gas Resources LLC. His education includes an M.A. in Economics and a B. Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta. Kevin’s philanthropic activities are focused on the United Way of Calgary, where he is a former Chair and current member of the Major Donor Committee, and current chair of the Special Gifts Advisory Committee.

 

Brett A. Challenger 
Managing Director and Division Manager - Energy Services Group 
CoBank, ACB

Brett, a Managing Director & the Division Manager of the Energy Services Division in CoBank’s Energy & Water Banking Group, has more than 18 years of experience in advising, lending, and capital raising for companies in the energy & power sector.

Professional Experience

Prior to joining CoBank, Brett served as a Senior Vice President and Principal, serving as a key member of the initial management team, of Duke Capital Partners, LLC. Duke Capital Partners was a mezzanine debt and equity investment management company, which was wholly-owned by Duke Energy Corporation. As part of the management team, he refined and implemented the business plan, hired personnel, and grew the company to profitability within fifteen months. Brett’s primary role was to lead the origination, execution, and management of the portfolio for the Power Team.

Prior to Duke Capital Partners, Brett served as the Managing Director and Head of the Energy & Power Group within Structured Syndicated Debt Capital Markets at Banc of America Securities, LLC. His responsibilities included, management of a team of 12 people that were charged with arranging debt for clients in the Energy & Power industry. Additionally, Brett participated on M&A advisory teams for clients in the Energy & Power industry. During his tenure the Energy & Power Structured Syndicated Debt Group always ranked in the top 5 among the Debt Arranger League Tables and achieved several Deal of the Year Awards. While with Banc of America Securities, Brett spent two years in Singapore arranging debt and providing advice to U.S. based clients pursuing opportunities in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Prior to joining Banc of America Securities LLC, Brett held the position of Vice President with Union Bank of California in the Energy Capital Services Group. He was a deal team leader responsible for structuring, documenting, and managing a portfolio of structured loans. Brett transferred to a Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi office in Singapore to head and manage the office’s relationships with U.S. energy and power companies active in Southeast Asia.

Brett’s significant engagements include:

• Active leadership of CoBank’s entrance and participation into the renewable energy sector, including power generation projects that use geothermal, hydro-electric, wind, biomass, and landfill gas technologies.
• Lead team member that invested $60 million of senior and mezzanine debt in a newly formed pipeline company. The capital was used to acquire an intrastate pipeline in Missouri. 
• Lead member of capital raising team that executed four capital raising transactions over 2 years, totaling more than $2.3 billion in debt and $170 million in equity. The capital was raised to enable a newly formed power company to purchase over $4.0 billion of power generation assets.
• Lead team member for a financing that received the Most Innovative Deal of the Year in 1998 award from ProjectFinance magazine. The deal included political risk insurance package from Japan’s MITI and US OPIC for non-recourse loans financing a power generation project in Thailand. This deal also included the first OPIC political risk insurance for an interest rate swap.

Education

• MBA, Finance, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
• BA, Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

 

Lawrence S. Coben 
Member of the Board of Directors, NRG Energy
and
Chief Executive Officer, Tremisis Energy LLC

Lawrence S. “Larry” Coben is the chairman and chief executive officer of Tremisis Energy LLC , a company that purchases and advises businesses in the energy and environmental sectors. He also served in a similar capacity for both of Tremisis’ publicly affiliated special purpose acquisition corporations (SPAC). Mr. Coben was the Senior Principal and a member of the Investment Committee of Sunrise Capital Partners, a private equity fund that invested capital in control positions of distressed and troubled middle market companies

Mr. Coben served as chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange traded Bolivian Power Company, Ltd., Bolivia’s largest private electric generator and distributor until its sale to an American-Swedish utility consortium. He founded and served as managing director of Liberty Power Corp., an independent power development firm devoted to the financing, ownership and operation of electric generating and transmission assets in Latin America. Mr. Coben also was one of the founders of two other companies - Recovery Corporation of America, a medical waste incineration firm where he was chairman, and Catalyst Energy Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange traded independent power and alternative company that was one of the largest in the nation, where he was senior vice president. Catalyst was #1 on the Inc. Magazine Fastest Growing Public Company List for the years 1982-1986.

Mr. Coben is a director of NRG Energy, a large electricity generation company, and SAESA, a Chilean utility, and was a director of Prisma Energy, the post-bankruptcy filing successor company to Enron that held its international assets. He co-wrote the national energy policy for the Lieberman 2004 Presidential Campaign. He serves on the Department of Homeland Security's Sustainability and Efficiency Task Force and the Cleantech and Green Business for Obama Steering Committee. Coben writes an energy blog for the Huffington Post, 

Mr. Coben received a B.A. in economics from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Coben is the founder and Executive Director of the Sustainable Preservation Initiative (“SPI”). SPI (www.sustainablepreservation.org) is the innovative organization that preserves the world's cultural heritage by providing sustainable economic opportunities to poor communities where endangered archaeological sites are located.

Coben is also an archaeologist affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, where he has received his M.A. and is completing his doctorate in anthropology. His most recent archaeological work focuses on Inca imperial expansion and the role of spectacles, rituals and theatricality in ancient societies. He co-authored the seminal volume Archaeology of Performance: Theater, Power and Community. More on Mr. Coben's research can be found at www.larrycoben.com.

 

Nissa Darbonne
Editor-at-Large
Hart Energy Publishing, LP

Nissa Darbonne is e-editor for the Oil and Gas Investor publishing group. She joined its parent, Hart Energy Publishing LP, in 1998 and was executive editor for the Oil and Gas Investor group, which includes Oil and Gas Investor magazine, OilandGasInvestor.com, A&D Watch, A-Dcenter.com, UGcenter.com, and e-newsletters OilandGasInvestor.com Today and UGcenter.com Today. Previously, she was business editor for The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana) and a correspondent for The Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge). She holds a B.A. degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (nka University of Louisiana-Lafayette), where her studies were focused on journalism and English.

 

Michael J. Donnelly
Managing Director
GE Equity

Michael leads the Energy and Water sectors for GE Equity. He works closely with GE Energy, GE Oil & Gas, GE Water, and Energy Financial Services in this effort. Michael joined GE Equity in 1997 as the Risk Leader of GE Equity's Business Services group. During his tenure at GE Equity Michael has made more than 50 investments.

Prior to the directing the energy initiative, Michael was a Senior VP for GE Global Sponsor Finance in their New York office. He led several teams in underwriting, managing, and monetizing a loan and equity portfolio.

Michael spent from 1989 to 1997 at GE's Structured Finance Group (SFG). Here he was responsible for numerous international and domestic investments, primarily in the energy sector. Other Industries covered included air, rail, ports, shipping, general infrastructure, telecom, petrochemicals, and metals.

Michael received a BS with from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

 

Donald Gerne
Vice President
GCP Capital Partners

Mr. Gerne is a Vice President of GCP Capital, the successor to Greenhill Capital Partners, the global merchant banking business of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL). Mr. Gerne joined Greenhill Capital Partners in 2007. His responsibilities include investment origination, diligence, execution, monitoring and monetization strategy, with a particular focus on the oil and natural gas exploration and production sector. Mr. Gerne previously worked at J.W. Childs Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm. Prior to that, Mr. Gerne worked in Lehman Brothers’ Investment Banking Division focused on merger and acquisition advisory. Mr. Gerne received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

 

William G. Gilliland
Partner
Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

Bill is a member of the firm’s Capital Markets Practice Group, specializing in public and private company buyers, sellers and target companies on numerous merger and acquisition transactions, primarily in the oil, gas, mining and other resource sectors, both in Canada and internationally. Bill’s practice also involves energy companies on transaction and project work.

Bill acts for public companies, income trusts and underwriters on public and private financings, including cross-border Canada-U.S. offerings and secondary offerings. He has acted on income trust conversion transactions, both for companies and trustees. He has advised public and private company buyers, sellers and target companies on merger and acquisition transactions, primarily in the power, oil, gas, mining and other resource sectors, both in Canada and internationally. Bill has worked with board special committees on strategic transactions and has advised numerous public company boards of directors on governance and compliance issues. His practice also involves assisting oil and gas companies on transaction and project work and the establishment of private equity funds.

Bill lived and worked in Russia and Kazakhstan for five years where he learned Russian and has advised clients on joint ventures, acquisitions and structured/syndicating financing and lending transactions in the natural resource sectors in Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, including the Caspian Sea offshore.

 

Lauren Heft
Senior Executive Northeast Region- M&A and Private Equity
Intralinks

Speaker bio to come...

 

Michael Heyeck
Senior Vice President- Transmission
American Electric Power

Michael Heyeck is senior vice president-Transmission for American Electric Power, responsible for AEP’s 11-state transmission system, including planning, technology development, engineering, project management, construction, maintenance, operations, reliability compliance, and business services. Heyeck is also responsible for AEP’s plans for new transmission projects, including proposed 765-kilovolt interstate transmission projects (I-765 TM), and joint ventures to fund and own new electric transmission assets. He reports to Susan Tomasky, president-AEP Transmission.

Heyeck has previously held leadership and engineering positions in Transmission, including asset management, planning, and operations. He also held leadership positions in Corporate Planning and Budgeting, including corporate budgeting, and economic forecasting. He joined AEP in 1976.

Heyeck serves and has served on numerous industry committees, including the International Conference on Large High-Voltage Electric Systems (CIGRE), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). He also serves as member of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee, representing investor-owned utilities.

Heyeck earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He earned a master’s in business administration at the University of Dayton. He also is a graduate of the Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School and the AEP Management Development Program at The Ohio State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio, and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Heyeck has been elected as a Westerville City Council member since 1993, and has served as Chairman (2001-2003) and Mayor (2003-2005). He and his wife Fernanda have three children and reside in Westerville, Ohio.

 

Thomas J. Hollister
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Global Partners LP

Thomas J. Hollister was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Global Partners in July 2006, and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in January 2007. He was elected as a director of Global Partners’ general partner in March 2009.

Before joining Global Partners, Mr. Hollister was a Vice Chairman of Citizens Financial Group, the $140 billion U.S. arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland.  He joined Citizens in 1998, and under his leadership Citizens Bank of Massachusetts grew from a $6 billion to a $28 billion banking enterprise. In 2004 and 2005, Mr. Hollister served as President and CEO of Charter One Bank, Citizens’ $10.5 billion acquisition of a $42 billion bank located in the Midwest.  He also oversaw the private equity and venture capital activities for Citizens Financial Group. Mr. Hollister began his banking career at Bank of Boston in 1979. Throughout his tenure there, he held significant roles in Commercial Banking, Capital Markets, Energy, Commercial Real Estate and Retail Banking. At the time of his move to Citizens, he was an Executive Vice President and a member of the Bank’s eight-member Policy Committee. Mr. Hollister is currently on the board of directors of Brookline Bancorp, where he serves as audit chair. He is the former chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on its Executive Committee. He is chair of the board of Tufts Medical Center and vice-chair of the board of Wheaton College. He is chair of the Initiative for a New Economy. He previously served on the boards of directors of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, Macomber Construction Company, the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Savings Bank Life Insurance of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (where he served as chair of the board). Mr. Hollister has received awards on behalf of his work for the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, Habitat for Humanity, the New England Center for Children, Rogerson Communities and the Small Business Administration.

Mr. Hollister holds a bachelor's degree from Amherst College and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Boston University.

 

Jeff D. Hunter
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
US Power Generating Company

Jeff Hunter is Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer for US Power Generating Company. Before joining US Power Generating in 2003, he served as Partner and Global Practice Head, Energy, of PA Consulting Group (and predecessor companies Hagler Bailly)in Houston, TX, and Washington, DC, from 1998 to 2003.

Prior to his tenure with PA Consulting Group, Hunter was a Director, Natural Gas Trading, with El Paso Merchant Energy in Houston, TX, 1992 to 1998.  Hunter graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

USPowerGen is a wholesale power generation company that owns and operates electric power generation facilities located in the New York City and Boston metropolitan areas.  The Company has a total portfolio of 58 active generating units at six facilities, with seasonally adjusted generation capacity of approximately 5,223 megawatts (“MW”).  The portfolio can generate sufficient power to serve approximately 20% of the summer peak load in New York City and approximately 31% of the summer peak load in eastern Massachusetts.  USPowerGen is well positioned within the independent power generation space due to its strategic urban locations with high entry costs, clean burning natural gas-fired generation portfolio and favorable access to well-developed capacity markets.

 

Craig Jarchow 
Managing Director 
Pine Brook Road Partners, LLC

Craig Jarchow is a Managing Director at Pine Brook Road Partners, LLC, a private-equity firm specializing in the energy and financial services industries. He is a Partner in the energy practice at Pine Brook and has more than 15 years of experience in the energy business.

Mr. Jarchow came to Pine Brook from First Reserve Corporation, a $12-billion private-equity firm specializing in the energy industry, where he was a Partner and responsible for deal origination, structuring, execution, monitoring and exit of oil & gas transactions. Before that, Mr. Jarchow was with Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA) acting as an Advisor to the President & CEO, Exploration Manager for the Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico, and Director of International Exploration and Business Development. Mr. Jarchow joined Apache Corporation from Amoco Corporation.

Mr. Jarchow holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in geophysics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and serves on the Stanford School of Earth Sciences Petroleum Investments Committee.

 

Olav Junttila
Partner
Greentech Capital Advisors

Prior to joining Greentech Capital Advisors, Olav was a Vice President and Investment Principal with Sustainable Development Investments (SDI), a private equity group within Citi Alternative Investments that invested in growth companies in renewable and alternative energy, waste and water management, carbon and sustainable products and materials sectors. He was an alternate board member of Poseidon Water and a board observer of MBA Polymers.

Prior to SDI, Olav spent six years with Citi’s investment banking division in New York, within the Global Power Group and the Global M&A Group. He focused primarily on power generation and electric utilities, but also worked with chemical and industrial companies. Olav has extensive experience from a wide range of both strategic and capital raising transactions. Notable transactions include EDP’s acquisition of Horizon Wind and British Energy’s sale of its North American nuclear generating assets.

Olav holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. He received his Bachelor’s equivalent degree from the University of Tromsø, in Tromsø, Norway. Located approximately 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the University of Tromsø is the world’s northernmost university.

Prior to obtaining his MBA, Olav co-founded and led for two years a non-profit student organization and spent one year managing a multimedia communications startup.

Olav lives with his wife Katie and their two young children in Manhattan.

 

Jason Kelly
Writer
Bloomberg News

Jason Kelly is a New York-based writer at Bloomberg News primarily focused on the global private-equity industry. He joined Bloomberg in 2002 as a member of the U.S. Technology team, where he covered companies including Intel, Motorola and Texas Instruments. A frequent contributor to Bloomberg Markets magazine and Bloomberg television, he's written about topics from artificial intelligence on Wall Street to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to Bloomberg, Jason was the editor of digitalsouth magazine, an Atlanta-based publication focused on venture capital and start-up technology companies. Jason holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from Georgetown University.

 

Kevin Kuykendall 
Managing Director
American Capital Energy

Kevin W. Kuykendall joined American Capital in April 2003. In January 2005, Mr. Kuykendall was placed in charge of building an energy investing effort for American Capital. Mr. Kuykendall was promoted to Managing Director in 2006 and now leads a team of energy-focused investment professionals based in Dallas, Texas.

Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Kuykendall was a Director in the Principal Investments Group of Enron Corp., where he spent seven years originating, executing, managing, and exiting a wide variety of energy-related investments, including leveraged buyouts, asset breakups, and early-stage direct equity investments in the exploration and production, oilfield services, coal, utility services, power and power technology sectors.

Mr. Kuykendall currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Innova-Extel Acquisition Holdings, Inc., Fosbel Inc., Dynojet Research, Inc., ADF Holdings, Inc., LVI Holdings, Inc. as well as a board member of CMX Consulting, Inc., in addition to having served on 14 other Boards of Directors over portions of the past 15 years.

Kevin earned an M.B.A. with a Finance Concentration from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.B.A. in Finance, summa cum laude, from University of Oklahoma.

 

Evan Lehmann
Reporter
ClimateWire

Journalist Evan Lehmann has covered Congress for five years and currently writes about energy and climate legislation and its impact on people, politics and campaigns. Recently he's been following the movements of the Senate bill offered by John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, and he spent a day hovering over the floor last week as Lisa Murkowski sought unsuccessfully to halt the Obama administration's plan to regulate greenhouse gases. Lehmann works for ClimateWire, a publication of Environment & Energy Publishing located on Capitol Hill. His work frequently appears on The New York Times website.

 

Mark Lvoff
Managing Director
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank

Mark Lvoff is Managing Director and Head of the Structured Trade and Commodity Finance group for Credit Agricole in the Americas. Prior to joining Credit Agricole in NewYork, Lvoff was head of the Energy Lending platform for Credit Agricole Indosuez in Houston. He has held  a number of senior positions in banking not only with Credit Agricole but with BNP and prior to that with Banque Paribas over a 30 year career.

In addition to his activities in banking , Lvoff has been involved in the oil & gas trading community having held senior positions with Phibro Energy and subsequently with Trafigura, having opened the latter’s offices in the US in 1994.

Credit Agricole is the largest French Banking Group by assets and is an active participant and leader in financing the oil & gas industry on a worldwide basis and particularly in the US.

Mr Lvoff is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Scott Mackin
Partner
Denham Capital

Scott Mackin is a Partner at Denham Capital, responsible for the firm’s Power & Renewables Group. He brings 24 years of experience to the firm. In addition to his responsibility for managing, originating, structuring, and execution of investments in the Power & Renewables Group, Scott is a member of the Management Committee, Investment Committee, and Valuation Committee, and is responsible for the firm's Short Hills, New Jersey office. Prior to joining Denham Capital, Scott was the President and CEO of Waypoint Energy. Previously, he held positions as Managing Partner at The Chatham Group, President and CEO of Covanta Energy Corporation, President of Ogden Energy, and General Counsel at Ogden Projects. Scott received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Villanova University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.

 

Christopher Manning
Partner
Trilantic Capital Partners

Christopher R. Manning has been a Partner of Trilantic Capital Partners (“TCP”) since it’s formation in 2009 and leads the group’s energy investing activities. From 2006–2008, Chris was the Head of Lehman Brothers’ Investment Management Division, including both the Asset Management and Private Equity businesses, in Asia-Pacific. He joined the Natural Resources group of Lehman Brothers in 1997 and joined Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking in 2000 where he was a partner until the forming of TCP. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Chris was the Chief Financial Officer of The Wing Group, a developer of international power projects. Prior to joining The Wing Group, Chris was in the investment banking department of Kidder, Peabody & Co. where he worked on M&A and corporate finance transactions. He is currently on the board of Antero Resources, Enduring Resources, Mediterranean Resources and the Cross Group. Chris holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Rob McCeney
Partner - Transaction Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Rob is a partner in the Transaction Services practice based in Houston. He specializes in providing acquisition services in the energy and infrastructure industries on behalf of both corporate and financial sponsor clients. The primary industries Rob serves include regulated electric and gas utilities, merchant power companies, midstream processing, mining, energy - related equipment and services companies, energy commodity trading, electric & gas retail marketers, transportation and infrastructure-related industrial and consumer products industries.

In connection with providing buy and sell-side financial due diligence services, Rob assists clients with assessing the quality of reported earnings, identifying debt-like items, analyzing working capital, identifying potential purchase accounting adjustments as well as supporting working capital and purchase price adjustment mechanisms.

Rob has significant experience in cross-border transactions in a number of countries and has significant experience with US and IFRS. Since joining Transaction Services in 1996, Rob has worked in PwC’s New York, Santiago, Chile and Seoul, South Korea offices.

Rob received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant in New York, Texas and Virginia.

 

John McConomy
Partner, US Leader, Transaction Services Power and Utility Industry
PricewaterhouseCoopers

John is the lead partner for the Firm's US Power and Utilities Transaction Services practice, as well as a member of the Firm’s US Power and Utilities Leadership Council. He provides transaction services to PwC’s infrastructure, power and utility clients, including: merger, acquisition and divestiture financial due diligence; workout strategies; strategic planning and evaluation; financial and operations analysis; analysis of power-related contracts; assistance in contract buy-outs or buy-downs; regulatory matters; valuation of assets, contracts and business segments, and investigation and assistance in the deal process of transactions.

John has led financial due diligence teams for PwC in many of the industry's largest mergers and acquisitions and a wide variety of advisory transactions. John also serves as a subject matter expert in the power generation industry.

With over 30 years of business and financial experience in the infrastructure, power and utilities industries, John provides an unparalleled range of services to provide sound solutions and ideas that increase value to our clients prior to, during and after the transaction.

John is a nationally recognized industry speaker and author. Since 2001, he has been a co-author of Power Deals, PwC's global annual review of power and utility transactions and trends.

Mr. McConomy is a CPA and holds a BS in Accounting from the Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of Financial Executives International, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania, New York and the Greater Washington Societies of Certified Public Accountants.

 

John Moon
Managing Director
Morgan Stanley Private Equity

John Moon is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners based in New York.  Mr. Moon initially joined Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in 1998 and was promoted to Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in 2002.  Prior to rejoining Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in 2008, Mr. Moon was a Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings LLC where he served on the Investment Committees of the Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy & Power Funds III and IV.  Prior to joining Riverstone, Mr. Moon was a founding partner and Managing Director of Metalmark Capital LLC.  He is a former member of the Investment Committees of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners III and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners IV and Metalmark Capital Partners I.  Mr. Moon served on the Board of Directors of the following Morgan Stanley Capital Partners portfolio companies: Aventine Renewable Energy, Cantera Resources, Canyon Gas Resources, Concert Capital Resources, Triana Energy/Columbia Natural Resources and Union Drilling.  He currently serves as a director of Triana Energy Investments, a Morgan Stanley Capital Partners V portfolio company.  Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 1998, Mr. Moon was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in New York.  Mr. Moon holds an A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College.  He also holds an A.M. and Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University.  Mr. Moon is an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School.

 

J. Andrew Murphy
Executive Vice President and Regional President, Northeast
NRG Energy Inc.

Drew Murphy has been Executive Vice President and Regional President, Northeast since February 2009. He previously served as NRG’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel from December 2006 to February 2009. Prior to joining NRG, Mr. Murphy was the partner in charge of the energy practice at the law firm of Hunton & Williams where he represented issuers, developers, investors and lenders in a wide variety of US and cross-border energy projects and structured financings. His expertise includes supporting various development projects and financings including coal- and gas-fired power plants, transmission lines, gas storage facilities, waste-to-energy facilities, water treatment facilities and renewable energy projects. Mr. Murphy has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College and a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University.

 

Chris Ortega
Director
First Reserve

Christopher Ortega, Director, joined First Reserve in 2007. His responsibilities include investment origination, structuring, execution, monitoring and exit strategy, with a particular focus on the mining and equipment, manufacturing and services sectors. Prior to joining First Reserve, Mr. Ortega was a Vice President at Greenhill Capital Partners. Prior to Greenhill Capital Partners, he worked at Lazard Freres & Co. as an Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department. Mr. Ortega holds an A.B. degree Magna Cum Laude in Social Studies from Harvard College. He also holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and a J.D. Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.

 

Jessica Resnick-Ault 
Energy Reporter 
Bloomberg News

Jessica Resnick-Ault covers energy companies for Bloomberg News in New York. Jessica focuses on the European Oil Majors, integrated U.S. oil companies, and independent refiners. In this role, she has covered transactions in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Jessica covered petroleum and alternative fuels for Dow Jones Newswires for five years. She has traveled extensively, reporting from in India and other critical areas to provide a comprehensive view of energy concerns. Previously, Jessica was a reporter for The Providence Journal, covering general news and liquefied natural gas projects. She holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University in classics and double-majored in public policy.

 

 

Kenneth L. Stephens, CPA
Principal
Rothstein Kass

Ken Stephens is a principal based in the Firm's Roseland, New Jersey office. Ken provides audit, accounting and business advisory services to both private and publicly-held businesses, domestic and international, in industries such as biotech/medical device, pharmaceutical, gaming, manufacturing, wholesaling/distributing, communications and technology.

As a lead principal of Rothstein Kass’ SEC practice, primarily consisting of small and mid-sized registrants, Ken has in-depth knowledge and experience related to registration and reporting under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; interpretation and implementation of regulations governing filing requirements; researching and resolving SEC issues through communications with the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance and navigating the evolving issues and requirements of the public reporting landscape.

Collectively, Ken and other Rothstein Kass team members have been involved with over 20 IPOs, raising more than $3.9 billion since 2005. Ken also has extensive experience in business combinations, including reverse mergers, private placements, including PIPEs, as well as SOX Section 404 compliance, internal controls consulting and M&A due diligence. Additionally, he is one of Rothstein Kass’ thought leaders relative to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Ken is a graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting. He is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). He is a certified public accountant in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

 

John Stinebaugh
Managing Partner
Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

John is a Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management and Chief Financial Officer of the Manager. He is responsible for business development for Brookfield’s utility infrastructure business, focusing on acquisitions of utility infrastructure assets in North America and other jurisdictions. John co-led the BBI Transaction and is a director on the Board of Myria, the company which owns 80% of NGPL, and previously co-led the $2.5 billion acquisition of Transelec. Prior to this, John worked at Credit Suisse Securities (U.S.A.) LLC in the energy group with responsibility for mergers and acquisitions and leveraged financings. During his tenure at Brookfield Asset Management and Credit Suisse, John worked on acquisitions and divestitures of energy infrastructure companies in excess of $15 billion. John received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995 and graduated with a degree in economics from Harvard University.