Leadership

Sheridan Titman

Executive Director

Department of Finance
Walter W. McAllister Centennial Chair in Financial Services
sheridan.titman@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Titman has a national reputation for his research on corporate finance, real estate and asset pricing issues. He currently blogs on energy policy from a financial economist’s perspective. Having co-authored a leading advanced corporate finance textbook entitled “Financial Markets and Corporate Strategy,” he has served on the editorial boards of leading academic journals.

Professor Titman is a past director of the American Finance Association and a current director of both the Asia Pacific Finance Association and the Western Finance Association. He has served on the faculties of UCLA, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Boston College. He has also worked in Washington D.C. as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Professor Titman holds a B.S. from the University of Colorado and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.

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John C. Butler

Associate Director, Academics
Clinical Associate Professor, Finance
john.butler2@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Butler’s research focuses on the Decision Sciences: decision analysis, operations, information systems, management science and statistics. He serves as Secretary/Treasurer of INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, an organization comprised of over 900 academics and practitioners in the field of decision analysis.

For EMIC, Dr. Butler is focused on building energy-specific business curriculum. He teaches MBA-level energy finance classes and supervises student participation in practicums and case competitions.

Professor Butler received his B.B.A. from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Tanya Andrien

Associate Director
tanya.andrien@mccombs.utexas.edu

Ms. Andrien joined EMIC in late 2010 to assist with strategy, events, operations and student practicums. Prior to this position, Ms. Andrien spent more than a decade providing business and litigation consulting services to corporations, law firms and government agencies. Her experience as a consultant spans a number of industries, including financial institutions, construction, consumer products, and energy. Most recently, she was a Director for Duff and Phelps, an international financial advisory firm.

Ms. Andrien holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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James Dyer

Co-Director
Department of Information, Risk and Operations Management
Fondren Foundation Centennial Chair in Business
jim.dyer@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Dyer’s research and teaching interests include risk management and capital budgeting. He has published three books and more than sixty articles on risk analysis and investment science. He received the College of Business Administration Foundation Advisory Council Award for Outstanding Research Contributions in 1999. Jim is the former Chair of the Decision Analysis Society of the Operations Research Society of America (now INFORMS). This group has a membership of over 900 academics and practitioners in the field of decision analysis. He received the Frank P. Ramsey Award for outstanding career achievements from the Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS in 2002.

Professor Dyer has offered executive education programs throughout the world, many of which were for energy companies, including ENI, PEMEX, Petrobras, Petronas, Shell and Texaco. In addition, Professor Dyer has also provided consulting services and expert witness testimony related to application of risk analysis and investment science to problems such as forecasting gas prices, assessing the construction and management of a nuclear power project, hedging natural gas purchases, forecasting demand for electric power, and analyzing capital investments in wind technologies, among others.

Dr. Dyer received his B.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Wayne Hoyer

Co-Director
Department of Marketing
wayne.hoyer@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Hoyer's major area of study is consumer psychology. His research interests include consumer information processing and decision making, customer relationship management, and advertising information processing (including miscomprehension and humor).

Dr. Hoyer has published over 60 articles in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, and other marketing and psychology forums. He is co-author of a textbook in consumer behavior with Deborah MacInnis (now in the 5th Edition). His teaching interests include consumer behavior, customer strategy, and integrated marketing communications.

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Stephen Limberg

Co-Director
Department of Accounting
PricewaterhouseCoopers Centennial Professor
stephen.limberg@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. Limberg is currently the director of the MPA Program and was chair of the Department of Accounting from 1997-2003. His research interests include international business and tax. Professor Limberg is the recipient of several distinguished teaching awards, including the McCombs School Teaching Innovation Award in 2004.

Dr. Limberg received his B.A. from Occidental College, his M.B.A. from San Diego State University, and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University.

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Leigh McAlister

Co-Director
Department of Marketing
Ed and Molly Smith Chair in Business Administration
leigh.mcalister@mccombs.utexas.edu

Dr. McAlister’s research focuses on consumers’ reactions to marketing interventions and the strategic implications of those reactions. Published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science and Journal of Retailing, this work has been supported by Procter & Gamble, HEB Grocery Co., 3M, Motorola, Frito-Lay, Philip Morris, Pepsi, Miller, McLane Distributing, and the Marketing Science Institute.

Professor McAlister is on editorial boards of the Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology and Marketing Letters, and served as Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute, 2003-2005.

Professor McAlister received a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

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Ehud I. Ronn

Co-Director
Department of Finance
Director, Center for Energy Finance Education and Research
eronn@mail.utexas.edu

Dr. Ronn’s research and teaching interests focus on the valuation of energy commodity-contingent securities. He has published articles on investments, interest rate-sensitive instruments and energy derivatives in the academic and practitioner literature, including Journal of Finance, Journal of Business, American Economic Review and Energy & Power Risk Management. He is the editor of Real Options and Energy Management: Using Options Methodology to Enhance Capital Budgeting Decisions.

Prior to joining the University of Texas at Austin in July 1988, Dr. Ronn was a faculty member of the business schools at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago.

Professor Ronn received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

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David Spence

Co-Director
Department of Business, Government and Society
david.spence@mccombs.utexas.edu

Professor Spence’s research and teaching focuses on business-government relations and the regulation of business, particularly energy and environmental regulation. Before coming to academia, he was a practicing attorney representing public utilities, energy companies and others in connection with a wide variety of environmental and energy regulatory matters.

Professor Spence has taught as a visitor at the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment, the Vanderbilt Law School, the Cornell Law School, Harvard Law School, IMADEC University in Vienna, Austria, and the Bren School of the Environment at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Dr. Spence received his B.A from Gettysburg College, his J.D. from the University of North Carolina and his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University.

Advisory Council

Louis G. Baldwin

Consultant
XTO Energy Inc. subsidiary of ExxonMobil

Prior to XTO’s 2010 acquisition by ExxonMobil, Louis Baldwin served as executive vice president and CFO, and as advisory director of XTO Energy Inc. Prior to joining XTO as vice president and treasurer in 1986, Louis was employed by Southland Royalty Company in Fort Worth. Louis is a native of Fort Worth, Texas and received his BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Stephan Dolezalek

Managing Director and Group Leader, CleanTech
VantagePoint Capital Partners

Stephan Dolezalek has spent more than 25 years in Silicon Valley working exclusively with technology-driven companies. Stephan crafted VantagePoint’s CleanTech platform in 2002 and has led the CleanTech Group since its inception, guiding it to become one of the preeminent CleanTech practices in the world. He has been instrumental in building VantagePoint’s Corporate Strategic Partner program and has served on the boards of numerous portfolio companies. Prior to joining VantagePoint, he was a senior partner with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he led the Palo Alto office and served as Head of the Business and Technology Group and Chairman of the Life Sciences Group.

Stephan is a frequent speaker on the topic of our new energy economy and is an active member of the NVCA CleanTech Advisory Council and the American Council on Renewable Energy. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BCP) School of Architecture and the University of Virginia School of Law (JD).

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Vean Gregg

Managing Director, Head of North America Oil and Gas Investments
JP Morgan

Vean Gregg is a member of JPMorgan's Oil & Gas investment banking team in the Houston office since 1996. He currently manages the North American O&G coverage team working with clients across various sectors including exploration and production, refining and marketing, midstream and pipelines, oilfield services, and integrated multinationals, as well as working with various financial sponsors and their portfolio companies. He has completed numerous corporate/asset M&A transactions as well as 100+ public and private equity and debt offerings for companies ranging

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Ron Hulme

Chief Executive Officer
Parallel Energy Investors

Ron Hulme is the CEO of Parallel Resource Partners, an oil and gas focused private equity firm. From late 2008 until early 2011, Ron served as the Chief Executive Officer of Carlson Capital, a $6 billion AUM multi-strategy hedge fund and a co-sponsor, along with Bluescape Resources, of Parallel Resource Partners. Upon assuming his duties at Parallel Resource Partners, Ron stepped down from his CEO role at Carlson and became Vice Chairman of the Firm.

Prior to joining Carlson, Ron completed a 26-year career with McKinsey & Co. where he served many industry leading energy and private equity clients. Ron led several of McKinsey’s Practice Groups, including the Global Corporate Finance Practice, the Global Risk Practice, the Global Strategy Practice, the Americas Oil and Gas Practice, and the Houston office. Ron was also an active leader in McKinsey’s internal governance, having served in the Office of the Managing Director where he oversaw McKinsey’s six functional practices and as a member of the firm’s shareholders council (the firm’s elected board).

Ron earned a BBA degree from the University of Texas and an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He is an active board member of several non-profit organizations including Texas Children’s Hospital (Board President), the Alley Theatre, the University of Texas Energy Institute, the UT McCombs School of Business Advisory Council, and the UT Energy Management and Innovation Center.

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Roger Ihne

Principal
Deloitte

Roger Ihne is a principal and the Energy Client Portfolio Leader for Mid-America at Deloitte Services LP. He is responsible for leading the client programs for energy-related companies based in the region across all of the Deloitte businesses and has over thirty years of experience. He joined Deloitte in 1987 and previously held progressively more responsible management positions with a Fortune 500 Oil & Gas company, and with the energy strategy practice of a large international consulting firm.

In addition to his client portfolio role, Roger also serves as the U.S. subsector champion for the downstream segment of the oil and gas industry. He has authored a number of articles and whitepapers specifically on the U.S. refining industry and is considered an authority on issues confronting this sector of the industry. Over the past two years, he has been quoted in a number of publications, including: The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Petroleum Economist, The Oil & Gas Journal, The Oil Daily, Hydrocarbon Engineering, Hydrocarbon Processing, Downstream Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, The Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News.

Roger’s previous roles include the following:

• Deloitte Consulting – Strategy & Operations leader for the Mid-America and Southeast Regions
• Management Solutions’ National Director - Service Line Strategy
• Management Solutions’ Global Solutions Leader - Innovation & Growth Finance Transformation Services (service area leader)
• Management Solutions’ National Director – eBusiness Services
• PROFIT service line development and leadership (world-class financial management)

Roger received a B.S. in economics and an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington.

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Rob L. Jones

Co-Head Global Commodities
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Commodities

Rob Jones is the Co-Head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Commodities (“MLC”), a leading global commodities trading business. MLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has a global portfolio of trading, structuring and marketing of natural gas, power, crude oil and refined products, natural gas liquids, coal, emissions, metals and commodity indices. MLC has nearly 300 total employees located in key business centers including Houston, London, New York, Singapore and Calgary.

Prior to taking leadership of MLC in 2007, Rob was Head of Merrill Lynch’s Global Energy and Power Investment Banking Group, as well as the founder and Head of Merrill Lynch Commodity Partners, a private equity vehicle for the firm.

An investment banker for over 20 years, with Merrill Lynch and First Boston, Rob has worked extensively with a variety of energy and power clients, with a particular focus on the natural gas and utility sectors. Rob has been involved in over $100 billion of advisory and financing transactions in the energy and power industry.

Rob is a graduate of the University of Texas where he received a BBA with a degree in Finance and an M.B.A. with high honors and was a Sord Scholar.

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Ann Kluppel

Manager of Planning and Projects, Global Downstream
ConocoPhillips

Ann holds a BBA from the University of Texas and a MBA from the University of Houston. She has been with ConocoPhillips for ten years, where she has held a variety of roles within the Finance organization. She is currently the Manager of Planning and Projects for the Global Downstream organization in Houston. In addition to her Finance role, Ann is the UT McCombs School Business partner for ConocoPhillips and sits on the Accounting Advisory Council, as well as the advisory Board for the Energy Management and Innovation Center. Ann holds a Texas CPA license and has both public accounting and other industry experience.

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Mark R. Lange

President
Paladar Petroleum

 Mark R. Lange, President of Paladar Petroleum, formed the company with several others in 2008. Paladar is in the natural gas exploration business with producing properties located in South Texas.

Prior to forming Paladar, Mark began his career as an Independent Landman. He joined Chevron in 1990 as a Landman and was responsible for running the South Texas area until 1997. Mark then went to work with North Central Oil Corporation until 2001. In 2001, Mark partnered with several others to form Laredo Energy, and between 2003 and 2007 sold three Laredo Energy partnerships.

Mark attended The University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1985 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. While attending The University of Texas Mark was a member of both the Texas Cowboys and Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Mark has been married to his wife, Renee, for twenty years and has four children, Emily, Katherine, Allie and Richard. They reside in Houston.

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Puon Penn

Senior Vice President, Head of National CleanTech & Emerging Tech Markets
Wells Fargo & Company

Puon Penn is a senior vice president and head of the National CleanTech & Emerging Tech Markets sector at Wells Fargo. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., he manages a team of banking professionals who serve the financial needs of businesses in technology and clean technology nationwide. The Wells Fargo CleanTech Group provides expertise, financial services, and resources to help domestic and international companies focus on decreasing the use of fossil fuels, fertilizers, industrial chemicals, and other activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions or other harmful environmental effects.

Puon began his career with Wells Fargo in 1998 in the International Group as a structured trade finance officer. He moved on to become a senior relationship manager in the commercial banking group, serving the financial needs of middle-market companies. In 2003, Puon joined the Wells Fargo Principal Investing Group as a buy-side analyst covering the food and beverage, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and financial services sectors. In 2006, Puon joined the Wells Fargo Technology & Venture Banking management team.

Wells Fargo has committed more than $1.5 billion to more than 130 customers who have made environmentally beneficial products and services a key part of their businesses. In addition, Wells Fargo has deployed more than $2.1 billion of tax equity capital into more than 250 renewable energy projects in the United States including $500 million to support more than 200 commercial-scale solar photovoltaic projects and $1.5 billion for 30 utility-scale wind projects. At yearend 2010, Wells Fargo has provided more than $3.7 billion in financing for building projects designed to qualify for the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification.

Puon earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Reed College in Portland, Ore., and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. Active in the community, Puon is involved with several nonprofit organizations including the Cambodian Children’s Fund and Friends Without a Border.

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Kim Saylors-Laster

Vice President, Energy
Walmart Stores, Inc.

Kim Saylors-Laster has over 15 years experience in the commercial real estate, corporate compliance and energy industries. Kim joined Walmart in 1994 as a Property Manager in a real estate contracts administration role, and is currently VP of Energy responsible for all of the electricity and natural gas procurement within the United States, as well as providing guidance to energy markets within Walmart’s International trade areas. Additionally, Kim is an executive champion of a number of renewable energy causes within the Walmart Sustainability Network.

Kim has held leadership roles at Walmart within the site redevelopment, as Sr. Director of the Distribution Center Real Estate Program, property management, and petroleum-based development segments and as the Vice President of Regulatory Responsibility before joining the Energy team in 2006.

In addition to her Walmart service, Kim is on the Board of Advisors of UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center, and the Texas Energy Management and Innovation Advisory Board at the McCombs School of Business.

Kim is affiliated with the Arkansas Bar Association, is a volunteer counselor at the Samaritan House, and is an Arkansas Licensed Associate Counselor. Kim earned a B.A. in Psychology from Arkansas Tech University, a J.D. from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of law, and an M.S. in Community Counseling from John Brown University.

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Clark C. Smith

President and Chief Operating Officer
Buckeye Partners, L.P.

Clark is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Buckeye Partners, L.P., having previously served on Buckeye’s Board of Directors. Buckeye is a publicly traded master limited partnership with $5 billion in assets and $400 million in annual cash flow. Buckeye owns 5400 miles of refined product pipelines serving markets in 18 states, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. Buckeye also owns 70 product terminals, 53 million barrels of storage capacity and a natural gas storage business with 29 Bcf of total capacity.

Prior to working at Buckeye, Clark was a Managing Director with Engage Investments, L.P., a private partnership established to provide consulting services and seek equity investments in energy related businesses. Prior to Engage, Clark held the roles of President of El Paso’s Merchant Energy Group, President of Engage Energy, President of Coastal Gas Marketing Company, and Executive Vice President of Enron’s Transwestern Pipeline Company.

Clark received a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Charles John Wilder

Executive Chairman
Bluescape Resources

C. John Wilder is executive chairman of Bluescape Resources, an independent resource company with operations in the United States and Italy. The company’s strategy targets long-term resource investments and exploits its sizeable inventory of lower-risk development drilling opportunities. Wilder is also executive chairman of Parallel Energy Partners, an energy investment fund with Carlson Capital and Stanford University. The strategy of the fund is to invest in a wide variety of oil and gas assets and investments. Wilder is chairman of the John and Susan Wilder Foundation.

Wilder’s prior achievements include spearheading two of the energy industry’s most successful financial and operational turnarounds. As chairman of the board and chief executive officer of TXU Corp., Wilder transformed one of the nation’s largest energy companies. Under his leadership, TXU delivered 70% annualized returns to shareholders and ranked 7th best in the S&P 500. For this achievement, the Harvard Business Review named Wilder one of the Best-Performing CEOs in the World, ranking 24th among 2,000 CEOs, from publicly traded companies in 33 countries.

Wilder started in the energy business in Texas 30 years ago with the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, where he rose to the position of chief executive officer of Shell Capital in London. In 1998, he was hired as CFO at Entergy, and in 2004 he joined TXU. Institutional Investor magazine has ranked Wilder as the best CEO in the electric power sector three times (2004, 2005, 2006), one of the ten best CEOs in America (2005), and a top CFO (2004). In 2004, CBS MarketWatch named him one of three finalists across all industries for CEO of the Year, and Investor Relations named him the best executive in IR.

A native of Missouri, Wilder graduated magna cum laude from Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and he has received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas.

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Elizabeth Henke Yant

Retired Partner - Energy Industry Tax Practice
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) Houston

Ms. Yant retired in 2010 as a PwC partner after thirty-two years of experience specializing in international and domestic taxation of multinational, mid-cap, and start-up companies as well as building and managing several tax and legal consulting practices. She was PwC's relationship partner on one of the world's leading oil and gas companies leading a team of business advisory as well as tax specialists. She also served as engagement tax partner for several energy, services, and investment fund clients. From 1998 - 2001 she was the leader for the Tax U.S. Energy practice.

Ms. Yant was the tax partner in charge of PwC's Midwest Region (1996-1998), which consisted of 24 offices and 770 staff and partners. From 1993 to 1996, she was on assignment in Prague and managed the Tax and Legal Practices for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. In this role, she built and managed these practices in the unique environment of post-communist economies.

Ms. Yant was a tax partner in the Houston office from 1989 to 1993 developing a tax practice in technology, healthcare and service companies in the Houston area. She was a member of a five person team who opened the Price Waterhouse office in Austin in 1984. She began her career in San Francisco in 1979.

Ms. Yant graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Accounting (1977) and Masters of Professional Accounting - Tax (1978). She led PwC's recruiting efforts at the University of Texas and is a member of the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council and the Department of Accounting Advisory Council. In November 2009, Ms. Yant was inducted to the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame, and was previously honored with the Texas Star award by the McCombs Department of Accounting.

Ms. Yant serves on the steering committee of the Greater Houston Partnership Executive Women's Partnership Committee. She has been involved in many community not-for-profit activities in the US and abroad.

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Peter Zandan

Managing Director; Chairman
Public Strategies, Inc.; Earth Sky

Peter Zandan is Chairman of EarthSky, a digital media company advocating science as a vital voice in 21st century decision-making. He is a senior advisor for Public Strategies, Inc., where he directs the firm’s strategic initiatives and research. Peter also serves on The National Academy of Science’s Climate Choices Committee in Washington D.C. The committee was established in 2008 by Congress to inform and guide the nation’s climate policy.

Peter has helped to launch, lead and fund numerous business and nonprofit ventures including: IntelliQuest Information Group (IQST NASDAQ), where he was the founder, Chairman and CEO for 15 years of the world’s fastest growing market research firm with over 500 employees worldwide. He was the founder, Chairman and CEO of Zilliant, a successful venture-backed enterprise software company. Peter has also served as a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a member of the Advisory Board of then McCombs Graduate School of Business. He has been selected by Interactive Week as one of the “Unsung Heroes of the Internet” and awarded Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.” He has served on the executive management committee of the Explorers Club in New York City.

He has been active in Austin’s community organizations including Austin’s public television station, Austin City Limits, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, and Austin’s 360 Summit. For his community activities, he has been recognized by the Austin American Statesman as a “Hero of Democracy,” by the Austin Chronicle as “Best Local Visionary,” and by Austin’s leading environmental group as “Soul of the City.” Peter received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Online Energy Expert Panel

EMIC has gathered diverse, experienced perspectives for our online energy expert panel, which we periodically poll. Representing a broad range of industries and backgrounds, all with an energy bent, the online panelists share their thoughts on current topics of interest.

Participants listed in alphabetical order by last name.

• David Adelman

  Harry Reasoner Regents Chair in Law, UT School of Law
  Academia

  David E. Adelman teaches and writes in the areas of environmental law, intellectual property law, and climate change policy. Professor Adelman’s research focuses on the many interfaces between law and science. His articles have addressed such topics as the implications of emerging genomic technologies for toxics regulation, the tensions between legal and scientific evidentiary standards in regulatory decision making, and development of effective policies for promoting innovation relevant to addressing climate change. Professor Adelman clerked for the Honorable Samuel Conti of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before entering academia, he was an associate with the law firm Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where he litigated patent disputes and provided counsel on environmental regulatory matters, and a Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council also in Washington, D.C. Professor Adelman was an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law from 2001 to 2009.

• Ryan Aldridge

  Director of Assets and Energy Trading, AEP Energy Partners
  Electrical power industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.)

  Director of Assets and Energy Trading for AEP Energy Partners (the de-regulated affiliate of American Electric Power www.aep.com). Responsibilities include power and gas trading, asset optimization, regulatory operations, and AEP's renewable portfolio. He has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Texas A&M University (2002) and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas (2008).

• Karim Asani

  Manager-Energy, Rogers Communications Inc
  Consulting, Energy efficiency and modeling

  As a seasoned energy management professional, my objective is to assist organizations make informed decisions about energy resources. I am a registered professional engineer (electrical) and a certified measurement and verification professional with 15 years of experience in a variety of areas in the energy industries, including smart meters, energy analysis, energy modeling and demand-side management program evaluation, measurement and verification.

• David Butler

  Treasurer & Manager of Business Development, Texas Petroleum Investment Company
  Petroleum industry, Energy finance

  I am currently the Treasurer and Manager of Business Development at a private gulf coast exploration and production company. I handle our various banking relationships, commodity and interest rate hedging, insurance, and assist on our acquisitions and divestitures. Previously I was a Senior Vice President at a bank focusing on financing domestic onshore and offshore exploration and production companies.

• Jeff Bock

  CEO, StarTex Power
  Semicondcuctor Technology for the Smart Grid

  Over thirteen years of experience leading and managing global teams, defining and building business cases for new products, managing multi-million dollar global product launches, and optimizing manufacturing operations in the Semiconductor Industry. One of the key segments driving business growth for us is smart grid applications globally, including all aspects of electrical distribution from utilities to the home.

• Jason Coen

  Senior Financial Analyst - International, Noble Energy
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry

  Jason Coen has over eight years experience in SEC reporting, oil and gas accounting, audit coordination and project management. Currently employed by Noble Energy, Inc., he graduated from the McCombs School of Business in 2001 with both BBA (PPA/Business Honors) and MPA degrees. Jason is also a licensed Texas CPA and an Eagle Scout.

• Cliff Condrey

  Vice President, Moncrief Oil International
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry

  Moncrief Oil International is a small private independent oil and gas producer with a history of both domestic and international operations.

• Jim Davenport

  Senior Partner, Allen Austin
  Consulting, Executive Search Consulting

  Jim Davenport joined Allen Austin as a Lead Partner for Energy, Non-Profit, Higher Education, and Engineering. Jim is also active in the Transit and Life Sciences sectors. Jim has successfully completed over two-hundred searches in his eleven year executive search consulting career. He brings over thirty-five years of experience working with clients across a broad spectrum of industries and disciplines to help them reach their human capital goals. MBA, University of Houston BSES, Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

• David Deaton

  Senior Partner, Allen Austin Global Executive Search
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry, Coal industry

  David Deaton brings over thirty-five (35) years of broad-based business management experience to the Allen Austin Global Executive Search (AAGES) firm at its Houston, Texas headquarters. David’s career includes positions in sales management, business development, and executive management at a variety of companies supplying both products and services to the Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream components of the energy industry. He has worked for both publicly and privately owned firms headquartered in the United States and Western Europe and has travelled extensively in North America (including Canada), South America, and Western Europe. Most recently he was President of Vector International USA, Inc., a manufacturer of specialty connector products for offshore, subsea, and industrial applications.

• John Doggett

  Senior Lecturer, Management, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia, Consulting

  John N. Doggett is an award-winning Senior Lecturer of Global Management, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Energy at the McCombs School of Business of the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Doggett is also a Senior Research Fellow at UT's IC2 Institute and co-founder of UT's International Idea to Product Competition™. Professor Doggett is a former McKinsey & Co. consultant with extensive experience consulting with rural electric cooperatives, manufacturing and software firms. His clients include startups,Fortune 500 and firms in Asia and Europe. Professor Doggett received his law degree for Yale Law School, his MBA from Harvard Business School and practiced law for seven years in California, Connecticut and the District of Columbia.

• James Dyer

  Professor, Information, Risk, and Operations Management, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia, Consulting

  Dr. James S. Dyer holds the Fondren Centennial Chair in Business in the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Dyer’s research and teaching interests are focused on applications of decision analysis and real options to problems of risk management and capital budgeting. He has consulted with a number of companies regarding the application of decision and risk analysis tools to a variety of practical problems.

• Bruce Edelston

  President, Energy Policy Group
  Electrical power industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.), Consulting

  Bruce Edelston is President of the Energy Policy Group, a consulting firm he founded to provide technical and policy advice on current issues to utilities, law firms, energy companies, and government agencies. Prior to founding the Energy Policy Group, Mr. Edelston was Director of Energy Policy for the Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric utilities. At Southern Company, Mr. Edelston had responsibilities for developing corporate policy positions on industry structure and environmental issues and responding to federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives. Prior to his position at Southern Company, he held several positions at the Edison Electric Institute where he was involved in legislative and regulatory initiatives involving transmission access, industry structure, markets, and state regulatory policy. He also has prior experience with Charles River Associates and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. He holds a BS degree in Electric Engineering/Engineering and Public Policy and an MS degree in Urban and Public Affairs, both from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

• Brandon Freeman

  Founder, Freeman Group
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry, Energy finance

  Brandon Freeman is the managing partner of Freeman Group, a Dallas-based investment firm. Freeman has over ten years of public and private energy investment experience.

• Greg Franco

  President, CONDOR Consulting
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry, Electrical power industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.), Energy finance, Consulting

  Experienced in many aspects of the energy industry value chain and functions including financial, commodity and asset based organizations ranging in size from start-up, mid-tier and Fortune 500 organizations.

• Vean Gregg

  Managing Director, Head of North America Oil and Gas Investments, JP Morgan
  Energy Investment Banking

  Vean Gregg is a member of JPMorgan's Oil & Gas investment banking team in the Houston office since 1996. He currently manages the North American O&G coverage team working with clients across various sectors including exploration and production, refining and marketing, midstream and pipelines, oilfield services, and integrated multinationals, as well as working with various financial sponsors and their portfolio companies. He has completed numerous corporate/asset M&A transactions as well as 100+ public and private equity and debt offerings for companies ranging from mega-cap to micro-cap.

• David Hale

  Consultant, David R. Hale Consulting
  Consulting

  I am a Consulting Engineer who has culminated into a diverse background a myriad of industries including power generation, steel, pulp / paper and commercial / industrial facilities including hospitality. I have for more than 20 years experience which has afforded me a realistic view of the corporate world. I have worked for, with and as an interim ‘C’ level position as well as executive management and bring a comprehensive background with a professional demeanor who is considered by my peers to be a consummate professional and a value architect.

• Marilu Hastings

  Program Director, The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
  Energy policy, Philanthropy

  Marilu Hastings is a Program Officer for The Energy Foundation and the Environment Program Director for The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. She is responsible for the philanthropic activities of these charities that currently involve supporting clean energy and climate change mitigation policies in Texas, and Texas water policy.

• Bob Heinrich

  Manager, Cash Management & Banking, ConocoPhillips
  Petroleum industry

  Bob has 20 years experience with a major integrated petroleum company with core competency in corporate treasury activities and experiences in business unit finance roles both in the US and abroad.

• Cliff Hurd

  President, Hurd Enterprises
  Gas industry

  President of Hurd Enterprises, Ltd., a family-owned business focused on exploration and production in deep South Texas. We operate or participate in conventional onshore wells looking for oil and gas in the Wilcox, Vicksburg and Frio trends along the Texas gulf coast.

• Steve Isser

  Principal, Isser Consulting
  Consulting

  Dr. Isser is both an attorney and economist with 25 years experience as an academic, lawyer and consultant in the energy industries. He's written two books on the politics and economics of oil and gas, and a number of articles on electricity markets. He is currently writing a book on the last half century of energy policy in the United States.

• Praveen Kumar

  Professor, Finance, University of Houston
  Academia

  Professor Kumar's areas of specialization include analyses of the impact of asymmetric information on asset pricing, corporate financial policies, financial market microstructure, corporate governance, incentives and strategy design in organizations, and industrial organization.

• Glenn Labhart

  Chairman, GARP ERP program
  Consulting

  In March 2004, Glenn Labhart formed Labhart Risk Advisors Inc., a corporation providing expertise in risk management, project valuation, and subject matter expertise. His clientele has ranged from corporate clients such as Morgan Stanley, Neste Oy, Deutsche Bank, Merck, and Williams Companies and to major law firms. Glenn is the first energy-industry risk officer to receive the Financial Risk Manager of the Year Award from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). Glenn now serves as the Chairman of the Energy Risk Diploma program for GARP and he is also a board member for the International Risk Who’s Who Organization.

• Mark Lange

  Presidents, Paladar Investments
  Petroleum industry

  I started in the landman business in 1985 and have worked mainly in south Texas with Chevron, North Central, Laredo Energy and now Paladar Petroleum. My partners and I haved drilled hundreds of wells in mainly Zapata and Webb Counties, Texas. Our wells are from 8000 feet to 14,000 depth and all are in tight sands. Between 2003 and 2007 we sold 3 packages, 2 to Chesapeake, and 1 to El Paso totaling over $800,000,000.

• Carlos Leone

  Sales Director Downstream Projects, Tenaris
  Petroleum industry

  I am involved in the service and products for the Petroleum and Gas industry.

• Shane Litts

  Partner, Rockland Capital
  Electrical power industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.), Energy finance

  Shane Litts is a Partner at Rockland Capital, a private equity firm with a focus on investments in the power generation business. Prior to Rockland, Mr. Litts worked in the independent power industry at El Paso Merchant Energy and Cinergy Capital. Mr. Litts is a CFA charterholder and has a BA in Economics and an MBA with a concentration Energy Finance both from the University of Texas at Austin.

• Farzan Mahmood

  Assistant Treasurer / Analyst, ExxonMobil
  Gas industry, Energy finance

  Posted at ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. in the Treasurers organization. Stewards all project financing, capital raising and treasury functions for the Qatar subsidiary, working closely with the company’s joint venture partners in the region. Represents ExxonMobil’s shareholding interests in structuring financings terms, and provides support to various internal functions on finance issues and existing credit agreements.

• John Martin

  Professor, Finance, Baylor University
  Academia

  Professor and Carr P. Collins Chair of Finance at Baylor University. Recent publications include "The Economics of Wind Energy" (Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 21, 2, 2009) and Value-Based Management with Corporate Social Responsibility, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009).

• Robert Masterson

  Business Analyst, Chevron
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry

  After graduating from McCombs in May 2008, I joined Chevron North America as a business analyst. My current expertise lies in upstream production, however I have worked in both the exploration and refining spheres.

• Leigh McAlister

  Professor, Marketing, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia

  Leigh McAlister, Ed and Molly Smith Chair in Business Administration, is a professor of Marketing at UT Austin. She received her PhD from Stanford University. She is an award winning teacher and researcher who headed an international marketing think tank (Marketing Science Institute) that brings together marketing practitioners and academics to guide academic research and enhance practice based on that research. Widely known for doing research that matters to practice, she has an interest in energy demand.

• Brewster McCracken

  Executive Director, Pecan Street Project Inc.
  Research and development consortium/partnership

  Brewster McCracken was Mayor pro tem of the Austin, Texas city council and was a candidate for the office of Mayor in Austin. McCracken is serving his second term on the Austin City Council after being re-elected with 72 percent of the vote in 2006.

• Gunnar Meidell

  Vice President Corporate Audit Americas, Statoil
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry

  Gunnar Meidell has more than 20 years of work experience within IT, financial consulting, financial audit and internal audit. For the last 10 years he has been working for Statoil ASA, Fortune 100 world index, in the corporate audit department. He has held different management positions. Currently he is heading the internal audit activities for Americas.

• Robert Norris

  Vice President, Corporate Development, Oil States International
  Energy service

  Robert Norris joined Oil States International, a diversified oilfield services provider, in 2003 and has served as Vice President, Corporate Development since 2011. Prior to joining Oil States, Mr. Norris worked in the corporate development group of El Paso Corporation. Robert holds both a M.B.A. and a B.A. in economics from The University of Texas at Austin.

• Kevin O'Connor

  Principal Consultant, Conserve Associates
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry, Consulting

  IT/Management consultant with significant experience in efforts to streamline processes and improve the way that companies interact throughout the supply chain. Deep experience working with oilfield services companies and super-majors.

• Raymond L. Orbach

  Director, Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia

  Formerly, the first Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy, Chancellor Emeritus, University of California, Riverside, Professor of Physics Emeritus, University of California

• Eduardo Oreste

  Senior Energy Consultant, EOC Consulting Services
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry, Consulting

  Mechanical and Electrical Engineering background specialized in oil and Gas Exploitation, with 30 years of experience in Argentina, USA, Chile, and Mexico in big and medium size International Corporations developing business in oil, gas and LNG, with different political, cultural and human resources environments. Superior business education combined with an extensive hands-on experience, focused during the last 15 years in the reengineering, start-up, and business development in different countries, managing the marketing and sales strategy, complying with corporate guidelines and businesses plan.

• Jeff Otto

  Director, Sales Solutions
  Demand-Side Management / Energy Efficiency

  Director of Sales Solutions at Incenergy. Incenergy is a value added reseller, aggregator and software company specializing in integrating residential and commercial electrical loads under a demand-side management platform. We maximize energy efficiency and enable incentivized demand response through a unique, scalable, open hardware management platform.

• James Pai

  Senior Associate, NGP Energy Technology Partners
  Energy finance

  Prior to joining NGP Energy Technology Partners, James was an analyst for Magnetar Capital's value equity group in New York. As the energy analyst, James evaluated long and short equity investments in the traditional energy space as well as coal, utilities / power and alternatives. Before Magnetar, James worked at American Capital's Energy group in Dallas, where he served on the team that was responsible for all energy-related investments in leveraged buyouts, minority equity, and junior debt deal structures. James started his career at Prudential Capital Group's Dallas Energy office focusing on debt and mezzanine transactions. He currently serves on the board of directors for American Wind Capital. James graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Professional Accounting, and he was a Larry Temple and George L. Clark Scholar.

• Rick Pal

  CEO, AirGenerate
  Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.)

  Rick Pal is an award-winning entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and President of AirGenerate, a manufacturer and distributor of patented energy saving devices with offices in Houston and Guangzhou (China). The flagship product, AirTap™, is rated as the most energy-efficient water heater. It recently won the hot water contest at 2009 DOE Solar Decathlon. His recent professional accolades include Houston's "40 under 40", "Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business", and several "Outstanding Entrepreneur" awards.

• Easwar Palavesam

  Associate Manager, Savant Technologies Private Ltd.
  Electrical power industry, Energy media (reporter, writer or blogger), Consulting, Information technology-Software solutions

  Experience in consulting & building Information System for ESCO's utilities in the deregulated energy market.(demand forecasting, Trade capture, pricing) Experience in building web platform for managing energy efficiency Programs. Worked for RFP's. Written case study on Energy efficiency platform. Worked on Market research on software contribution for Energy efficiency. Moderating Energy efficiency Expert Network & Energy Industry Information technology in LinkedIn.

• Sampat Prakash

  Principal, U.S. Oil & Gas Consulting Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP
  Consulting

  Sampat Prakash leads the Oil and Gas practice for Deloitte Consulting in the USA and is resident in Houston. Sampat has nearly 25 years of experience in Oil and Gas Consulting. He has lived and worked in Europe and the Middle East and has also executed projects in China, AsiaPacific, Latin America and Canada. Sampat has led significant M&A projects for National Oil Companies, Supermajors and Independents as well significant transformation projects for 2 Supermajors and major Independents. He has also led large transformation projects in the offshore drilling space and is currently focused with major producers in oilsands and shale gas.

• Shivi Punia

  Director of US Credit Risk, Direct Energy
  Gas industry, Electrical power industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.), Energy finance

  Seasoned credit risk executive.

• Marilyn Radler

  Senior Editor, Economics, Oil & Gas Journal
  Energy media (reporter, writer or blogger)

  Marilyn Radler is Senior Editor, Economics with Oil & Gas Journal and is based in Houston, covering worldwide oil and gas market developments and forecasts as well as production and reserves statistics. She holds a BA in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. A Past President of the Houston chapter of the United States Association for Energy Economics, Marilyn currently serves as a USAEE Council Member.

• Bill Rhea

  Professor, Finance, Baylor University
  Petroleum industry, Energy finance, Consulting, Primarily Upstream E&P and Acquisitions

  Bill Rhea has almost 35 years of business and petroleum engineering experience in all phases of the upstream exploration and production sector of the oil and gas industry, domestically and internationally, onshore and offshore. Mr. Rhea has served in various senior management and CEO positions in several independent oil and gas exploration companies. He was educated at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Permian Basin.

• Ehud I. Ronn

  Professor, Finance, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia, Investment Banking

  Ehud I. Ronn is Professor of Finance at the University of Texas at Austin. Effective Jan. 1, 2010 he is on leave as Executive Director and Lead Modeler in Commodities, Morgan Stanley & Co. Dr. Ronn obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University and has published articles on investments and energy derivatives in both academic and practitioner literature. Prior to joining the University of Texas in July 1988, Dr. Ronn was a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. While on a two-year 1991 - '93 leave of absence, Dr. Ronn served as Vice President, Trading Research Group at Merrill Lynch & Co. Dr. Ronn was the founding director of the Center for Energy Finance since 1997. Since 1993, he has served as consultant on interest rates and energy-commodities. In Nov. 2004, Dr. Ronn was selected by Energy Risk to the Energy Risk Hall of Fame.

• Jim Smallwood

  Energy and Supply Chain Consultant, Jim Smallwood Consulting
  Gas industry, Electrical power industry, Energy media (reporter, writer or blogger), Consulting

  Jim is an energy industry consultant who has been both a corporate energy manager and an energy provider. His experience focused on the natural gas and electric markets. He also manages an online energy managers group and writes an energy market fundamentals blog.

• David Spence

  Associate Professor, Business, Government and Society, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia

  David B. Spence is Associate Professor of Law, Politics & Regulation at the University of Texas at Austin, where his teaching and research focus on the politics, economics and law of the regulatory process, particularly with respect to energy and environmental regulation. Professor Spence is co-author of the leading casebook on energy law, Energy, Economics and the Environment: Cases and Materials (Foundation Press). His research has been published in a wide variety of legal and social science journals, and he has taught as a visiting professor at the Harvard Law School, the Vanderbilt University School of Law, the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment, and the Cornell Law School.

• John Staffeld

  Senior Landman, J.M. Huber
  Petroleum industry, Gas industry

  B.A. Economics; Masters of Public Administration; Masters of Business Administration; Juris Doctor. I regularly interact with regulators at the state and federal level, as well as peers in the oil and gas industry. Bar memberships: Texas (Active); Illinois (Inactive). Over fifteen years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Over seven years of teaching experience (University of Colorado; Colorado State University-Pueblo; Pikes Peak Community College; Pueblo Community College).

• Stephen Taylor

  President/CEO, Natural Gas Services Group
  Gas industry

  34 years in the energy service industry and experience in engineering, business development, operations and executive management. Corporate experience in small corporate divisions, large corporate entities and entrepreneural, technology based companies. 26 years with Halliburton Company and the past 5 years as the Chairman, President and CEO of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE listed public company).

• Stathis Tompaidis

  Department of Finance and Information, Risk and Operations Management, The University of Texas at Austin
  Academia

  Stathis Tompaidis has research interests in Computational Finance, Energy Finance, Real Options, Real Estate Finance, Derivative Pricing and Hedging, Portfolio Management Enterprise-wide Risk Management, Asset Allocation under Constraints.

• Frank Wanderski

  General Manager, Texas Power
  Gas industry, Electrical power industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.), Consulting

  "Executive in the energy industry for over 18 years. Nationally recognized speaker on marketing energy products and services for organizations such as the American Marketing Association, CBI, and Frost and Sullivan. Involved with alternative forms of energy in addition to coal, nuclear, and natural gas."

• Nicholas Wood

  President, Dynamo Capital
  Petroleum industry, Renewable energy industry (solar, wind, etc.), Energy finance

  I am the president of a private equity fund called Dynamo Capital. Our portfolio companies range from E&P oil and gas companies to alternative energy tech startups in the fields of high efficiency electric motors and wind turbine generators. I have been in the oil and gas industry for over nine years with extensive experience in both exploration and midstream operations. I have also participated/invested in wind farm development projects.

• Elizabeth Henke Yant

  Retired Partner - Energy Industry Tax Practice, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
  Consulting

  Ms. Yant retired in 2010 as a PwC partner after thirty-two years of experience specializing in international and domestic taxation of multinational, mid-cap, and start-up companies as well as building and managing several tax and legal consulting practices. She was PwC's relationship partner on one of the world's leading oil and gas companies leading a team of business advisory as well as tax specialists. She also served as engagement tax partner for several energy, services, and investment fund clients. From 1998 - 2001 she was the leader for the Tax U.S. Energy practice. Ms. Yant was the tax partner in charge of PwC's Midwest Region (1996-1998), which consisted of 24 offices and 770 staff and partners. From 1993 to 1996, she was on assignment in Prague and managed the Tax and Legal Practices for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. In this role, she built and managed these practices in the unique environment of post-communist economies. Ms. Yant was a tax partner in the Houston office from 1989 to 1993 developing a tax practice in technology, healthcare and service companies in the Houston area. She was a member of a five person team who opened the Price Waterhouse office in Austin in 1984. She began her career in San Francisco in 1979. Ms. Yant graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Accounting (1977) and Masters of Professional Accounting - Tax (1978). She led PwC's recruiting efforts at the University of Texas and is a member of the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council and the Department of Accounting Advisory Council. In November 2009, Ms. Yant was inducted to the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame, and was previously honored with the Texas Star award by the McCombs Department of Accounting. Ms. Yant serves on the steering committee of the Greater Houston Partnership Executive Women's Partnership Committee. She has been involved in many community not-for-profit activities in the US and abroad.

• Robert Zlotnik

  CEO, StarTex Power
  Electrical power industry

  CEO of StarTex Power, a retail electric provider with over 145,000 customers in ERCOT.