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The Oxford Princeton Programme
Would you like to become part of our distinguished faculty? If you possess
expertise in emissions trading, green power, weather derivatives, coal trading,
petroleum products trading, petroleum refining and economics, electricity market
structure and trading, and derivatives trading, please click HERE.
Faculty
Guerlain Appriou has over 13 years of experience working in the energy and financial markets. Guerlain was a quantitative analyst for a European hedge fund before he became an electricity trader for KalibraXE, a French electricity broker. In this position he developed and executed strategies for European cross-border electricity trading. Guerlain holds a Msc in Computing from the University of Bristol and is based in Melbourne, Australia.
Gianna Bern is president of Brookshire Advisory and Research, Inc., a
consultancy focused on energy economics research, corporate finance, and credit
portfolio management and is the publisher of The Brookshire Report, a
quarterly global oil market outlook. Prior to Brookshire, Gianna was a senior
director in Fitch Ratings' Latin America Corporate Finance group and was
responsible for rating Latin American corporate issuers in the energy sector
including oil, gas, and regulated utilities. Gianna has also been the credit
portfolio manager of a leading commercial lease finance company where she
managed a $2.5 billion commercial finance lease portfolio and led a team of
credit analysts. Previously, Gianna was a manager of risk management trading at
BP Amoco Plc. Before the merger of Amoco Corporation and BP Plc., Gianna was a
senior energy analyst at Amoco Oil where she focused on global oil industry
macroeconomics. Earlier in her career, Gianna was a senior credit officer at
Continental Bank. Gianna has a BBA in accounting from Illinois Institute of
Technology and an MBA with specializations in finance and international business
from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Adrian Clark is Principal of Clark Strategic Solutions, a consultancy in the energy industry. Prior to setting up this consultancy in 2009, Adrian worked for over 30 years in Oil and Gas with BP. He began his career with BP in London before moving to Australia where, over a ten year period, he held a number of different roles at both of BP's oil refineries. The roles initially technical in nature, had more of a commercial focus as time went on. He was accountable for all planning and scheduling for the Brisbane refinery and progressed to Operations Manager, deputy to the Refinery Manager and accountable for the safe, efficient operation of the whole refinery. He then moved to Singapore, acting as BP's shareholder representative for its joint venture refinery there at a time of significant expansion of the site. Adrian returned to Australia three years later where he was then responsible for the development and implementation of strategy for BP's refining and supply business in Australia and New Zealand. In 2001 Adrian became Head of BP's Supply and Trading team for the region. Concurrently, he was Director on the Board of the New Zealand Refining Co Ltd. In 2004, Adrian returned to Singapore as a key member of the Asian Trading business's leadership team. In his last role he was accountable for development and implementation of the strategy for that business as well as the provision of analytical support for the commodity trading benches. Adrian holds a B.Sc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh
David K. Cooley has a career that spans over 40 years which includes executive leadership at MAPCO, Valero Natural Gas, and Pan Canadian Energy where he led teams trading crude oil, natural gas, and electricity by developing various niche strategies to optimize the firm’s asset base. He is a member of the Financial Management Association and has served on several Advisory Boards of the New York Mercantile Exchange, including the Crude Oil Advisory Board, the Options Advisory Board, and the Natural Gas Advisory Board. In addition, he also served on the Natural Gas Advisory Board of the Kansas City Board of Trade where he co-founded the Western Natural Gas Futures Contract. He has also been a speaker at several Annual Meetings of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), and at several meetings of the Houston Energy Risk Management Association. He was also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston where he taught graduate level courses in Energy Derivatives and Risk Management. David has a B.S. Degree in Finance from Florida State University; a Master’s Degree in Energy Resources from the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh; and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
Wouter Germans has 16 years of experience in the energy and financial
markets including as a business analyst at a New York mutual fund, an options
market maker in London, England, a natural gas trader, and for the last three
years as a risk management consultant. Wouter received his BA in history and
economics from UC Berkeley and is currently based in Toronto, Ontario.
Dan Gordon is President of Aska Energy which serves the ethanol and refined products industries by providing procurement and distribution services to companies operating in that space. He was most recently Executive Director of Supply and Distribution for RaceTrac Petroleum where he was responsible for the purchase, hedging and distribution of over 2 billion gallons of gasoline, ethanol and diesel each year. He also oversaw a variety of activities including: trading (physical and paper), product scheduling, shipping (using pipelines, rail cars, vessels, barges and trucks), inventory positions and thru puts (in excess of 30) as well as all related vendor management and negotiations. He joined ReceTrac in 1999 as a Special Projects Manager for the finance department and ultimately achieved the position of Assistant Treasurer prior to being promoted. Mr. Gordon earned an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) from Georgia Tech. He is also a graduate of the University of Florida, where he received a bachelor of science with a degree in finance.
Nigel Harris has over 15 years of experience of working with energy
trading organisations to help them in their trading and risk management
activities. Nigel was a key member of the team that designed and developed PAWS,
Saladin's innovative oil and gas market analysis system, which was launched in
1987 and is still used extensively throughout the industry today. At Saladin, he
helped expand the analytical capabilities of PAWS, and then ran all of Saladin's
software development and customer support activities. After leaving Saladin in
1999, Nigel worked as an independent consultant for three years prior to forming
Kingston Energy Consulting with Mary Jackson in 2002.
Mary Jackson has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry.
She began her career at BP working in the information management group, then
later rose to a trading analyst in the supply and trading department. She
subsequently joined Saladin as an energy consultant to provide consultancy
advice and training on energy market analysis, trading and risk management
to clients throughout the world. In several senior roles at Saladin, she
managed the energy consulting team, ran the energy market information
service and directed strategy for new software and information product
development, including the development of a new internet based trading
system. After leaving Saladin, Mary worked as an independent energy market
consultant until she formed Kingston Energy Consulting in 2002. She has
lectured regularly for The Oxford Princeton Programme on energy markets,
trading and risk management and is also a regular speaker and panel member
at public conferences. She has written articles for industry publications
including Harts Energy Markets, Energy and Power Risk Management, Global
Energy Business and Petroleum Review. Mary obtained a bachelor's honours
degree from Bristol University and a master's degree from London University.
Malcolm Johnson has more than 30 years experience at Shell in the natural gas/LNG sector. He was Strategy and Planning Manager in the United Kingdom and Germany during the period of gas liberalisation in Europe. Malcolm has been involved in the development of a number of LNG projects including over 13 years on the Sakhalin LNG project from its inception to final investment decision involving the full range of commercial activities including governance, marketing, LNG contract negotiations and technical/ commercial interface management. He has also provided commercial advice on the Elba LNG receiving terminal expansion, floating LNG, LNG contracts and project development assurance. He is a recognised subject matter expert on commercial LNG matters. Malcolm is now a Director of eMJay LNG Limited providing expert advice and consulting services to the natural gas/LNG industries.
Jeff Kerr has more than 20 years of experience in the global energy markets. Most recently, as a Senior Analyst at PIRA Energy Group, Jeff co-developed and updated the World Refinery Database and helmed PIRA’s Energy Equities Research unit, while also contributing to private client and multi-client research. Prior to PIRA, Jeff worked in product development and marketing for the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he oversaw the marketing of new and existing oil and refined products futures and options contracts as well as researching new contracts and market developments. Jeff taught energy price risk management classes to diverse audiences on five continents, as well. Prior to his time at NYMEX, Jeff was an energy market journalist for Platts Oilgram Price Report, the Dow Jones Energy Service and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. Jeff began his energy career working as a Media Specialist for Houston Lighting and Power at its South Texas Project Electric Generating Station south of Bay City, Texas.
Janet Lawrence, based in Oxford, UK, has over 27 years of experience in various aspects of crude oil trading and refinery supply. Ms. Lawrence began her energy career with Texaco Inc. in Houston, Texas. She handled supply and distribution functions for Texaco's U.S. refining system and traded U.S. domestic and international (destined for the U.S.) crude oil. After a short time at a small Houston-based trading company, Janet joined Elf Aquitaine in Houston as their first American trader. At Elf, she traded cargoes of crude oil worldwide and started up their crude oil futures trading operation when crude futures debuted on the NYMEX in 1983. In 1986, Janet took a position as an energy futures broker with Goldman Sachs in New York, where she assisted international major oil companies with their hedging and trading strategies. Janet was lured back into physical crude oil trading by Total CFP the following year and remained an international crude oil trader with various subsidiaries of the Total group, in both New York and Houston, until mid-2002. She moved to the UK later that year and joined the Oxford Princeton Programme in January 2003. Janet holds a BA with Honors in Industrial Psychology from the University of Houston.
Larry G. Lawrence, President of Enterprise Risk Consulting, LLC, has 25 years of experience in energy risk management and trading. His experience includes financial trading in energy and equity markets, risk management and trading consulting, derivatives portfolio management, technical and options analysis, corporate education, advisory service publishing, and institutional sales.
Mr. Lawrence has extensive experience in trading and risk management implementation for energy companies. His experience includes hedge strategy development, tactical trading assistance, the development of trading and risk management policies, procedures, and control structures, the review and assessment of risk management programs, risk and performance measurement, risk assessment, trading and risk system selection and implementation, transaction structuring, real option valuation and modeling, market structuring, development of forward price curves and term structures of volatility, credit risk management, and trading and risk management education. His work includes the evaluation and development of risk system functionality to support internal and external compliance with risk policies.
He has developed and delivered educational material covering derivative instruments, option valuation, hedging with options, the development of a risk management program, trading controls, value at risk, technical analysis, technical trading, and basis trading.
Mr. Lawrence has worked with many public power agencies in the South Central, Northeastern, and Western regions of the U.S., assessing and developing hedging strategies and risk management policies and controls, conducting trader training, and advising on the use of financial hedging instruments.
He has assisted industrial energy consumers in assessing their energy-related risks, in developing strategic hedging frameworks, and in implementing supply procurement programs.
Mr. Lawrence worked extensively with investor-owned electric utilities during the late 1990s and early 2000s, implementing hedging programs; developing and implementing hedge optimization models, asset valuation models, risk models, and performance measurement models; developing risk management and business strategies for retail providers; implementing credit risk management programs, and training power and fuel traders.
Mr. Lawrence holds the BS in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin. He is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), and with the State of Texas as an Investment Advisor.
Bob Mehall has been a successful executive in the energy business for
over thirty years. As Executive Vice President of Diamond Shamrock, Inc.,
reporting directly to the Chairman/CEO, he was responsible for a variety of
strategic corporate functions including refining and marketing coordination,
petrochemicals, corporate planning and development, treasury and credit,
investor relations and various other ancillary businesses including Mexico
retail marketing operations, Bolivian exploration and production, Argentine
refining and marketing. He directed the negotiation of major transactions
including the acquisition of National Convenience Stores (Stop & Go), as
well as the merger of Ultramar, Inc. and Total N.A. that totalled some
$7 Billion. He has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from West Virginia
University, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Case institute of Technology
and an M.B.A. from the Krannert School of Purdue University.
Ravi Ramdas started his career at Shell’s Singapore office in 1993 where he held several roles in Finance and Trading; his last role managing a scheduling group and liaising with his London counterpart. He then moved to Koch, also in Singapore, where as a trading analyst, he devised trading strategies in the Asian petrochemical markets.
In 1999, Ramdas moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he opened the oil trading desk of NRG Energy. He then stepped up to head all fuels trading (natural gas, coal, emissions credits and oil). Soon, thereafter, he assumed the position of East Coast gasoline and diesel trading manager at Premcor Refining in Old Greenwich, Connecticut in 2004. There he successfully oversaw the trading transition of the purchase of the Delaware City refinery before taking on the role of feedstocks trader for the whole Premcor system of refineries. Following the sale of Premcor to Valero, Ramdas joined Oklahoma City-based start-up Musket Corporation in 2006 and traded diesel and other clean products in the Gulf Coast, mid-continent and southwestern United States. Ramdas fulfilled several roles including trading distillate products and gasoline on national pipelines and via rail, blending distillates in the Gulf Coast and developing a rail-based business to rail diluent to Canadian tar sands companies.
In 2008 Ramdas formed Peninsula Energy, LLC in Oklahoma City. The company provides various hedging, trading, supply and logistics services to oil consumers and producers. In addition, Peninsula is evaluating a variety of projects including storage “cash-and-carry” plays. Ramdas obtained his degree in Economics and Agricultural Economics from the University of Nottingham in England.
David Roberts has almost 30 years experience in the UK Gas and Power Industry. He began his career with British Gas SE as an engineer responsible for the maintenance and replacement of mains and services. After privatisation, David joined Centrica where his responsibilities included managing the prompt gas and capacity position for British Gas and using trading markets to balance the portfolio. David then moved on to British Gas Business as Commercial and Product Development Manager, responsible for developing new products, ensuring regulatory compliance, managing the Corporate risk position, and developing new terms and conditions for business customers. David has an honours degree in Metallurgy and Materials.
John H. Shepherd, based in Houston, Texas, has 30 years of experience in
the petroleum industry. John began his career with Cities Service Company (now
Citgo Petroleum Corporation). His responsibilities included refined product
terminal and pipeline engineering, pipeline and marine terminal management,
transport truck fleet management, computer information systems management and
crude oil supply and trading. Serving as International Crude Supply Manager and
Vice President of Cities Service Trading Company, he negotiated spot, as well as
long term contracts for the purchase of waterborne crude oil cargos for the
supply and optimization of company refineries. He was also responsible for
negotiating long term sales contracts with foreign host governments in order to
market the company's foreign equity crude oil production. After 12 years with
Cities Service Company, he joined the international crude trading group of
Transworld Oil U.S.A. as Vice President, and then served in the same capacity
for Koch Supply and Trading Company. With both Transworld and Koch, John managed
a staff of professional international crude oil traders, dealing in a wide range
of international crude oil grades. This work involved crude oil trading for the
supply and optimization of U.S. based refineries, as well as entrepreneurial
crude trading for profit involving complex arbitrage trading and hedging
strategies. He now serves as President of John H. Shepherd Enterprises, Inc.,
a privately owned Texas corporation involved in energy consulting and
residential real estate appraisal and construction work. John holds a Bachelor
of Science Degree in Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Eva T. Thorne is a founder and principal of Corporate Governance
Solutions and is a political risk specialist. She holds an undergraduate degree
in history from Harvard University and a doctorate in political science from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ms. Thorne has expertise in
natural resources and emerging markets. Her firm's clients include oil and gas
companies, government ministries and mining companies, among others. Eva has
designed and carried out workshops for independent, state-owned and
international oil companies, done marketing research and analysis on the
telecommunications sector of Brazil, and executive coaching at the London
Business School. She has lectured widely on issues of political risk, corporate
social responsibility and governance in the United States, Europe, and the
Caribbean. Ms. Thorne writes and publishes on political risk in oil, gas, and
mining for business journals and has lectured on these topics at industry
conferences. She is completing a book on the politics of reform at the World
Bank and is working on another book project on indigenous communities, land
titling and extractive industries. She has lived and worked all over the
developing world and speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Ms. Thorne resides in
Boston, MA.
Jeanne Westhoff, based in West Palm Beach, FL, is a professional with
over nine years of experience in the energy industry. She has held positions
with Mobil Oil Corporation as distillate sales consultant and regional
trucking manager. As distillate sales consultant, Jeanne was responsible for
promoting risk management programs to distributors in the Northeast. These
programs included NYMEX based hedging strategies and counseling on the
heating oil market. As regional trucking manager, Jeanne was responsible
for lubricant sales to truck stops and dealers in New York, New Jersey and
the New England states. Prior to her employment with Mobil, Jeanne was
sales manager for a distributor in Palm Beach County, Florida. In this
position she was responsible for bulk sales and distribution of gasoline,
diesel fuels, methanol, lubricants, and additives.
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