Energy Players

Marius Kloppers will retire as CEO and a director of BHP Billiton on May 10, 2013. Andrew Mackenzie will succeed him and join the board of directors on that date. Kloppers will retire from the company on October 1, 2013. Kloppers has spent nearly 20 years at BHP Billiton, 12 as a senior executive and nearly six as CEO. Mackenzie is BHP Billiton's chief executive non-ferrous. He has over 30 years experience in oil and gas, petrochemicals and minerals. He joined BHP Billiton in November 2008. He holds a BS in geology and a PhD in chemistry. Prior to joining BHP Billiton, Mackenzie held senior positions in BP and Rio Tinto.

UniversalPegasus names new senior vice presidents

UniversalPegasus International (UPI) has named Tom Davison as senior vice president of onshore operations and Martin Morrison as senior vice president of offshore operations. Davison joins UniversalPegasus from Jacobs Engineering where he served as vice president of upstream oil and gas. Prior to his position at Jacobs Engineering, Davison spent 16 years as the director of onshore facilities at Mustang Engineering. In his 33 years of experience, he has managed production and pipeline projects in North and South America, Russia, Africa, India and Southeast Asia. Davison is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University. Morrison joins UPI from INTECSEA where he served as vice president of Marine Pipeline Systems. He has more than 25 years in the resource sector. He has worked on projects in many of the global offshore oil and gas development areas with a concentration on the Canadian East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Eastern Mediterranean and Australian basins. Morrison received his BSc from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Newfield appoints Stoneburner to board

Newfield Exploration Co. has appointed Richard K. Stoneburner, former President North America Shale Production Division for BHP Billiton Petroleum, to its board of directors. Newfield's board is now comprised of 12 directors, 11 of whom are independent. Stoneburner has more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Prior to BHP, Stoneburner served as president and COO of Petrohawk Energy Corp. from 2007-11. Before his tenure as president and COO, he led Petrohawk's exploration program as executive vice president of exploration from 2005-07. He began his service to Petrohawk in 2003. Stoneburner holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas and a master's degree from Wichita State University.

Desert NDT names Ames CEO

Desert NDT LLC, a full-service nondestructive testing company serving the midstream oil and gas market, has named Larry Ames, former CEO and president of the Americas at Transfield Services Ltd., as CEO. He succeeds Doug Frey, who will remain with the company as a director. Ames has 17 years of experience leading public and privately-held companies. Ames, who was a US Army captain and a graduate of the Ranger and Airborne service schools, received a bachelor of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master of business administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Desert NDT is a portfolio company of Sterling Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.

Select Energy Services names Pound VP, general counsel, corporate secretary

Select Energy Services LLC has named Theodore F. Pound III to the position of vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Pound joined Select Energy Services in January 2013 as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary after over eight years of service as Allis-Chalmers Energy's general counsel and secretary. Prior to his service with Allis Chalmers, Pound practiced law in Houston primarily in the areas of M&A, corporate finance, securities, compliance and governance. Pound has practiced law in Texas for over 30 years.

Flotek appoints interim CFO

Flotek Industries Inc. has appointed Richard Walton as CFO on an interim basis following the departure of Johnna Kokenge, Flotek's chief accounting officer who left the company to pursue other professional interests. Walton will assume Kokenge's accounting officer duties. Walton's public accounting career spans over three decades including 20 years as an audit partner in the Houston office of KPMG. His experience includes financial statement audits and registration of securities with the SEC. Following his retirement from KPMG, he has served as a financial consultant to public companies, including financial reporting consulting for Flotek since 2010. Walton is a certified public accountant and is a member of the Texas Society of CPAs. He is a graduate of Westminster College. Following graduation he served as an officer in the US Army.

Regina Hopper resigns ANGA CEO post

After three and a half years as president and CEO of America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), Regina Hopper resigned from the position February 28, 2013. Prior to ANGA, Hopper held senior positions at USTelecom and the American Trucking Associations. She helped build ANGA into a unique advocacy-marketing hybrid with operations in 18 states, Washington DC and Canada. Hopper is departing the organization to return to litigation communications. ANGA is searching for a successor.

Kneen to assume CEO post at GulfMark following Streeter's departure

GulfMark Offshore Inc. recently announced managerial retirements and promotions. Bruce Streeter has elected to retire from the company as an officer and director effective at the company's Annual Stockholders Meeting on June 4, 2013. Streeter has led the company for 23 years since its inception as president and CEO. Quintin Kneen, the company's CFO, will assume the additional role of president and CEO. Kneen has served the company in various capacities since he joined in 2008. David Rosenwasser was named as the senior executive vice president and COO.

Steptoe & Johnson grows practice in Houston, WV

Energy law firm Steptoe & Johnson PLLC will open a second energy law office in Houston and has added Craig A. Griffith, a former WV tax commissioner, to its West Virginia office. The new Houston office will be located in The Woodlands and will serve the firm's US and international energy clients. In addition to serving domestic clients, the firm's International Energy Team will be based in The Woodlands office along with attorneys specializing in oil and gas title matters. In total, the office will house 30 members of the Steptoe & Johnson Energy Law Team. Attorney Andrew Graham will relocate from the firm's Morgantown, West Virginia office to serve as managing member of the new location. In West Virginia, Craig Griffith, Of Counsel, has joined the firm's Charleston, West Virginia office. Griffith's practice will focus on taxation, corporate and transactional law and government relations. Griffith joined the WV Tax Department in 2007 as Deputy Tax Commissioner and Chief of Staff and was appointed by former Governor Joe Manchin to lead the West Virginia State Tax Department in 2010. He served as Secretary of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, chairman of the West Virginia Tax Modernization workgroup, president of the Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators, and second vice president of the Federation of Tax Administrators during his time in public service. Griffith graduated from West Virginia University with both his undergraduate degree and juris doctor.

Endeavour International promotes Stubbs to CFO

Endeavour International Corp. has elected Catherine 'Cathy' L. Stubbs to senior vice president and CFO. Stubbs has over 20 years of experience in financial management in the energy industry and eight years with Endeavour. She has served in various roles of increasing responsibility in corporate development, accounting and financial controls, and treasury roles since the inception of Endeavour and most recently served as the senior vice president, finance. She began her financial career with KMPG and worked at Ocean Energy and predecessor companies where she served in a number of financial management positions. She holds a master of business administration and a bachelor of business administration from the University of Texas Austin.

Dakota Plains makes executive management appointments

Midstream energy company Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. has named Craig M. McKenzie as CEO of the company. He will also serve as the chairman of the board of directors. He replaces Gabriel G. Claypool, who will continue as president and has been appointed by the board to serve as COO. McKenzie has over 27 years of experience in the global oil and gas industry and has worked in 24 countries. He served as CEO of Toreador Resources Corp. and its merger successor, ZaZa Energy Corp. McKenzie was the CEO of Canadian Superior Energy Inc. through 2008. Prior to joining Canadian Superior, McKenzie served as the president, BG Trinidad & Tobago of BG Group plc from 2004 to 2007. He holds a BS from Louisiana State University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Standard Chartered names head of M&A for MENA

Standard Chartered has appointed Tom Emmet as Head of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He replaces Apoorva Shah who has left the bank to pursue other opportunities. Emmet will be based at the bank's regional headquarters in Dubai. He joins from the Royal Bank of Scotland where he was Head of Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets for Middle East and Africa. Prior to that, he was a long term member of ABN AMRO's EMEA Investment Banking team.