December 2017, Vol. 244, No. 12

Company & Association News

Names in the News

President Trump nominated Linda Capuano, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, to head the Energy Information Administration. The EIA, a division of the Department of Energy, is one of the world’s most prominent providers of data and analysis on the world’s energy sector, tracking everything from oil inventories to the growth of solar panels on the power grid. The former executive at Marathon Oil, Capuano joined the Baker Institute in 2014 and conducted research into improving the treatment of brackish water that is a byproduct of oil and gas drilling.

Doug Evans was recently named chairman of Gulf Interstate Engineering upon retiring after over 20 years as president and CEO of the Houston company he joined 40 years ago. Rick Barnard, who was senior vice president of Operations, was named president and CEO. He has been with GIE for 27 years.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Plains GP Holdings said Greg Armstrong will retire as CEO at the end of 2018 at which time Willie Chiang, PAA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer-U.S., will become CEO. Armstrong will remain as non-executive chairman of the board of directors through 2019 when he will retire from the board. Harry Pefanis remains as president and a director and will assume the newly created role of chief commercial officer.

Armstrong has been with PAA and its predecessor organizations since 1981. He has been CEO since 1992. Chiang’s role as COO will be expanded to cover both the U.S. and Canada. He joined PAA in 2015 and has over 30 years of energy industry experience with senior positions at Occidental Petroleum and ConocoPhillips.

NDT Global named Derek Kernan as vice president, Quality Management of its global operation. He is responsible for Quality Management, including Document Control, Corrective Action Systems, Continuous Improvement, Internal Auditing, Supplier Quality Management and Quality Assurance for Data Services.

Navigant said four senior-level industry experts have joined the consulting company’s growing global Energy practice. They are Mike Bianco, managing director, Austin, TX; Jan-Willem Bode, director, London; Chip Wood, director, Charlotte, NC; and Bertil Heerink, director, Brussels and Utrecht.

Clock Spring Company, LP has appointed Shaun Ahern as regional sales manager in charge of sales and business development initiatives in the Middle East, Northern Africa and India. Ahern has over 20 years’ experience with business service companies in the high-temperature process and oil and gas industries, including developing the Middle Eastern market for Walker Technical. He is a qualified composite repair system supervisor and training instructor.

The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers said Alex Mills will retire Dec. 31 as president and chief of staff. He became president in 2000, following the merger of the North Texas Oil & Gas Association (NTOGA) and the West Central Texas Oil & Gas Association (WeCTOGA). He writes a weekly column concerning energy issues, which appears in newspapers across Texas. Based in Wichita Falls, the Alliance also has offices in Austin and Houston.

Dallas-based Atmos Energy Corp. announced that Jennifer Hills will succeed Susan Giles as vice president, Investor Relations. Giles is retiring after 15 years as the investor relations officer for the company. Hills joined Atmos Energy in September after an 18-year career on Wall Street, most recently as an equity analyst with UBS in New York where she covered midstream and gas distribution companies.

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President John Betkoski III has appointed Mississippi Public Service Commission Chair Brandon Presley to the NARUC Board of Directors. Presley was elected to the Mississippi PSC in 2007 and then re-elected in 2011 and 2015. He has been vice chair of NARUC’s Natural Gas Access and Expansion Task Force and  also serves on the association’s Committee on Gas and Committee on International Relations.

Telecommunications and SCADA expert Jack Richard has retired after 30 years at Keller and Heckman LLP and 10 years at the FCC. Richards’ telecom career spanned the era at the FCC, through the internet and into broadband. His clients included electric utilities, oil and natural gas companies and their national trade associations such as ENTELEC. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 he was named by Thomson Reuters as a ‘SuperLawyer” in the communications category. He was a regular contributor to Pipeline & Gas Journal.

Fairbanks Morse, an EnPro Industries company, named Kimberly Getgen to spearhead global go-to market strategy and initiatives as vice president of strategic marketing including marine power and power generation.

Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc. has promoted Gary Boyd to service manager of its Dallas facility. Boyd joined the company in 2009 and has over 40 years of heavy equipment service experience.

DNV GL-Oil & Gas appointed Brice Le Gallo as Regional Manager, Southeast Asia and Australia. Gallo spent nearly 12 years in Asia, joining DNV GL in 2013 first as floating systems manager within the Deepwater Technology Centre in Singapore, and more recently as head of the Oil & Gas Technology Centre.

Foley & Lardner LLP announced Dorothy Watson has rejoined the firm’s Environmental Regulation practice in the Orlando office. For the last four years, Watson was environmental counsel for multiple business lines within Schlumberger.

Denver-based Whiting Petroleum Corp. named former Anadarko Petroleum Corp. senior executive Brad Holly as its next president,  and a member of the board of directors. Jim Volker, 70, who has served as Whiting’s president and CEO since 2002, will shift to the role of executive chairman of the board and serve until the end of 2017.

SilverBow Resources Inc., formerly Swift Energy Co., named Steven Adam as executive vice president and COO, succeeding Robert Banks. Adam was senior vice president of operations at Sanchez Oil & Gas and also worked for Occidental Petroleum.

Cenovus Energy Inc. has named Alex Pourbaix as its new president and chief executive. Pourbaix, who will also have board seat, retired from TransCanada Corp. earlier this year where he was most recently chief operating officer. He replaces Brian Ferguson, who is retiring after 33 years with Cenovus and its predecessor companies. Cenovus is an integrated oil company with oil sands projects in northern Alberta as well as natural gas and oil production in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan.