Board of Directors
Nicholas Smith – Non-Executive Chairman
Mr Smith trained as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. He joined the Jardine Fleming Group in 1986 serving, from 2003, as chief financial officer and as a member of the Executive Committee. Mr Smith became a director of Robert Fleming International Ltd in 1998 and the Director of Origination - Investment Banking serving until 2000. Mr Smith currently serves as a non-executive director for Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd, PLUS Markets Group plc, Sorbic International Ltd., Japan Opportunities Fund II Limited and Schroder Asia Pacific Fund plc.
Mr Smith joined the Board in October 2007 and served as a Non-executive Director and Chairman of the Audit and Nomination Committees until his appointment as Chairman on 4 September 2009. Mr Smith continues to be a member of the Remuneration and Nominations Committees.
Nicholas Cooper BSc (Hons), MBA, PhD – Chief Executive Officer
Dr Cooper began his career as a geophysicist with BG and Amoco in the UK and various international locations. He then spent two years with the energy team at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, advising on upstream and gas development projects. In 1999, Dr Cooper completed an MBA at INSEAD and went on to join the oil and gas team at Goldman Sachs where he held the position of Vice President. In early 2005 he co-founded and became CFO of Salamander Energy plc, the Asia-focussed exploration and production company, which has grown from start-up to FTSE250 constituent.
Dr Cooper joined the Company in early June 2011.
Alan Stein BSc (Hons), PhD – Executive Deputy Chairman & Founder
Dr Stein began his career in the UK as a geologist with oil consultants Dolan & Associates where he worked on projects in Europe, Australia and the Far East. In 1992, he established Dolan & Associates’ first international office in Australia and in 1994 was one of the founding partners of the IKODA consultancy group which had offices in London and Perth. In 1996 he was one of the founding directors of FIL which acquired interests in offshore Mauritania. These interests were sold to Fusion Oil & Gas plc (“Fusion”) and Dr Stein was appointed managing director of Fusion in 1998.
Dr Stein resigned from Fusion following its sale in December 2003 and in early 2004 was one of the founding directors of Ophir. Dr Stein is a non-executive chairman of Neon Energy Limited, an ASX-listed petroleum exploration and production company headquartered in Perth, Australia.
Jonathan Taylor BSc (Hons), MSc – Executive Director & Founder
Mr Taylor has over 20 years of experience in a range of technical and asset management roles in Africa, Europe, the Far East and the Middle East, for Amerada Hess Ltd, Clyde Petroleum plc and Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. Mr Taylor was appointed Exploration Director of Fusion in November 1998, resigning in March 2004.
In early 2004, Mr Taylor was one of the founding directors of Ophir, serving initially as its Technical Director. Mr Taylor is a member of the HSE Committee.
Dennis McShane – Senior Independent Non-Executive Director
Mr McShane is a founding principal of Midas Resource Partners. From September 2004 to November 2008 Mr McShane was a senior executive of the Ferrexpo group of companies serving as executive director of finance and business strategy. He led the successful initial public offering of Ferrexpo plc on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in June 2007. Prior to joining Ferrexpo, Mr McShane was an investment banker with JPMorgan Chase & Co (“JPM”) emerging markets investment banking and mining and metals practices in London. In 2002, he became head of mining and metals in JPM’s Asia-Pacific practice, based in Sydney. He attended Harvard Business School and the State University of New York.
Mr McShane joined the Board in October 2007 and is a member of the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees. He was appointed Chairman of the Audit and Nominations Committees on 4 September 2009.
John Lander – Independent Non-Executive Director
Mr Lander started his career with Shell as a geophysicist in their international division, and has more than 40 years’ experience in the international oil and gas industry, having held executive boardroom posts at RTZ Oil and Gas Limited, Pict Petroleum plc, Premier Oil plc, British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate plc and Tullow Oil plc, the latter until his retirement from full-time employment. He is currently chairman of Alkane Energy plc and Canadian North Sea Energy Limited as well as being a non-executive director of Neon Energy Limited.
Mr Lander joined the Board in November 2008 and is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Audit, Nominations and HSE Committees.
Lyndon Powell – Independent Non-Executive Director
Mr Powell retired from HM Forces in 2006 after completing a full career with Royal Military Police and Special Forces. He served in diverse locations throughout the world in a variety of appointments, gaining a wide spectrum of experience in operational and strategic security management. He has worked with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, providing protection for HM Ambassadors and has commanded four major units. He was Chief of Special Forces at the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, and was an advisor to the Sierra Leone Armed Forces in Freetown. In 2007 he was appointed as deputy director of Security Operations with Infinity SDC Ltd, and in 2008 moved to start his own company, Barbican Global Ltd, which specialises in independent security advice to the corporate sector.
Mr Powell joined the Board in October 2007 and serves as Chairman of the HSE Committee and is a member of the Remuneration Committee.
Patrick Spink – Independent Non-Executive Director
Mr Spink spent over 20 years with Perenco, joining the company shortly before the start of its rapid growth into one of the world’s largest private upstream oil and gas companies. He performed a number of roles including head of exploration, general manager of one of its largest subsidiaries, and executive board member before the company was privatised. For 15 years until 2010, he was head of business development, including during the company’s most rapid period of growth. Earlier he held positions in exploration and operations departments of a number of E&P companies. He graduated in 1973 from University of Lancaster with an Environmental Sciences degree. He currently runs a consulting business providing upstream investment advice to a number of clients.
Mr Spink was appointed a Non-Executive Director in July 2011 and is a member of the HSE Committee.
Ronald Blakely – Independent Non-Executive Director
Mr Blakely is a retired former executive whose career spanned more than 38 years with Royal Dutch Shell companies. At time of retirement in October 2008 he was Executive Vice President Global Downstream Finance. In previous roles he had been CFO of Shell Oil Products in the USA and CFO of Shell Canada, a then Canadian public integrated oil and gas company. He is a graduate of the University of Guelph with a major in Economics and a member of the Society of Management Accountants of Alberta. Mr Blakely is currently the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Oil Sands Quest, a Calgary based company.
Mr Blakely was appointed a Non-Executive Director in July 2011 and is a member of the Audit Committee.
Rajan Tandon – Non-Executive Director
Mr Tandon is Vice President-in-Charge of Finance and Accounts at Mittal Investments and has over 25 years of industrial experience. Prior to this he was Director-in-Charge of Finance and Accounts at Mittal Steel. He has been a leading member of the Corporate Finance Team. He has also served as Treasurer for LNM Holdings NV until its merger with Ispat International in December 2004. With a 20-year career within the Mittal Steel Group, he has held various positions in Finance and Accounting within the Group. Mr Tandon is an Honours Graduate in Accounting and Commerce from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata and a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Member of The Institute of Internal Auditors. He also serves on the board of various companies.
Mr Tandon joined the Board in September 2009.
Jaroslaw Paczek – Alternate Director to Rajan Tandon
Mr Paczek was nominated as an alternate director for Rajan Tandon with effect from July 2011.
Mr Paczek is trained as a barrister in Poland, having graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and subsequently attended Harvard Business School and DePaul University in Chicago. He began his career as a lawyer in 1995 with law firm Hogan & Hartson, working in their office in Warsaw, and has also practised with Feuguer et Associés in Paris. In 1997 Mr Paczek joined ERA GSM, the Polish mobile telephone operator, as a Deputy General Director. For the last ten years, Mr Paczek has worked with the Kulczyk Group, the largest private equity fund in Poland, where he was involved in various transactions in Eastern Europe, in particular in the telecom, electricity and insurance sectors. Since 2006, Mr Paczek has lived in London, developing a portfolio of oil, gas and mineral investments.
Senior Management
Day-to-day management of the Group’s business is the responsibility of the persons below in addition to the Executive Directors.
Michael Fischer – Chief Operating Officer
Dr Fischer is a geologist who spent the first 10 years of his career with BP Exploration in Aberdeen. Following assignments in Spain, Australia, Papua New Guinea and the People’s Republic of China, he moved to Woodside Energy Ltd. (Woodside) in Perth, where he was part of the group responsible for building the company’s position outside of the North West Shelf interests (Woodside’s core Australian producing asset). Dr Fischer was part of the core team responsible for developing and delivering Woodside’s international strategy. Dr Fischer then took on the position of asset manager (West Africa) and led the team responsible for discoveries at Chinguetti, Banda and Tiof. He left Woodside in 2004 to join OMV Exploration & Production GmbH as senior vice-president for exploration, operations and projects where he had full responsibility for both the geoscience and engineering technical functions. Dr Fischer joined Ophir in 2006.
Jacqueline Knox – Group Counsel
Jacqueline Knox joined the Company in March 2011. Ms Knox is a solicitor (qualified in Australia and England & Wales) with nine years’ experience in the energy sector. Ms Knox began her career in Australia in 2002 as a lawyer in the resources, energy and major projects group of Minter Ellison Lawyers before joining the global energy practice of Herbert Smith LLP in 2005. During her time in private practice, Jacqueline specialised in international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and project development in the energy sector. In 2010, Jacqueline was seconded for 12 months to BP plc.
Andrew Oldham – Director, Exploration
Mr Oldham began his career in 1981 with Seismograph Service Limited working for six years in North Africa and Australia as a field geophysicist and party chief. He then spent nine years with Santos Limited, working as an exploration geophysicist on the Copper/Eromanga Basins and the Timor Sea. In 1997, he joined Woodside, and during his 10 years at Woodside, Mr Oldham acted as a technical coordinator on the Mauritanian, Algerian and Kenyan assets, overseeing the subsurface exploration teams in those areas. Mr Oldham is currently responsible for all exploration activities within the operated and non-operated assets. Mr Oldham joined the Group in 2008.
David Bond – Director, Drilling
Mr Bond began his career in 1981 as a drilling engineer with ConocoPhillips Ltd in the North Sea. He has held several positions in both engineering and supervision with BHP Petroleum in the Timor Sea and with Woodside. During his time with Woodside, he pioneered the development of the “Technical Limit” management process which significantly changed Woodside’s drilling and completion performance and has since been adopted by several major oil companies around the world. Mr Bond was also Woodside’s international drilling manager and he led Woodside’s first international operation in deepwater offshore Mauritania. Prior to joining Ophir, Mr Bond was general manager (drilling & completions) for Reliance Industries Limited in India, managing a multi-rig operation for both ultra-deepwater exploration and ultra-deepwater developments. Mr Bond is currently leading Ophir’s capability expansion to drill in ultra-deepwater in Africa. Mr Bond joined Ophir in 2007.
James Berwick – Director, New Business
After serving 12 years in the British Parachute Regiment and French Foreign Legion, Mr Berwick joined the Aviva Group as Head of Security and Risk. In 2001 he moved to Woodside Energy (Australia) as Head of Global Security, before consulting to several oil and gas companies ranging from start-up businesses to super majors in Africa. Mr Berwick joined Ophir in 2007 as General Manager – Gabon, with in-country responsibility for the 2008 drilling campaign as well as managing several other Ophir operated assets. Appointed General Manager, Business Development in 2009, Mr Berwick has been involved in the majority of Ophir’s commercial transactions since that date, and in 2011 was promoted to Director, New Business. Mr Berwick holds a Masters degree in law from Leicester University.