People
Spire Inc. announced that President and CEO Suzanne Sitherwood has informed the Board of her intention to retire from the company at the end of 2023, following 12 years at the helm of the St. Louis-based natural gas utility. Spire’s board of directors has initiated a search process to find a successor. During Sitherwood’s tenure, Spire has more than quadrupled its market value and increased its enterprise value more than six-fold by acquiring four natural gas utilities, building a 65-mile interstate pipeline, transforming its marketing and trading business, and developing natural gas storage facilities serving the western U.S. Today, Spire is one of the largest publicly traded natural gas companies in the country, serving nearly 1.7 million customers. Sitherwood has become an industry leader over her 40-plus year career and currently serves as national chair of the American Gas Association (AGA) (See related article, this issue).She also sits on multiple boards and has chaired numerous civic groups and philanthropic efforts in the St. Louis region and across the nation.
Tenaska Marketing Ventures (TMV) has made a number of organizational changes in response to the retirement of Chief Marketing Officer Lori Bruck after 23 years with the company. Implementing a dual leadership structure to guide its origination efforts across North America, TMV has promoted both Kristen Gould and William (Bill) Geis to executive vice presidents of Origination, North America. Gould, who has held various Trading and Origination leadership roles over the course of her more than 20 years at TMV, will lead the origination team responsible for all of Canada and the Western U.S. Geis will have responsibility for the remaining regions in the U.S. and will oversee TMV's Customer Solutions & Strategy team. He joined Tenaska in 1994 and has served in a variety of roles and departments within the company over his 29-year tenure. Also at TMV, Chris Forsman and Matt Millard have both been promoted to executive vice president of Trading. They have a combined 37 years of industry experience with the company.
Danish coating solutions provider Hempel A/S has appointed Peter la Cour Gormsen as chief financial officer and executive vice president of Finance, effective June 1, and René Overgaard Jensen as chief transformation & information officer and executive vice president of Digital, Strategy & Transformation. Prior to joining Hempel, la Cour Gormsen served as group CFP at GN Store Nord and previously worked for Novo Nordisk, Novozymes and Chr. Hansen. He takes over from Lars Jønstrup Dollerup, who left Hempel after five years with the company. Overgaard Jensen joined Hempel in April 2021 and most recently served as head of Strategy & Transformation. He has extensive international transformation and strategy deployment experience through his previous work with PA Consulting and Maersk, where he served as head of Transformation and Process Excellence.
TES appointed Natalie Jackson as chief of capital markets and structuring as the company pursues its goal of becoming the largest e-NG producer (electric natural gas made from green hydrogen). Jackson brings more than 25 years of experience in project finance and development globally in the renewable and conventional independent power industry. Before joining TES, she served as senior vice president, head of Capital Markets & Portfolio Finance for San Francisco-based Clearway Energy Group. She also served previously as senior vice president of Global Financial Solutions for Vestas Wind Systems in Copenhagen and as vice president for Project Finance, Development & Origination at SunPower Corporation.
Companies
STATS Group Targets Scandinavian Asset Integrity Sector with Distributor Deal
UK-based pipeline technology specialist STATS Group is targeting growth in the Scandinavian energy sector through a new distributor arrangement with Stavanger-based equipment and services supplier Asset Integrity AS, which will supply a range of Process Plant Solutions to clients in Norway and Sweden.
STATS said its tools are already well-established in Norway, and the new distributorship agreement comes in response to increased demand for services, including hydrostatic weld testing tools, weldless connectors, pipe cutting equipment, pin-hole leak clamps and ambient barrier tools.
Asset Integrity is well known to Norwegian Operators and Tier One contractors engaged in maintenance shutdowns and turnarounds, STATS said, and has a growing reputation in localized hydrostatic testing, system and spool testing and the provision of cold-work mechanical connectors for pipework and pipelines in the oil and gas industry.
STATS Group’s Aiden Hardy, regional business development manager, and Asset Integrity’s managing director, Jan Tore Fjelland, noted the companies have had a close working relationship over a number of years.
“This formal agreement is a natural step for both companies to maximize opportunities in the Scandinavian energy sector,” Hardy said.
Located near Aberdeen, Scotland, STATS provides pipeline intervention solutions to the international energy industry and employs more than 340 staff in the U.K., North America, Middle East, Malaysia and Australia.
EES Engineering Named Mongolian Distributor for McElroy
Tulsa-based McElroy added a new distributor to sell and service fusion machinery in Mongolia. EES Engineering is based in Khoroo, Mongolia, and caters to the country’s fast-growing mining industry.
Munkherdene Sanjdorj, head of Business Development at EES Engineering, said his company was first introduced to McElroy equipment while working with the Oyu Tolgoi Mine in the southern part of the country.
He said EES was drawn to the capabilities of McElroy’s products and the service training available through McElroy University, which educates distributors on McElroy equipment and the fusion process and trains them to provide service and support.
“We need to be self-reliant when it comes to looking after our machines,” Sanjdorj said. “In the last three years, when many technicians couldn’t enter the country, we were tested to the maximum. We realized the benefit of self-sufficiency and self-reliance when it comes to maintaining and servicing our equipment.”
ABL Group Acquires AGR
Global multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy and software provider, AGR, and the energy and marine consultancy group, ABL Group ASA, have entered into an agreement for ABL Group to acquire 100 percent of the shares in AGR.
The transaction strengthens AGR’s and ABL Group’s offerings for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects as investment in decarbonizing the hydrocarbon sector is increasing rapidly, ABL said. In addition, the acquisition will enable AGR to offer its resourcing solutions across oil and gas, renewables and low-carbon energies.
“The acquisition gives ABL Group a strong position in well and reservoir consultancy, grows our position within digitalization and energy transition solutions, and expands our services with a resourcing offering that is already well established in the oil and gas sector and positioned for growth within offshore wind,” said Reuben Segal, CEO of ABL Group.
Associations
AMPP Names Alan Thomas as CEO
The Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP), a global nonprofit representing more than 32,000 members in the materials, corrosion and coatings industries – among them pipeline companies – named Alan Thomas as its new CEO effective April 1.
Most recently serving as CEO for SaaS company Gridiron LLG, Thomas previously launched Array Coating Technology, LLC, an industrial blasting, coating, powder coating and metal finishing company focused on the subsea oil and gas sector. A past International Facility Management Association (IFMA) executive vice president and CEO, he also was responsible for developing strategic alliances and channel partners globally for the international nonprofit.
Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in Christian Education from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a master’s in business administration in finance from Tulane University. He also is a former member of the U.S. Coast Guard, where he served for six years and received the U.S. Coast Guard Achievement Medal for distinguished leadership and exceptional performance of duty. P&GJ