Robert Estill
Vice President, Strategic Planning & Portfolio Management
Marathon Oil Corporation

Robert E. Estill, vice president Strategic Planning and Portfolio Management for Marathon Oil Company assumed his current position in June 2006. Prior to this position, Mr. Estill was president and managing director of Marathon Oil U.K., Ltd. and Europe Business Unit leader, Marathon Oil Company. He previously held the position of assistant to the president and CEO of Marathon Oil Corporation and General Manager of Strategic Planning since joining Marathon in 2001.

A native of Boonville, Mo., Mr. Estill graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla with a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering. He later earned a Masters of Business Administration degree.

Mr. Estill joined Getty Oil Company in Velma, Okla., in 1983 as a petroleum engineer. He transferred to Texaco Inc.’s (now ChevronTexaco) Denver division office in 1989 and held a number of posts there before being named area engineer at Texaco’s Taft, Ca., office in 1992.

Mr. Estill was appointed area engineer for Caltex Pacific Indonesia, located in Sumatra Indonesia, in November 1993 and, two years later, was named area manager of the Duri Business Unit.

In 1997, Mr. Estill returned to the U.S. and was named business unit manager for Texaco’s California Business Unit in Bakersfield, Ca. The following year, he was named director of Business Services for the Western Region based in Denver.

Mr. Estill relocated to Texaco’s executive offices in White Plains, N.Y., in 1999 as senior advisor of Worldwide Producing, where he worked primarily with business units located in Angola, Nigeria, Trinidad, Indonesia, China and Scotland. He also was appointed general manager of Texaco subsidiary Four Star Oil and Gas in 1999.

Joseph H. Fagan
Partner
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Mr. Fagan concentrates his practice on the development of natural gas and electric infrastructure projects, and in counseling clients on the myriad of regulatory and commercial issues presented by such projects. In this capacity, Mr. Fagan provides advice to natural gas companies and public utilities on regulatory, litigation and legislative questions, as well as counseling on project development, market enforcement, rate-making, corporate compliance, due diligence, and other industry-specific issues. His clients include natural gas storage, pipeline and marketing companies, producers, electric utilities, and renewable power developers. He also counsels clients on the commercialization of new emerging energy technologies.

He regularly appears before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a broad range of matters including rate, certificate, complaint and rulemaking proceedings. Mr. Fagan has represented clients affected by the regulation, deregulation and restructuring of the natural gas and electric power industries for almost seventeen years, and has regularly represented clients in federal, appellate and district court litigation.

While in law school, Mr. Fagan clerked in the FERC's Solicitor's Office.

Doug Fordyce
Managing Director
Lazard Frères & Co. LLC

Doug Fordyce is a Managing Director in Lazard's Global Power and Energy Group.

He is based in Houston and leads the firm’s practice in the oilfield services and equipment sector. He advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and financings. Doug co-founded the Houston office for Lazard in 2004.

Prior to joining Lazard, he spent eight years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and its successor, Credit Suisse First Boston. Doug received his A.B. from Duke University and his MBA at The Darden School at The University of Virginia.

 
Roger L. Jarvis
President, Chairman and CEO
Common Resources, LLC

Mr. Jarvis is the Chairman, CEO and President of Common Resources, a technically-focused Houston-based independent oil and gas explorer. Mr. Jarvis was a founder of Common in 2007. Today the company is a recognized and successful shale gas developer in both the East Texas Haynesville and South Texas Eagle Ford plays; having assembled a position of almost 70,000 net acres in the core of two of North America’s most economic natural gas plays. Common is Jarvis’s fourth successful start-up in a career spanning 32 years.

Jarvis’s last start-up, Spinnaker Exploration Company (1997), also began as a private equity deal with initial funding of $75 million. Jarvis built a highly advanced technical team to take advantage of the wave of new 3D seismic that became available in the Gulf of Mexico in the mid-1990’s. Spinnaker rapidly built its reputation as one of the Gulf of Mexico’s most effective explorers in the deep Shelf and deep water plays. Spinnaker made more than 90 discoveries in the Gulf (including 10 in the deep water) before it was sold for $2.6 billion to Norwegian major Norsk-Hydro in 2005.

Prior to building Spinnaker and Common; Roger also ran the legendary King Ranch Corporation; serving as its CEO and President from 1988-1994. During that time, the Ranch transitioned from 140 years of family management into a modern corporation. During Jarvis’s tenure at the helm, King Ranch acquired all of the citrus production operations of Minute Maid (and subsequently became the nation’s largest citrus producer), expanded and integrated various agribusinesses and generally set the table for another generation of private existence for the family-owned corporation. Prior to running the parent of King Ranch, Jarvis served as the President of King Ranch Oil and Gas for two years; building its prospect generation capabilities before diversifying that independent into the Gulf of Mexico, gulf coast and mid-continent regions. That diversification found more than a trillion cubic feet of natural gas, primarily in the Miocene-aged sediments of the Texas offshore.

During the first ten years of Mr. Jarvis’s career, he was part of founding two successful start-ups. Barrick Exploration Company was built from ground floor as a technical explorer and was ultimately sold to King Ranch in 1985. Mr. Jarvis’s first start-up was a successful engineering and geological consulting firm which he sold in 1981.

Mr. Jarvis was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the year in 2001. Jarvis has also been named as one of America’s top 50 CEO’s by Worth magazine. Mr. Jarvis has served on the board of National Oilwell Varco since 2002 and previously served on two other public boards; Bill Barrett Corporation and TPC Corporation. Mr. Jarvis graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1976 with a BS in Petroleum Engineering and is recognized in TU’s Engineering Hall of Fame.

Jay D. Kelley
Partner
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Mr. Kelley is a partner in Pillsbury’s Finance section and a resident of Pillsbury’s Houston office. He is a member of Pillsbury’s Energy & Infrastructure Projects Group and focuses his practice on a variety of finance and commercial matters, with an emphasis on the energy industry. During his career Mr. Kelley has worked on a number of project development, finance and acquisition transactions involving oil and gas (including LNG), power (including renewable power), and petrochemicals for clients including international energy companies, start up companies, power producers and marketers, gas marketers, hedge funds, private equity firms, investment banks and commercial banks.

Mr. Kelley is experienced in negotiating partnership agreements, shareholder agreements, engineering, procurement and construction contracts, operating and maintenance agreements, marketing agreements, merger and acquisitions agreements, offtake arrangements, and various other project documents. He is also experienced in negotiating various types of financial transactions, including commodity hedging, bank debt, private placements, Rule 144A bond offerings, and leveraged leases.

Mr. Kelley’s international experience includes projects in Trinidad, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

Tom Langford
Managing Director and Head of the Global Energy Group
Morgan Stanley

Thomas Langford is a Managing Director and Head of the Global Energy Group. Tom has responsibility for the major integrated and selected independent E&Pand R&M companies in the US and Latin America and maintains senior responsibility for Morgan Stanley’s energy efforts in Asia. In addition, Tom is Head of the Houston Office and Southwest Region for Investment Banking.

After beginning his career in New York, Tom spent four years based in Asia where he led several strategic and financing assignments in countries across the region, including working with PTT and TPIin Thailand, Medco in Indonesia, Sinopec in China, ONGCGail and Reliance in India, Petronasin Malaysia, Petrovietnamin Vietnam and Fletcher Energy in New Zealand. In China, Tom was the leading member of the Morgan Stanley team that advised China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (“Sinopec”) on its $3.46 billion global initial public offering, the largest Chinese H share IPO in history.

Since returning to NY in 2000, Tom has been involved in a numberof notable strategic and financing transactions including Phillips acquisition of Tosco, the merger of Conoco with Phillips, the acquisition of CanHunterby Burlington Resources, Marathon’s acquisition of KMOCin Russia and the acquisition of Unocal by Chevron.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Tom worked at Exxon and McKinsey & Co.

J. Alex Loftus
Executive Vice President
CAMAC International

Mr. Loftus oversees business development activities at CAMAC International and is also the head of crude and products trading. He has been engaged in the energy industry throughout his career and is known for his expertise in crude oil and refined products markets. Prior to joining CAMAC, Mr. Loftus held senior level positions at several consulting firms. He also served as adjunct professor of economics at Villanova University and Chestnut Hill College. A graduate of Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, he was formerly President of the Houston Chapter of the National Association of Business Economists.

CAMAC International is involved in exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, and the trading of physical crude and refined products. Headquartered in Houston, the company has offices in London, Geneva, Lagos, and Abuja, and has been in continuous operation since 1986.

CAMAC currently owns interests in several Nigerian offshore blocks, and is currently producing 12,000 B/D of crude in conjunction with its partner ENI/Agip. CAMAC’s Trading group directs the crude oil and refined products trading operations in North America, Latin America, Africa and Europe.

CAMAC International owns 62% of CAMAC Energy Inc. an AMEX listed company with a market capitalization of approximately $625 million.

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.

Bill McGrath
Senior Vice President, Marketing, Strategy and Analysis
Shell Energy North America

William (Bill) McGrath is Senior Vice President of Marketing, Strategy, and Analysis for Shell Energy North America (SENA). He is primarily responsible for driving enterprise-wide strategic and tactical activities for SENA, with a particular emphasis on enhancing competitive position within the disciplines of Strategy, Marketing, Structuring and Trading Analytics. Bill’s career with Shell spans 20 years, encompassing assignments in Refining, Downstream Strategy, Oil Products Marketing and Energy. He joined Shell as a chemical engineer at his hometown refinery in Geelong, Australia, where he contributed first, as a field technologist and, thereafter, as refinery economist. In 1995, he switched refineries, expatriating to Shell’s Fredericia Refinery in Denmark, where he focused on new unit start ups. In 1997, Bill moved to the London office and participated in the strategy and development of several global initiatives including retail strategy and the globalization of Shell’s LPG business. Following this assignment, Bill was appointed Fuels Director for Shell Marine Products, with accountability for the Marine Fuels global bottom line. In 2002, driving the integration of Marine Fuel activities Shell had acquired from Texaco, brought him to the U.S. He joined Shell Energy North America in his current position in October 2003. Bill earned an S.B. in Chemical Engineering, with a Minor in History, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989.

Michael McMahon
Founder & Managing Director
Pine Brook Road Partners

Michael McMahon is a partner/founder of Pine Brook Road Partners LLC, a New York based private equity firm. The firm seeks unlevered growth capital equity investments in the energy and financial services sectors. Mr. McMahon heads Pine Brook’s investment activities in the energy sector.

Prior to founding Pine Brook, Mr. McMahon served as Executive Counselor to Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri on Economic Growth and Community Development.

Before entering public service Mr. McMahon spent 32 years in finance as a venture capitalist (founder of RockPort Capital Partners in Boston and a Partner in the Aeneas Group, the private equity investment arm of Harvard University’s endowment), and as an investment banker heading the global energy investment banking groups at Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. Mr. McMahon began his career on Wall Street at J P Morgan.

Mr. McMahon is currently a director of Bancorp Rhode Island. Previously, Mr. McMahon has served on the board of six public energy companies; Transocean, Spinnaker Exploration Company, Triton Energy, TPC Corp, Marine Drilling Companies, and Numar Corporation.

Mr. McMahon received an AB in American Civilization from Brown University and was a member of the Program for Management Development, PMD 33, at Harvard Business School.

Sheila McNulty
US Energy Correspondent
Financial Times

Sheila McNulty is the US Energy Correspondent for the Financial Times. Her beat covers the energy industry as well as the politics and culture of Texas.

McNulty joined the FT in 1997 as a correspondent in Kuala Lumpur. There, McNulty covered Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei for the newspaper. She focused on uncovering the massive political and economic problems facing Malaysia during the Asian economic crisis. In 2001, McNulty moved to Houston to cover the energy and oil industry.

Previously, McNulty worked for Dow Jones News Service in Malaysia where she covered corporate and economic news; and The Associated Press where she reported on general news in Cambodia, Thailand and New Jersey.

In 2007, she was named Reporter of the Year and Specialist Writer of the Year by the British Press Awards.

McNulty has made many appearances on various public radio stations.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona.

Jeff Morris
President & CEO
Alon USA Energy Inc.

Jeff D. Morris joined Alon USA as President and CEO when the company was acquired by Alon Israel Oil Co. LTD, from Fina, Inc. (FINA) in August of 2000. He provides leadership to the executive team and oversees Alon USA’s businesses, including four petroleum refineries, a network of terminal facilities, branded and unbranded fuel marketing, asphalt marketing and convenience store operations.

Previously, Morris served in several capacities as a vice president with FINA, ultimately becoming responsible for all of FINA’s downstream operations. From 1989-1995, he was refinery manager at the Big Spring Refinery (BSR), where he significantly improved the facility with major capital projects and streamlined operations. At BSR, Morris advanced through various technical and management positions in polymer research licensing, engineering and design from 1974 through 1988. During this time, he developed 10 U.S. and six foreign patents in the field of polymer processing and production. Morris began his career as an engineer-researcher at the Big Spring Refinery, using science and technology to design, develop and enhance tangible processing operations yielding profitable results.

Morris graduated in 1974 from Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He is a Texas Tech Distinguished Engineer and a member of the Academy of Chemical Engineers. In addition to his extensive operational and leadership experience, Morris published an article on polystyrene in the Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design. He also has written articles in a number of professional journals and trade publications including World Energy and Convenience Store Decisions. He serves on the boards of Communities in Schools Dallas Region, Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, the Trinity Trust Foundation, and the American Heart Association.

Victor M. Perez
Chief Financial Officer
Allis-Chalmers Energy Inc.

Victor M. Perez has been the Chief Financial Officer of Allis-Chalmers Energy Inc since August 2004. From July 2003 to July 2004, Mr. Perez was a private consultant engaged in corporate and international finance advisory. From February 1995 to June 2003, Mr. Perez was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Trico Marine Services, Inc., a marine transportation company serving the offshore energy industry. Mr. Perez was Vice President of Corporate Finance with Offshore Pipelines, Inc., an oilfield marine construction company, from October 1990 to January 1995, when that company merged with a subsidiary of McDermott International. Mr. Perez also has 15 years of experience in international and energy banking. Mr. Perez has a B.A. in Economics from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Roxanne D. Pirooz
Regional Executive
IntraLinks

Roxanne D. Pirooz serves as Senior Account Executive for Intralinks responsible for servicing the Texas, Oklahoma & Louisiana territories. After graduating with a BBA from Texas A&M University, she has worked for a number of technology firms primarily in New York City, where Intralinks is headquartered. She is a member of Texas Young Professionals in Energy and the Houston Club. She is also a philanthropic contributor to Women for Women International, an organization that supports women in war-torn regions with financial aid, job-skills and business training.

R. Kelly Plato
Managing Director
NGP Capital Resources Company

Mr. Plato is our Senior Vice President and Managing Director, has over 14 years of investment management, corporate finance, engineering, and general management experience in the energy industry. He serves on the governing boards of several of our portfolio companies. From March 2003 to February 2005, he was a partner of Odyssey Energy Capital, LP, a private capital provider to the energy industry and successor to Mirant Americas Energy Capital, LP. He graduated with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1992 and a J.D. from South Texas College of Law in 1996.

Krishna Shivram
Manager, Mergers & Acquisitions
Schlumberger

Krishna Shivram is the Head of M&A for the Houston Office of Schlumberger Limited. Prior to this position he held various financial positions within Schlumberger including Controller, VP of Finance as well as Country Manager (India) for Schlumberger Group. Krishna has over 20 years of experience in varied industries, primarily in Oil & Gas finance, M&A and line management positions, in the Middle East, US, Europe and India. Krishna graduated from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in 1986 with a degree in Chartered Accountancy, he earned a Bachelor of Commerce in 1983 from Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Mumbai and a degree in Cost & Work Accounting (Intermediate) from the Institute of Costs & Works Accountants of India in 1985.

Jeff Tobaben
Partner
Gallup

Jeffrey A. Tobaben is a Managing Partner with Gallup Consulting. As an Executive and consultant, he is responsible for the overall management and growth of Gallup’s business and operations in Texas. Tobaben’s mission is to empower companies to make decisions and execute on corporate strategies that positively impact business outcomes.

Tobaben consults with organizations to help them leverage their human capital through applied behavioral economics. He devotes his expertise and Gallup’s rigorous research methodologies and economic models to architect solutions that drive improved workplace conditions, reduced turnover, employee engagement, strengthened customer relationships, and sustainable financial performance.

When the company Mr. Tobaben founded was acquired by Gallup in 2005, he joined the Texas office to act as Managing Partner. Since joining Gallup, Tobaben has worked with a diverse collection of Fortune 500 companies including clients in the Automotive, Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, and Financial Services industries.

Prior to joining Gallup, Tobaben was a pioneer in the Automotive industry, continually challenging the status quo. Supported by research and intuition, he led a movement to change the management of customer and employee relationships.

 
Carl Tricoli
Founder and Managing Partner
Denham Capital

Carl Tricoli is a Managing Partner of Denham Capital, responsible for the firm’s Natural Resources Group. He brings 28 years of experience to the firm. In addition to his responsibilities as Managing Partner, Carl is a member of the Executive Committee, Management Committee, Investment Committee, and Valuation Committee. Prior to joining Denham Capital in 2004, Carl served as President of GeosCapital, after serving as Vice President for Enron North America, Managing Director of Koch Producer Services, President of Black Hawk Resources, and Managing Director of Corporate Finance for NationsBank Capital Markets. Carl received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Business Administration from Cass Business School in London.

Mary Wiggins
Communications
Shell Trading in North America

Mary Wiggins is a communications advisor for Shell Trading NA. She joined Shell Trading in 2008 after an assignment with Shell EP Americas.

She began her 20+ year career in the oil industry with Sonat Offshore Drillling, and her assignments have ranged from climbing the derrick of the world’s first deep water semisubmersible in Japan to touring the interior tanks of an LNG tanker in France.

Wiggins is a recipient of the Communicator of the Year award by the International Association of Business Communicators and a featured speaker at local and national communications seminars.

Mark Williams
VP, Exploration & Development
Whiting Petroleum Corp.

Mark R. Williams is Vice President of Exploration and Development at Whiting Petroleum Corporation where he manages the company’s upstream activity and capital budget. His mission is the development of oil resource plays through integration of geoscience, technology and economics. He has twenty-seven years of experience in the oil and gas industry in a broad variety domestic and international projects. His primary areas of technical expertise include sequence stratigraphy, seismic interpretation and petroleum economics. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in geology from the University of Utah and a Master’s Degree in geology from the Colorado School of Mines.

Stephen L. Williams
Chief Commercial Support Officer- North America Gas & Power
BP Energy Company

With more than 20 years experience in the energy industry, Steve Williams has demonstrated international leadership by managing and helping guide BP’s business growth across three continents.

Working in Cape Town, South Africa as General Manager for Downstream Operations, Steve helped to transform an independent country operation to a regional business unit across 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Working in London, England, Steve held various roles, including General Manager for Global Advertising and VP of Strategic Marketing. Steve’s team successfully launched the global BP brand and it was his team that was responsible for the development and launching of the award winning BP Man on the Street Advertising Campaign. As VP of Marketing, Gas Renewables, Supply & Trading, Steve helped refine BP’s trading business into a more market and customer focused organization, helping to develop IST’s portfolio and generate greater revenue.

Since 2004, Steve has made Houston, Texas his home, where he was the VP of Marketing & Trading overseeing the Natural Gas Liquid teams before becoming the Chief Commercial Officer for BP’s North American Gas & Power team. His current leadership directs the policy, regulatory, fundamental analytics, partnership, communications, training, HSSE and Business Continuity Planning teams. Steve is also responsible for BP’s new Helios Plaza, which is striving to be the first Platinum LEED New Construction (NC) building in Houston and third in Texas and one of nine LEED buildings globally.

Steve serves as a board member for the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) continuing to highlight the benefits of a competitive natural gas market and is a former member of the Propane Education Research Council (PERC) board and the Executive Leadership Council Learning Institute advisory board.

Steve is one of BP’s Group Leaders in its on-going diversity and inclusion program, where he firmly believes in developing people and being a role model for establishing a safe, compliant and diverse workforce.

Steve received his BS in Psychology and MBA from Miami University. Steve’s favorite sport is rugby, which he played for 17 years. Steve lives in Katy, Texas with his wife Nancy, and their daughters Taylor and Carling.