2017 Speakers

Rob Smith

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil & Natural Gas

U.S. Department of Energy

Rob Smith currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Natural Gas for the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy. He administers oil and gas programs, including research and development, analysis, and natural gas regulation.

Most recently, Mr. Smith was the Chief of Staff for the Office of Fossil Energy.  In this capacity, Mr. Smith assisted the Assistant Secretary with policy and management issues across the office’s research and development, energy security, and regulatory missions.  Previously, Mr. Smith was the Director of Planning and Administration in the Office of Oil & Natural Gas.

Before joining the Department of Energy, Mr. Smith worked as a program analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a manager at Deloitte Consulting, and an infantry officer in the U.S. Army.  Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy and completed a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Guillermo Turrent

CEO - CFEnergía & CFE International

Comisión Federal de Electricidad

Guillermo Turrent holds a bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Sciences from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM). He began his career in the public sector. First, at PMI Comercio Internacional; he then worked in PEMEX Gas where he was in charge of natural gas derivatives trading.
Nonetheless, Mr. Turrent has spent most of his career in the private sector, as trader of natural gas and power markets. He has been Senior VP and Managing Director in several firms in the United States including Shell, Sempra Energy, Constellation and Electricité de France Trading. His last position was as Director of Modernization at CFE where he oversaw the development of 16 natural gas pipelines, which account for investments of more than 23 billion USD. Currently, Mr. Turrent serves as CEO of the two marketing and trading arms of CFE: CFE International and CFEnergía.

Eduardo Maranhão

CEO

CELSE

Eduardo Maranhao is Chief Executive Officer of CELSE – Centrais Eletricas de Sergipe. CELSE is a joint venture company formed by Golar Power and EBRASIL and is currently developing the first integrated  1.5GW LNG-to-Power project in Brazil.

Eduardo has more than 15 years of experience in the infrastructure and Project Finance sectors. Prior to CELSE he was the CFO of Golar Power, and has also worked in the project finance teams of Lakeshore Partners, Banco Santander, Credit Agricole and Votorantim. Eduardo has graduated in business administration and has completed his post graduate studies with INSEAD in France.

Michiko Hirose

General Manager, Gas Resources Department

Tokyo Gas

Michiko Hirose is a manager of long term LNG Procurement of Tokyo Gas, which imports over 14 million tons of LNG per year. She is widely experienced in the project commercial negotiations, project implementations as well as facilitation of Joint Venture activities for the participation in the LNG projects.
In this capacity, Michiko is currently responsible for executing and maintaining existing contracts and searching for new procurement opportunities in the global LNG market. She is also responsible for optimisation of Tokyo Gas owned fleet of LNG Vessels. Michiko has worked for the company since 1996. Uniquely, she started her carrier as IT engineer designing backbone IT in-house systems; however 10 years ago she shifted her carrier to be involved in the LNG as a commercial manager supporting steady implementation of the upstream development for the LNG Projects in Australia.
She has also worked within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a researcher planning and implementing the foreign policy in relation to energy security of Japan.

Tokyo Gas is a leading gas utility company, and the second largest LNG importer of Japan. This expertise is enabling Tokyo Gas to supply gas and power to over 11 million customers with gas sales volume over 18.6 Bcm and electricity power sales volume over 11.0 B kWh. Tokyo Gas has the longest history of importing LNG which started from 1969 and currently owns and operates 4 LNG terminals, 4 power stations, and gas pipelines. Tokyo Gas Group is committed to provide a stable and reliable supply of natural gas to the customers to contribute to the energy security.

Juan Oliva Vasquez

Head of Gas & Fuels LatAm

ENEL (Chile)

Industrial Civil Engineer and Master in Business Administration, both titles from Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. With complementary studies in areas of Applied Economics, Project Evaluation, Energy Power Market and Oil & Gas Industry.

Professional with 20 years of working experience in business areas of power generation, transmission and trading companies, in Chile and Argentina. Wide expertise in the energy and natural gas markets in Latin America.

Since 2009, he has worked as Head of Gas & Fuels Latam of Enel Chile, responsible for the gas operations of the Enel group in Latin America. As a representative of Enel, he has participated in the origination, development and commercial operation of the LNG business in Chile, as manager of the all company´s business related to the Quintero LNG Terminal and also as a member of the board of the companies GNL Chile and GNL Quintero.

Anatol Feygin

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer

Cheniere

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer 

Mr. Feygin joined Cheniere in March 2014 as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development. Mr. Feygin currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Cheniere Partners and as a Director of Cheniere Holdings. Prior to joining Cheniere, Mr. Feygin worked with Loews Corporation from November 2007 to March 2014, most recently as its Vice President, Energy Strategist and Senior Portfolio Manager. Prior to joining Loews, Mr. Feygin spent three years at Bank of America, most recently as Head of Global Commodity Strategy. Mr. Feygin began his banking career at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. as Senior Analyst, Natural Gas Pipelines and Distributors. Mr. Feygin earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU.

Carlos Wheelock

LNG Americas

Vitol

Carlos Wheelock leads LNG related matters for Vitol in the Americas. His responsibilities include supply sourcing, demand-side business development, and LNG related capital investments in the region. Prior to joining Vitol, Carlos served 8 years at Excelerate Energy (EE) as Vice President of Commercial Strategy where he headed up the commercial side for EE’s liquefaction business, and Senior Director of Trading & Optimization, where he helped to start EE’s commercial team; which traded over 7 million tons, optimized the company’s regasification assets, negotiated capacity and market access in the United States and the UK, and led deal valuation from 2009-2016.

Prior to joining Excelerate, Carlos was a Vice President at Citi and began his career at Enron. He has 16 years of experience working in global energy markets, marketing & trading, and project development. Carlos holds an MBA from Rice University’s Jones School of Management.

Alan Townsend

Sr. Energy Specialist

World Bank

Alan Townsend has worked for the World Bank Group for 20 years. He is currently a senior industry specialist with IFC, supporting investments in LNG-to-power, renewables, and electricity T&D globally.  He is trained in regulatory economics and has a deep understanding of power and gas markets, the LNG supply chain, and electricity generation and storage technologies.  At IFC his work includes development of midstream gas and LNG infrastructure including that related to FSRUs and mid-scale LNG terminals.

Akos Losz

Senior Research Associate

Columbia/SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy

Akos Losz is a senior research associate at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, where he focuses on global natural gas markets. Prior to joining Columbia, Akos was senior analyst at the New York office of Douglas-Westwood, a UK-based global energy consulting firm. Previously, he had worked in the Strategy team of MOL Group, a Hungary-based international energy company, and completed internships at CSIS, a leading Washington DC think tank, and at PFC Energy (now IHS Markit). Akos holds an MA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and completed undergraduate studies at the Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary.

Nick Bellamy

Managing Director, Energy & Infrastructure Group

Crédit Agricole CIB

Nick Bellamy is a Managing Director in the Energy & Infrastructure Group at Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank where he leads a team that is responsible for origination, structuring, and execution of project finance transactions in the power and energy sectors.   He has over 20 years of experience in banking and in addition to project finance has worked in leveraged finance and high-yield capital markets.   He holds a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont.

Luke Taylor

Senior Managing Director

Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners

Luke is a Senior Managing Director with Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. Luke has significant experience investing in the infrastructure sector, and sits on the board of Golar Power, a downstream FSRU and related LNG and power infrastructure provider, the General Partner of Sanchez Production Partners, Ironclad Energy, and Tidewater Holdings, and is a former director of Paradigm Energy Partners, Casper Crude to Rail, Orion Holdings and Northstar Renewable Power.

Prior to joining Stonepeak, Luke was a Senior Vice President with Macquarie Capital based in New York. Luke has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business (Distinction) from the University of Otago (New Zealand).

Pat Roberts

Managing Director

LNG-Worldwide Ltd

Pat Roberts is an Associate Director of CWC's gas portfolio and is actively involved with the Steering Committee in the design and running of the LNG series of conferences. Pat is also active with CWC School for Energy and its training courses. Pat has seven years' experience as an independent consultant as Director of LNG Worldwide Ltd. She works with several key industry players as well as new entrants in the global gas and LNG markets. This covers the full commercial gas supply chain from strategy and market fundamental analysis to assisting with negotiating commercial agreements. Prior to independent consulting, Pat worked for the Shell group of companies for 24 years in their global oil and gas commercial divisions, culminating with a role as General Manager of Shell's international LNG business in the Atlantic Basin.

Fred Hutchison

Executive Director

LNG Allies

Fred H. Hutchison is Executive Director of LNG Allies a nonprofit organization working to expedite and maximize LNG exports to create U.S. jobs and economic growth, enhance the energy security of America’s allies, and improve human and environmental conditions worldwide. An advocate, communicator, and entrepreneur, Fred has been a government and public relations generalist for more than four decades and is a trusted adviser to private and public sector leaders worldwide. He was formerly a legislative assistant for energy and natural resources for U.S. Sen. Frank Church and earned a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Aziz Bamik

General Manager

GTT North America

Aziz Bamik joined GTT, the leading engineering company in the shipping and storage of LNG and other liquefied gases, in 1999 and has served as General Manager of wholly-owned subsidiary GTT North America (GTT NA) in Houston since its formation in 2013.  Based in Houston, he manages all the activities in the American continents.

Before assuming this position, he occupied various positions at GTT SA in France, including R&D Engineer, Project Manager, and Director of Business Development.  As Project Manager, for nine years he was in charge of the relationships with Shipbuilding Yards (China, Korea, Japan) with the delivery of approximately 100 LNG carriers, including the Regas-LNGCs, Large and very Large LNGCs for Qatari Projects, etc.  As Director of Business Development, for almost four years he was in charge of the relationships with Shipowners, Charterers, Gas Companies, EPCs, Engineering Companies, Classification Societies, etc.

Mr. Bamik is currently a member of AAPA (American Association of Port Authorities), NAMEPA (North American Marine Environmental Protection Association), and Program Committee of the LNG X events, the largest international LNG event.  He is a frequent speaker and contributor to SGMF, SIGTTO, U.S. Coast Guard Senior Executive Forums, and other prominent industry events around the world.

In early 2017 Mr. Bamik was awarded the U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Public Service Award for his advocacy of the safe, clean, and secure transport and use of liquefied gases within the maritime industry.

Mr. Bamik received his degree in Engineering from “Ecole Supérieure de l’Energie et des Matériaux” in France.

Jose María Castro

General Manager

SPEC LNG

Since 2013, Jose M Castro has worked as Head of Business Development for Promigas, regional holding with businesses in midstream and downstream of energy, primarily natural gas and LNG. He is responsible for all business development activities throughout the region and has participated in the development of Sociedad Portuaria El Cayao (SPEC), the first LNG import terminal in Colombia, and led the origination of a natural gas distribution concession for Promigas in the Northern Peru. 

Jose has over 18 years of experience in the areas of investment banking, capital markets, project evaluation, and business development in the United States and Latin America.

He holds a degree in Industrial Management with minor in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, as well as a Master in Business Administration with minor in International Business from University of Miami.  He has complementary studies in areas of finance, project management, and operations management.

Alexandre Chiofetti

CEO - Gas Trading

Grupo Leros (Brazil)

18 years experience in the financial market, having passed more recently by BNP Paribas and JP Morgan where he was responsible for structured transactions. He graduated in 1996 from Universidade de São Paulo’s Escola Politécnica and holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, he also has an MBA in finance from NYU-Stern. Alexandre joined the group in August 2013 and is one of the five partners in the Group of companies. Alexandre is Gastrading’s CEO and also runs Léros Petróleo & Gas.

Jason Bennett

Co-Chair of Global Projects Department & Partner

Baker Botts

Jason Bennett is the Deputy Department Chair of the Global Projects department at Baker Botts and concentrates on project development, oil and gas projects and transactions, project finance and international business transactions and investments. Jason has extensive current experience with LNG projects, including assisting clients with the development, construction and launch of greenfield liquefaction projects and related upstream developments, regasification facility projects, LNG shipping matters and the structuring of LNG trading platforms and investments. He also assists clients with development and structuring of joint venture, joint marketing, and joint operating agreements, offtake and balancing arrangements and with acquisitions and divestitures of interests in LNG, oil and natural gas, pipeline and non-conventional energy projects.  He holds a BA (1993) from the University of Texas, Austin, and a JD with honors (1999) from Georgetown University Law Center.

Peter Keller

Executive Vice President

TOTE Inc.

As Executive Vice President of TOTE, Peter I. Keller assists in the oversight of both TOTE Shipholdings and the TOTE Maritime Division of TOTE, which includes TOTE Maritime Alaska and TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico.

Keller joined TOTE in February of 2012 as President of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico and has been leading the conversion of the company’s fleet to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Previously he was the Principal of Peter I. Keller and Associates, LLC, a consulting and advisory practice serving the International Maritime Industry. 

Keller has extensive experience in Port and Terminal development, Liner Industry activities, Labor relations, Intermodal operations and Supply Chain economics and strategies.  He has also been involved in merger and acquisition strategies and tactics, public private partnership development and has advised many senior Industry executives.

From 2000 until 2010, Mr. Keller was EVP and Chief Operating Officer of NYK Group Americas, Inc.  In this capacity he oversaw policy matters for all the NYK Group operating Companies in North America that included NYK Line, NYK Logistics, Yusen Terminals and Ceres Terminals.  Prior to that assignment he was President of NYK Line (North America) Inc. and a member of the Governing Board of NYK in Tokyo. He is only the second non Japanese nominated to the Governing Board in the 125 year history of NYK and was the first to be named President of NYK Line (North America).

Keller was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the Pacific Maritime Shipping Association and the United States Maritime Exchange (USMX).  He is also a founding father of the Intermodal Transportation Institute of the University of Denver. He served for many years as Chairman of OCEMA, the Ocean Carriers Equipment and Maintenance Association.

Together with Target Stores and TTSI he was a founder of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT), now an Industry wide organization committed to environmentally responsible practices across the supply chain.

Keller was inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame in 2006 at the United Nations in New York.

Scott Atha

Director of LNG Marketing & Commercial Strategy

Bear Head LNG (Canada)

Scott joined LNG Limited in 2014 as the Director of LNG Marketing and Commercial Strategy, where he leads the long term marketing of the Bear Head LNG project in Nova Scotia, Canada.  Scott joined LNGL from Gazprom Marketing & Trading where he led the commercial development of long-term LNG supply and marketing opportunities in the Americas from 2007 to 2014.  Scott has 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with concentrations in the LNG, midstream, and upstream sectors.  Scott holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Keo Lukefahr

General Manager, Americas Natural Gas

PetroChina

Ms. Keo Lukefahr is the General Manager of Natural Gas for PetroChina International (America), Inc., the America’s arm of PetroChina, a Forbes Global 10 company. 

Keo has worked in the energy industry for more than two decades.  She has served in senior trading roles in leading energy companies including PetroChina, BP, and Motiva.  Earlier in her career, Keo was a Principal at the strategy-consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton where she specialized in the Energy Sector.  Keo began her career as a crude and products trader for Cargill.

Keo holds a Master of Science in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Washington.  Prior to attending graduate school, Keo worked for the U.S. Peace Corps in Africa. 

Inosi Nyatta

Partner

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Inosi Nyatta is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Project Development & Finance practice and co-heads the Firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Group. She advises clients on a broad range of financing transactions, including project financings involving export credit agencies, bank lenders and capital markets offerings, with particular expertise in LNG projects in the United States and elsewhere worldwide.

As finance counsel to sponsors on major projects, Ms. Nyatta also has experience with drafting and negotiating the full spectrum of key commercial agreements along the entire LNG value chain, and with structuring and negotiating equity joint venture arrangements. Her recent experience includes advising on landmark project financings, including Cheniere Corpus Christi LNG, Cameron LNG and Australia Pacific LNG‎.

Adi Aggarwal

Program Manager

Global Gas Solution

Adi Aggarwal, currently Program Manager of Global Gas Solutions for American Bureau of Shipping, focuses on business development, and providing advisory and project management support to stakeholders on gas projects. He is currently involved with a number of vessel designs that use LNG as fuel, and with potential FLNG/FSRU projects. Before joining ABS, he held project management and naval architect positions at subsea and offshore design companies in Houston. Aggarwal has 15 years of experience in the Marine and Offshore industry, including 5 years as marine engineer onboard container ships. He holds a Diploma in Marine Engineering from Singapore Polytechnic, Bachelor and Master of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering degrees from the University of New Orleans, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Mays Business School, Texas A&M University.

Gonzalo Ramirez

Director - Development

Excelerate Energy L.P

Gonzalo Ramirez is responsible for the development and marketing of Excelerate Energy’s Floating Regasification projects and assets based on Gateway buoy systems and GasPort dockside facilities, as well as coordinating engineering and commercial activities around Excelerate’s FSRU business on a global basis.  He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in from ITESM in Mexico City and a Master of Business Administration from Thunderbird University in Glendale, AZ.  Gonzalo has over 10 years of experience in commercial shipping and marine infrastructure industry.  Prior to joining Excelerate, Gonzalo worked for a leading Norwegian Ship Owner and Pemex’s international business arm, holding various posts within Chartering, Operations and Business Development activities.

Chris Pedersen

North American LNG Analyst/Managing Editor

S&P Global Platts

Chris Pedersen is a North American LNG Pricing Analyst for S&P Global Platts. Based in Houston, Chris oversees the Gulf Coast Marker, a daily price assessment that values US LNG from a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Together, with his team in London and Singapore, Platts assesses the value of LNG, along with freight rates throughout the world.

Prior to joining Platts, Chris has held various consulting roles in the oil, coal, and natural gas industry. Chris received his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of California, Santa Cruz with a major in International Relations and a concentration in Economics. He completed his Masters of Science in Energy Policy at New York University. Chris is an Energy Risk Professional, ERP, certified by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Paul Maley

Head of LNG Supply & Origination

RWE Supply & Trading GmbH

Paul Maley began his career in the energy trading business with Enron where he worked in the European power markets as well as global coal and oil. He has been with RWE for the past 15 years where he has held roles in in LNG trading and origination. Currently, Paul is responsible for the global supply and structured origination business within LNG and is based in London.

Stephen Shulman

Managing Director, Global Energy Group

Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Stephen Shulman is Managing Director in the Global Energy Group at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Prior to joining OPIC, he served as a financial advisor to the Loan Programs Office at the US Department of Energy providing support in the areas of transaction origination, underwriting and loan monitoring for innovative energy companies.

Mr. Shulman previously spent several years in senior management roles in the energy industry, including positions in the independent power industry, transmission development and solar PV manufacturing and project development.  He is a graduate of Brandeis University and earned an MBA from Northeastern University.

Mindaugas Aleska

Global LNG Director

Klaipedos Nafta

Mindaugas is the Global LNG Projects Director at KN and is overseeing new business development focusing on FSRU solutions as well as KNs advisory business arm. Since he started in KN in 2013, Mindaugas worked with the development and construction of the FSRU Klaipeda LNG terminal and development of new satellite LNG terminals in the Baltic Sea. Before joining KN, Mindaugas worked with KPMG Advisory practice on new infrastructure project development.

Sam Sherman

Executive Director & Group Head, Latin America Project Finance

SMBC

Sam Sherman has served as Head and Co-Head of the Latin America Project Finance Group at SMBC since joining the bank in April 2011. He is currently acting Head of Natural Resources in the group and is leading several financial advisory engagements. He previously led the advisory deal team for the successful financial closing for the $5 bn Etileno XXI petchem project in Mexico.

Sam joined SMBC with over 25 years of project finance experience, including Director and Senior Transactor on the LatAm Project Finance team at Credit Agricole CIB, as well as similar positions at Dexia and Barclays. He has closed PF transactions in all of the major regional markets and in all project finance sectors.

Sam graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Political Science and completed coursework towards a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Columbia University.

Esteban Papanicolau

Executive Director

GasPorto International LLC (El Salvador)

Esteban Papanicolau is Executive Director of Gas Porto International LLC, an advisory company based in Houston and focused in LNG project development.

Esteban has more than 25 years experience in the energy sector, with an active participation in the natural gas expansion cycle in the 1990s in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil working for key international players in the energy field.

Since 2013, Mr. Papanicolau is based in Houston and is part of the original development team of Energia del Pacifico LNG to Power Project in El Salvador, and Rio Grande LNG to power and market in Brazil, being responsible for the LNG long term supply contract of the project as well as assisting in the discussions with Lenders, EPC Contractors, FSU/FSRU providers and potential strategic investors.

Muthu Chezhian

Managing Director, Projects

Galway Group

Muthu Chezhian is the Managing Director (Projects) at Galway Group. He has more than 21 years of experience in offshore oil and gas field development, EPCI projects and offshore operations. He has a successful track record of managing commercial, financial and technical aspects of large-scale deep water Gulf of Mexico, North Sea and West Africa projects.

He played a pioneering role in FSRU based LNG terminals infrastructure developments in North America and Europe over the last decade, which includes EPCI management for the first wave of FSRU’s in USA such as Neptune, North East Gateway, Gulf Gateway projects; Buenos Aires Gateway in South America; and the most recent Exmar FLRSU (floating LNG liquefaction, storage and regasification) in Caribbean. In addition to the 5 major EPC LNG (FSRU) projects stated above, he served as the engineering/ project manager for FEED studies for more than 8 LNG terminals and offshore LNG projects in the last decade.

He has also been involved as an independent bid evaluator for 1 FSRU project in Asia, evaluation of 1 FSRU prospect in Latin America and 2 FPSO projects in South America. Recent roles include, serving as Senior Technical Advisor for an upcoming Small Scale LNG ship project in Indonesia for an investment entity, and as Owner’s Technical Advisor for a mid-scale FSRU in Middle East. He has managed projects with budgets in the order of 300 MUSD for direct project level involvement and around 1.2 BUSD for the corporate level projects managed, overseeing multiple Project Managers.

CAPT Jason Smith

U.S. Coast Guard Detachment Chief

Liquified Gas Carrier National Centre of Expertise

CAPT Jason Smith is the Detachment Chief for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Liquefied Gas Carrier National Center of Expertise (LGC NCOE) located in Port Arthur, TX. Here he supervises a team of liquefied gas subject matter experts who provide technical advice to both the industry and the Coast Guard, and increase and maintain the Coast Guard's collective competency and capacity to professionally engage with the liquefied gas industry. Areas of specialty include vessels and facilities that transport or utilize liquefied gases.  Previously CAPT Smith has held numerous field and staff assignments specializing in marine safety, coastal security, and environmental compliance.  Later this summer, CAPT Smith will be reporting to Sector Corpus Christi as their Deputy Sector Commander and responsible for all Coast Guard missions from the Mexico Boarder to the Colorado River.  CAPT Smith received his active duty commission in 1996 after serving as an enlisted reservist for 3 years. He is a 1996 graduate of Maine Maritime Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and a 2007 graduate of the University of Maryland with a Master of Science in Systems Engineering and Reliability/Risk Engineering.

George Nemeth

Director - LNG Business Development

The AES Corporation

George Nemeth began his energy career with ExxonMobil working on commercialization and marketing for gas and LNG projects around the world.  After his last posting with ExxonMobil in Qatar, Mr. Nemeth moved to the trading side of the business to launch LNG trading desks at Merrill Lynch Commodities, Societe General and Koch Supply & Trading.  Currently Mr. Nemeth is leading the LNG trans-shipment efforts for the AES Corporation to distribute LNG in smaller quantities to the Caribbean and Latin America.  Mr. Nemeth holds an MBA and is a fluent Russian speaker. 

Lieza Wilcox

Vice President Commercial and Economics

Alaska Gasline Development Corp.

Lieza Wilcox is Vice President of Commercial and Economics at the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC), with 17 years of experience in the Alaska oil and gas industry as a commercial analyst, negotiator, and organizational leader, specializing in oil and gas pipelines. She leads AGDC’s commercial and economics department in developing and negotiating commercial agreements, presenting a competitive project market offer, and supporting all AGDC business decisions with sound analysis.

Prior to her position at AGDC, Wilcox provided commercial and financial services for both BP and Denali Pipeline. She holds a B.B.A. in business administration with a focus on economics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Vera de Gyarfas

Partner

King & Spalding

Vera de Gyarfas is a Partner in the Global Transactions Practice Group at King & Spalding.  Ms. De Gyarfas’ practice is focused on energy projects in Africa and Latin America representing companies in upstream exploration and production projects, LNG and other gas projects, under joint ventures, profit sharing agreements, operating services agreements, EPC contracts, oilfield service contracts, LNG contracts as well as in mergers and acquisitions.  Ms. De Gyarfas’ expertise in LNG involves the negotiation and drafting of host government and other investment agreements, analysis of existing regulation and Government negotiations, LNG sales and purchase agreements, gas supply agreements and terminal usage agreements, among others.   

Richard Meyer

Manager, Energy Analysis & Standards

American Gas Association

Richard Meyer serves as Manager of Energy Analysis & Standards at the American Gas Association, which represents more than 200 local energy companies that deliver natural gas throughout the United States. Having joined AGA in 2010, Mr. Meyer’s responsibilities include policy and economic analysis to support the association’s outreach to advance awareness of the import role that natural gas utilities serve in meeting the needs of a clean energy economy. Mr. Meyer’s work relates to natural gas supply and demand fundamentals, residential and large-volume markets, greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related policy, and natural gas distributed generation technologies like combined heat and power. Prior to AGA, Mr. Meyer was a Senior Associate with ICF International in its Fuels and Technology group. There he worked on a range of natural gas and propane market modeling, analyses, and climate-related projects. He has a M.A. in Global Environmental Politics from American University and a M.S. in Physics from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.