XV Annual Forum – Our Speakers Biographies

Neil Duffin was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.  He is a graduate of Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He joined Mobil Oil Company in the North Sea, UK, in 1979 and gained general exposure to the many different functional groups involved in the oil and gas exploration of Mobil North Sea Ltd. Beginning in 1983, he was actively involved in planning satellite field developments, based in London.  In 1986, he transitioned to Subsea Operations and Well Test Supervisor for the UK offshore sector. In 1989 Neil served as Platform Manager in the Beryl Field, North Sea, UK.  In 1992 he was named Producing Advisor for Europe and Africa based in Fairfax Headquarters, Virginia. Neil returned to Aberdeen in 1995 as Operations and Northern North Sea Manager, senior representative for Mobil North Sea Ltd in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. In 1998, Neil was named Senior Vice President, Mobil Oil Indonesia, with responsibility for exploration and producing operations throughout the country. In January 2000, Neil returned to the U.S. and was named Vice President, ExxonMobil Development Company with responsibility for CIS/Middle East Projects. He became Vice President, Africa, of ExxonMobil Production Company in June 2004, with responsibilities for the West Africa countries. In August 2006, he was named Executive Vice President of ExxonMobil Development Company. Effective April 1, 2007, Mr. Duffin became President of ExxonMobil Development Company.  He currently serves on the Boards of the U.S.-Russia Business Council, the Offshore Energy Center, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  Neil is married and has 2 children.

John Hofmeister, upon retirement from Shell Oil Company in 2008, founded and heads the not-for-profit (501(c)(3)), nation-wide membership association, Citizens for Affordable Energy. This Washington, D.C.-registered, public policy education firm promotes sound U.S. energy security solutions for the nation, including a range of affordable energy supplies, efficiency improvements, essential infrastructure, sustainable environmental policies and public education on energy issues. Hofmeister was named President of Houston-based Shell Oil Company in March 2005, heading the U.S. Country Leadership Team, which included the leaders of all Shell businesses operating in the United States. He became President after serving as Group Human Resource Director of the Shell Group, based in The Hague, The Netherlands. As Shell President, Hofmeister launched an extensive outreach program, unprecedented in the energy industry, to discuss critical global energy challenges. The program included an 18 month, 50-city tour across the country during which Hofmeister led 250 other Shell leaders to meet with more than 15,000 business, community and civic leaders, policymakers, and academics to discuss what must be done to ensure affordable, available energy for the future. A business leader who has participated in the inner workings of multiple industries for over 35 years, Hofmeister also has held key leadership positions in General Electric, Nortel and AlliedSignal (now Honeywell International). Hofmeister serves as the Chairman of the National Urban League and is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee, and the Sodexo Business Advisory Board. He also serves on the boards of the Foreign Policy Association, Strategic Partners, LLC, the Gas Technology Institute and the Center for Houston’s Future. Hofmeister is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources. He also is a past Chairman and serves as a Director of the Greater Houston Partnership. Hofmeister earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Political Science from Kansas State University. John Hofmeister is also the author of “Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an energy insider.”

Dr. Daslav Brkic heads the world-wide strategic business development for Saipem’s Engineering & Construction BU. This also includes licensing of proprietary technologies. Dr. Brkic’s career includes many assignments in R&D, sales and marketing, business and strategy development, general management, firstly with UOP and ABB in the U.S.A., U.K., Italy and in The Netherlands. He joined Snamprogetti, later incorporated  into Saipem, in 2002, after heading the international division of Sirti, a major E&C general contractor in telecommunications. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical Universities of Milan, Italy, and Erlangen – Nuremberg, Germany, and has attended the M.B.A. program at the University of Chicago. He is the author of more than 100 publications on energy, business and technology issues and is a member of management committees of several industry associations.

Raoul LeBlanc is Senior Director of PFC Energy’s Financial Advisory practice and the head of the North American Onshore practice. Raoul is responsible for helping to develop and grow PFC’s analysis of the North American upstream for both financial institutions and industry clients. Raoul joined PFC Energy in January 2007, bringing fifteen years of experience in strategic and industry analysis. From 1997-2006, Raoul worked at Anadarko Petroleum. During his tenure there, he directed the company’s Strategic Planning effort, which assumed responsibility for strategy formulation, portfolio optimization, scenario planning, and competitor analysis. He contributes a strong background on issues related to North American independents and natural gas market developments, and has experience in mergers and acquisitions, evaluation and modeling of financial results, and E&P corporate valuation. Prior to Anadarko, Raoul was a senior oil analyst at Energy Security Analysis, a market analysis consulting company in Washington, D.C. where he led coverage of Asian markets and worldwide distillate fuels. Raoul has worked and studied in Japan, the Western Pacific, and Britain. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an M.A. in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.

Jan Latiolais Hargrave teaches you the ways in which your body communicates to the world around you.  Her information could help you to “read” your customers, your family, your students, your associates, in fact, everyone around you.  Author of Let Me See Your Body Talk, Freeway of Love, Judge The Jury and Strictly Business Body Language, this popular speaker, distinguished educator, talk-show guest of The Lifetime Channel, Fox News, The Maury Povich Show, The Montel Williams Show, Great Day Houston, E-Entertainment Television and The Ricki Lake Show, describes for you all “hidden messages” you use in your everyday life and shows you how to stop the lies and uncover the truth—in any conversation or situation. Working with thousands in the field of personal growth and self-expression through seminars and workshops for the past 10 years, Ms. Hargrave continues to inspire many of today’s leading corporations, such as Lockheed Martin, Merrill Lynch, Starbucks, Rockwell, ESPN, Sun Life Financial Distributors, Exxon, Chase Manhattan Bank, NASA, El Paso Energy, Bank of America, and at the USA MWR Training and Development Center in Heidelberg, Germany.  Her expertise concerning nonverbal communication in the courtroom and witness preparation, plus her membership in the American College of Forensic Examiners, proves to be the topics of interest in her presentations to the Honolulu Police Department, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, and various legal Bench and Bar Associations across the country. The Cajun French Ms. Hargrave was born to French-Acadian parents in the unique “Joie de Vivre” (Joy of Life) culture of southwest Louisiana and as a result, sprinkles her captivating presentations with entertaining Ragin’ Cajun folkloric tales.   Jan received her Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and Specialist degree in Business/Psychology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  She is presently CEO of Jan Hargrave & Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm, and served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston for eight years.

Richard “Dick” Westney has been internationally recognized for decades as an authority on risk assessment, decision-making, strategic planning, and performance management for large projects.  Author of 5 books on project and risk management, he has served as visiting faculty at leading institutions such as Texas A&M and Stanford Universities, as well as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is also a popular presenter at major industry conferences. Dick founded Westney Consulting Group in 1978, after serving in project management roles with Exxon Research & Engineering and Exxon Production Research Companies.  A Fellow and Past President of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE International), he also received that organization’s highest honor, the Award of Merit.  Dick currently serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Engineering and Construction Contracting Association (ECC) and also on the program committee for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).  A licensed professional engineer in Texas, he is a graduate of the City College of New York (Mechanical Engineering), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Management Science), and Harvard Business School.

Joe Barnes is the Bonner Means Baker Fellow at the Baker Institute. Since coming to Rice University in 1995, he has written extensively on international economics, with a focus on the geopolitics of energy. In addition to numerous institute studies, Mr. Barnes’ work has also appeared in The New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, Survival, Oil and Gas Journal, Energy Markets, the Newsletter of the Royal United Services Institute, the SAIS Policy Forum Series and the National Interest. He is a contributor to three volumes: “Energy in the Caspian Region” (Palgrave Press), “United States Tax Reform in the 21st Century” (Cambridge University Press) and “Natural Gas and Geopolitics from 1970 to 2040” (Cambridge University Press).

Mr. Barnes is also faculty adviser to the Baker Institute Student Forum. From 1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. State Department, serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. His last assignment in the State Department was with the Policy Planning Staff. Mr. Barnes is a graduate of Princeton University.

Don Jacobsen joined Noble in July 2009 and assumed his current role in February 2012.  Prior to this, he served as Noble’s SVP – Operations. Prior to joining Noble, Mr. Jacobsen was VP, Global Drilling and Completions at Hess Corp., and, prior to joining Hess, Vice President, Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Sustainable Development at Shell International E&P where he began his career.

Mr. Jacobsen currently serves as one of four industry representatives on the Offshore Energy Safety Advisory Committee chartered by the US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, to advise the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement on processes, technologies and regulations to improve the safety of offshore energy development in the US. He is also a member of the API Upstream Committee and services on the Governing Board of the Center for Offshore Safety.  Mr. Jacobsen attended both the US Coast Guard Academy and Virginia Tech., and earned a BS in Civil Engineering.

Ernest J. Moniz is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has served on the faculty since 1973. He served as Head of the Department of Physics and as Director of the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. His research focus is energy technology and policy, including a leadership role in MIT interdisciplinary technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear power, coal, nuclear fuel cycles, natural gas, and solar energy in a low-carbon world.

Dr. Moniz served as Under Secretary of the Department of Energy from 1997 until January 2001 and, from 1995 to 1997, as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. At DOE, he had oversight of the science and energy programs, led a comprehensive review of nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, and served as the Secretary’s special negotiator for Russian nuclear materials disposition programs.  Dr. Moniz received a Bachelor of Science degree summa cum laude in physics from Boston College, a doctorate in theoretical physics from Stanford University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Athens, the University of Erlangen-Nurenberg, and Michigan State University.

Ed Verona was appointed President and CEO of the U.S.-Russia Business Council on June 1, 2008. Prior to that position, he was Vice President of ExxonMobil Russia, Inc., based in Moscow.  Mr. Verona joined Shell Oil Company in 1987 in the Group Services Division in New York City. He was appointed to the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989 and assigned as an Economic Officer to the American embassies in Mexico City (1989-91), Brasilia (1991-3) and Moscow (1994-96).

In 1996, Mr. Verona left the Foreign Service to become Executive Director of the Moscow-based Petroleum Advisory Forum (PAF), an industry association representing international oil and gas companies in Russia. In 1998, he was named Russia Country Manager for Texaco, Inc., based in Moscow. Mr. Verona was transferred to Almaty, Kazakhstan in 1999 as Texaco’s Country Manager, where he also served as Chairman of the Kazakhstan Petroleum Association (KPA) 1999-2000. Subsequently, he was assigned to Washington, D.C. as International Government Relations Advisor. Following Texaco’s merger with Chevron, he served as Vice President for Government and Public Affairs for ChevronTexaco’s upstream operations in Latin America, based in Caracas, Venezuela from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Verona served as Chief Representative in Moscow of the Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation from 2004 to 2006.  Mr. Verona received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona and a Masters of International Management (MIM) from the American Graduate School of Global Management (Thunderbird).