April 2017, Vol. 244, No. 4

Company & Association News

Business

Associations in the News

Nancy J. Huston, president, Tall Oak Associates, Inc., received MEA’s inaugural Distinguished Environmental Professional Award. The award  honors an individual who made a significant contribution in the environmental area, especially the gas utility and electric sector. Huston spent 33 years with Nicor Gas before starting her own company in 2008. She worked as an engineering and operations manager until 1989 when she was asked to begin Nicor Gas’ environmental department, where she helped organize the environmental program, including USTs, wetlands/stormwater, waste disposal and air permitting, along with initiating Nicor Gas’ manufactured gas plant program.

LAGCOE, a nonprofit energy industry organization focused on educational programs and organizer of a technical exposition and conference, expanded its mission to reflect its 62 years of strategic growth. The Future Energy Professionals program has provided five students with over $43,000 in higher education scholarships. LAGCOE established other scholarships and endowed professorships at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and South Louisiana Community College. STEM education support programs are being expanded to further generational industry education. LAGCOE offers a Young Professionals of LAGCOE (YPL) membership which offers career development and networking opportunities. LAGCOE 201 will be held Oct. 24-26 in Lafayette, LA.

Names in the News

The Williams Companies, Inc. named Micheal G. Dunn executive vice president and COO. He most recently served as president of Questar Pipeline and executive vice president of Questar Corp. From 2010-15, Dunn was president and CEO of PacifiCorp Energy, a multi-state electric power generating company and a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Dunn was previously president of Kern River Gas Transmission Co., a Berkshire Hathaway Energy interstate natural gas pipeline unit. He joined Kern River in 1990, having directed operations, construction, engineering, and information technology before being named president in 2007. Dunn graduated in 1988 from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and is a registered professional engineer in Oklahoma.

Randy Schmidt is now managing director of Burns & McDonnell Terminals and Pipelines group, replacing Ted Born, who is retiring. Schmidt is based in Houston and heads a nationwide group of 140 EPC professionals involved in several large-volume storage and transportation projects for petroleum-based products. In 14 years with Burns & McDonnell, Schmidt has led numerous projects, including major oil and gas pipelines, storage and loading/unloading facilities. His bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering is from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is a registered professional engineer.

Henkels & McCoy, Inc., promoted Kevin Pedigo to vice president and assistant division manager of the pipeline division. He is responsible for the overall direction, development, safety, profitability and growth. Pedigo has nearly 25 years of experience in the pipeline industry with the last 18 years at Henkels & McCoy. He has worked in various roles on pipeline projects throughout North America, including mainline construction, facilities installations, piping modifications and anomaly investigations/repairs. Pedigo most recently served as director of operations for Henkels & McCoy.

Henkels & McCoy, Inc. also promoted Elsaid Wahba to vice president – Executive Sponsor. He oversees the Pipeline Division Project Management Office, responsible for executive project sponsorship and management, business and proposal development, conceptual design, estimating, and interface of major oil/ gas pipeline projects. Wahba has had numerous roles in his 28 years with H&M, most recently serving as Executive Director for the Corporate Project Management Office. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in civil engineering and is a registered professional engineer.

Halliburton Company announced that CFO Mark McCollum left the company to become CEO at Weatherford International plc, replacing interim CEO Krishna Shivram. McCollum became CFO in 2008 and also served as the chief integration officer during the failed Halliburton takeover of Baker Hughes. He is a Baylor University graduate. Halliburton Executive Vice President and General Counsel Robb L. Voyles was named interim CFO. Halliburton also promoted Lyn Beaty to senior vice president of Finance. Voyles joined Halliburton in 2013 and is a member of the Executive Committee. Before joining Halliburton, he was a senior partner at Baker Botts LLP. Beaty’s career with the company began in the Finance department and has spanned over 30 years.

Weatherford CFO Christoph Bausch is interim CEO until McCollum starts later this month. Weatherford named William Macauley as board chairman, replacing Robert Rayne. Macauley Heis the chairman and co-CEO of the First Reserve private equity firm.

UGI Corporation announced Bradley C. Hall, president of UGI Energy Services, intends to retire after a 34-year career with the company. He will be succeeded by Joseph L. Hartz, COO. Hall joined UGI in 1982 and held several leadership positions during his tenure. He oversaw expansion into Europe and began UGI’s natural gas marketing business. He was named president of the Energy Services segment in 1995.

Hartz joined UGI in 1985 as an accountant within the utility business. He joined Energy Services in 1995 where he has served as vice president – assets and supply, chief financial officer, and, in 2014, was named COO. He earned a bachelor of science from Penn State University and attended the Executive Program at Penn State and the Advanced Management Program at the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Foster Marketing named Ambika Kashi Singh as digital content coordinator. She has four years of experience in public relations and digital marketing. She graduated from Baylor University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/public relations in 2012.

Sean P. McLaughlin joined Hunton & Williams LLP in its Washington office as senior attorney in the federal government relations team. He worked for 15 years with the federal government, including serving as Republican chief of staff and general counsel for the House Committee on the Judiciary. McLaughlin also served as the deputy assistant attorney general to the Department of Justice, as well as a principal at Podesta Group, where he advised companies and corporations on government relations and public affairs in the patent reform, copyright review, and cybersecurity sectors.

American Midstream Partners, LP announced the general partner appointed Rene L. Casadaban as senior vice president and COO, succeeding Matthew Roland, who served as COO since 2013. “We are excited to welcome Rene to American Midstream. He is a seasoned veteran in our industry who brings a high level of credibility and is a great fit for our management team.”

Casadaban has 26 years of midstream project management and business development experience for onshore, offshore and deepwater pipeline systems. He was COO for Summit Midstream Partners, LP. He has been an independent consultant to ExxonMobil and GulfTerra Energy Partners, LP for Gulf of Mexico and international pipeline projects. He graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in building construction.

CORTEC, a manufacturer of API valves and manifolds, appointed Scott Gooding as director of international business development. He previously worked for NOV where he was vice president of business and product development in Houston. He has over 30 years of business development experience within a variety of oil and gas companies.

Atmos Energy Corp. named David Park to senior vice president of utility operations. He is responsible for the operations of six utility divisions in eight states, as well as gas supply. Park, 45, has been with the company over 20 years, starting his career with Lone Star Gas in 1994. Before being named president of the West Texas Division, he was vice president of Rates and Regulatory Affairs in the Mid-Tex Division and held positions in engineering and public affairs. Park is a graduate of Texas A&M University and is a registered professional engineer.

KorTerra, Inc., a utility damage prevention software company in Chanhassen, MN, named Don Lewis president. He joined KorTerra in 2001 as a software support analyst and was promoted to post-implementation manager in 2003. In 2010, he became vice president of KorTerra’s sister company, KorPartners. On Jan. 1, 2016 Lewis became vice president of Strategy for KorTerra. He has an engineering degree in computer science from Montana State University.

LocusView, a mobile and geospatial application product company for the energy industry and subsidiary of Gas Technology Institute International (GTII), named Joseph Kaczmarski as vice president of Operations. He has a decade of experience in utility engineering and management and was chief of staff for the Telecommunication and Network Services organization at Pacific Gas and Electric. He has supervised GIS mapping teams, gas outage management, damage prevention, gas pipe modeling and design, and labor workforce management.
DNV GL appointed Peter Boyle as Aberdeen operations manager and John Morgan as UK business development leader for Risk Advisory Services. Both positions are based in the Aberdeen office. Boyle has worked for DNV GL for 22 years. A chemical engineer, he specializes in safety engineering, providing consultancy services for many oil and gas facilities globally, and in managing significant asset integrity projects. Morgan, a senior principal consultant, has 22 years of leadership and technical experience with DNV GL and its predecessor companies. He is an expert in safety regulation and chairs the UK Oil and Gas major hazards technical group.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Plains GP Holdings said the board of directors of PAA GP Holdings LLC appointed Harry Pefanis and Willie Chiang to the board. Pefanis and Chiang serve as the president and COO and executive vice president and COO (U.S.), respectively, of PAGP GP.

Companies in the News 

EN Engineering opened a new office in King of Prussia, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. The office is located near existing gas utilities, pipelines, and electric distribution clients the firm serves. The company said the rapidly growing area offers a prime location for market expansion. EN Engineering will be hiring engineering, drafting and design professionals at the new location.

Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP received a 2017 Alerian MLP Award as “Most Innovative MLP.” The “Ammy” Awards, created by Alerian, recognize excellence in the MLP industry. The top 25 MLP-dedicated funds and top 25 sell-side analysts voted to select the winner in this category. Alerian cited the company’s work to transform REX into the nation’s northernmost bi-directional natural gas header system. The completion of the REX Zone 3 Capacity Enhancement project – which went into service in January – marked the culmination of a series of projects that increased REX’s total capacity in zone 3 to 4.4 Bcf/d. “We’re humbled and honored to receive this award,” said Tallgrass Energy President and CEO David G. Dehaemers Jr. “We’ve worked hard in the four-plus years since our inception to provide value to our partners, customers and employees. This recognition validates those efforts.”