Ophir Energy plc Annual Report and Accounts 2011

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Ophir Energy plc Annual Report 2011
Board of Directors
Directors at year end
Nicholas Smith
Non-Executive Chairman
Mr Smith (age 60) was appointed
to the Board of the Company as a
Non-Executive Director in October
2007 and served as Chairman
of the Audit and Nomination
Committees until September
2009 when he was appointed as
Chairman of the Board. Mr Smith is
a member of the Remuneration and
Nomination Committees and was a
member of the Audit Committee
until 7 July 2011.
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.
Alan Stein
Executive Deputy Chairman
& Founder
Dr Stein (age 47) was one of the
Company’s founding Directors
in 2004.
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 and remained until that
company’s sale in December 2003.
Dr Stein is non-executive chairman
of Neon Energy Limited, an
ASX-listed petroleum exploration
and production company
headquartered in Perth, Australia.
Dr Stein has notified the Board that,
while continuing to make himself
available for advice and guidance,
he will not be seeking re-election
at the Company’s AGM in 2012.
Nicholas Cooper
Chief Executive Officer
Dr Cooper (age 44) was appointed
to the Board as Managing Director
on 1 June 2011 and has formally
assumed the role of Chief Executive
Officer in December 2011.
Dr Cooper began his career as a
geophysicist with BG and Amoco in
the UK and various international
locations. He spent two years with
the energy team at Booz-Allen &
Hamilton, advising on upstream
oil 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-focused exploration and
production company, which has
grown from start-up to FTSE 250
constituent.
Jonathan Taylor
Executive Director & Founder
In 2004, Mr Taylor (age 46) was one
of the founding Directors of Ophir,
serving initially as its Technical
Director and is a member of the
HSE Committee.
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 as Exploration
Director of Fusion in November
1998, resigning in March 2004
to found Ophir.
Dennis McShane
Senior Independent Director
Mr McShane (age 56) was appointed
to the Board as a Non-Executive
Director in October 2007 and as
Senior Independent Director in
November 2009. Mr McShane is
Chairman of the Nomination
Committee and a member of
the Audit and Remuneration
Committees, having also served
as Chairman of the Audit
Committee from September
2009 to 18 August 2011.
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.
Ronald Blakely
Independent
Non-Executive Director
Mr Blakely (age 63) was appointed
as a Non-Executive Director of the
Company on 7 July 2011 and as
Chairman of the Audit Committee
in September 2011.
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 has 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