Virtual Speakers

Todd Abrajano

Chief Operating Officer, Head of Agency

U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

Todd Abrajano serves as the Chief Operating Officer, Head of Agency, for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, leading the Agency’s export promotion efforts supporting U.S. jobs and businesses in priority development projects within emerging markets in the energy, transportation, ICT, healthcare, and agribusiness sectors. He previously served as Deputy Director (Acting), as well as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Agency.

Before joining USTDA, Mr. Abrajano served as the Director of the Office of White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he supported Secretary Wilbur Ross and other senior-level Commerce officials on policy and operational matters.

Prior to joining the Trump Administration, Mr. Abrajano served as President of Turning Point Public Affairs which he founded in 2010.  Through Turning Point, he focused on legislative and regulatory grassroots advocacy and his clients’ strategic, communications and government relations needs. During the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign, Turning Point was retained by the Donald J. Trump for President campaign for which Mr. Abrajano served as the Missouri Communications Director.

Mr. Abrajano received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a concentration in international relations from Yale.

Nic Hunter

Mayor

City of Lake Charles

Clair Marceaux

Port Director

Cameron Parish Port, Harbor & Terminal District

A Cameron Parish native, Clair serves as the Director of Cameron Parish Port, Harbor & Terminal District.  Her role allows her to enter act with people from all over the world to promote Cameron Parish.  Before becoming Port Director, she served as Director of Economic Development for the Cameron Parish Police Jury. Prior to that role, Clair was the Southwest Region Economic Development Project Manager for Entergy Louisiana.  Previous to her work at Entergy, she served the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury as Senior Grants Administrator, overseeing the grant funds used to construct the Southwest Louisiana Entrepreneurial and Economic Development or SEED Center and administered more than $35 million in Disaster Recovery grant funds.  She also spent three years as Regional Lead with the Federal Emergency Management Agency overseeing more than 11,000 temporary housing units for FEMA.  Clair began her career as an English IV teacher in Lafayette teaching at both the Episcopal School of Acadiana and St. Thomas More Catholic High School.  She is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  Clair is a nationally Certified Community and Economic Developer with service to the boards of Fusion Five, the Arts and Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana, the Women’s Business Network, the Acadiana Economic Development Council, the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, The Regional Planning Commission of Southwest Louisiana, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, United Way SWLA, the SWLA Area Maritime Security Committee, and the Community Foundation of SWLA.  She is active in several professional organizations such as the Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Association, the Southern Economic Development Council, the Louisiana Energy Export Association, and the Louisiana Travel Association.  Clair and her family make their home in Cameron Parish.

Kamran Javed

General Manager, LNG Business

JERA Energy America

Kamran is the General Manager, LNG Business with JERA Energy America LLC having joined full time in July 2017 whose main remit is to help manage the offtake from Freeport LNG Train 1 and any other LNG business in the USA.  His career spans the oil and gas value chain with prior experience at ConocoPhillips, Chevron and RasGas starting from 2000.  Kamran’s experience in LNG is gained from prior roles at ConocoPhillips in the Atlantic & Pacific Basin LNG Marketing Business Unit and as a Short-Term Marketer at RasGas.

John Akridge

Co-Founder

Height Securities

John Akridge is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Height Securities. Mr. Akridge co-founded Height in 2008, a regulatory-focused investment bank for institutional investors and companies. Today, the firm provides investment analysis in key regulated sectors by integrating fundamental and policy research to better understand the financial impact across the capital structure. After five years of building its reputation through its research, Height launched an Investment Banking and Advisory (IBA) group, which has since raised hundreds of millions of dollars as growth equity for investment banking clients.  Prior to Height, Mr. Akridge served as Senior Vice President and Head of Arlington Sales Trading at FBR until 2008. He has more than 20 years of sales and trading experience. Mr. Akridge received his B.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Charlie Riedl

Executive Director

Center for Liquefied Natural Gas

Charlie Riedl is the Executive Director for the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas (CLNG), focused on effectively advocating on behalf of the LNG industry. As Executive Director, Riedl works with CLNG member companies, regulators, legislators and other key stakeholders to provide credible and educational information about the economic and environmental benefits of LNG.

Prior to joining CLNG, Charlie worked at America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) and at a exploration and production company focused on natural gas market development and government relations. Charlie’s experience in the natural gas industry includes regulatory, upstream production, downstream and pipeline development projects, as well as natural gas as a transportation fuel.

Charlie earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from The Ohio State University and lives with his wife and two daughters in Washington D.C.

Eric Cormier

VP of Policy and Strategic Development

Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance

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.