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About
Board and Management
Jon Harris
Chief Executive Officer
Jon Harris joined Gulf Keystone in January 2021 as Chief Executive Officer.
Jon has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and joins GKP from SASOL Limited, an integrated energy and chemicals company based in South Africa where he was Executive Vice President, Upstream. Prior to this, he spent 25 years with BG Group in various international roles, including Executive Vice President Technical and General Manager Production Operations, as well as senior management assignments in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Egypt.
Jon received a Master of Engineering in Fuel and Energy (with distinction) from the University of Leeds, UK. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of PetroTal Corp.
Ian Weatherdon
Chief Financial Officer
Ian Weatherdon joined Gulf Keystone in January 2020 as Chief Financial Officer.
Ian has over 25 years’ experience in the international oil and gas industry. Most recently he was CFO of Sino Gas & Energy Holdings, an energy company focused on developing natural gas assets in China that was an Australian listed company (ASX:SEH) until acquired by a private equity firm. Previously, he held various executive roles at Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian exploration and production company which was acquired by Repsol in 2015, including: Vice President of Finance & Planning for the Asia-Pacific region, CFO of Equión Energía Limited, a Colombian joint venture between Talisman and Ecopetrol SA, and Vice President of Investor Relations.
Ian has a B. Comm from the University of Calgary and is a Canadian Chartered Accountant.
Martin Angle
Non-Executive Chairman
Martin Angle was appointed Non-Executive Chairman on 16 June 2023, having been Senior Independent Director since July 2018 and Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director since June 2019.
Martin has had a distinguished executive career holding senior positions in investment banking, industry and private equity.
He has served as a Non-Executive Director on a number of Boards both in the UK and overseas including Pennon Group, where he chaired the Remuneration Committee, Savills plc (Senior Independent Director), National Exhibition Group (Chairman) and Dubai International Capital.
Martin is currently Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director of Spire Healthcare plc, a Non-Executive Director of Ocean Biomedical Inc. (USA) and is a Hon. Professor of the University of Exeter. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of Warwick.
Kimberley Wood
Deputy Chair & Senior Independent Director
Kimberley Wood was appointed Deputy Chair and Senior Independent Director on 16 June 2023, having been an independent Non-Executive Director from October 2018.
Kimberley is a legal professional with 20 years’ experience and a specialist in the energy sector. She was Head of Oil and Gas for Europe and Middle East at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP and remains a Senior Consultant for the firm. She is included in Who’s Who Legal Energy 2021 and as an expert in Energy and Natural Resources in Women in Business Law, 2021.
Kimberley is also an independent Non-Executive Director of Energean plc, Africa Oil Corp., and Valeura Energy Inc.
David Thomas
Non-Executive Director
David Thomas was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in October 2016.
David is an experienced oil and gas professional with 40 years in the industry. He started his career as a petroleum engineer working for Conoco in the North Sea and Dubai, before moving into various reservoir engineering and asset management roles. Subsequently, he joined Lasmo where he became the Group GM Operations and, following the company’s acquisition, held three regional Vice President roles with Eni covering the North Sea, Russia/Asia/Australia and West Africa portfolios. David’s Board directorships have included positions as President and COO of Centurion Energy and CEO of Melrose Resources. In mid-2015 he briefly served on a caretaker Board at Afren and is currently the CEO of Cheiron in Egypt.
David has a BSc in Mining Engineering from Nottingham University and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College.
Wanda Mwaura
Non-Executive Director
Wanda Mwaura was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in July 2022.
Wanda has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services sector with extensive experience in both executive and non-executive roles, including Audit Committee membership. She is a qualified accountant and was previously a partner in Ernst & Young (Bermuda) and the Chief Accounting Officer at PartnerRe. Wanda is now a non-executive director of International General Insurance Company Limited and a number of private companies including Clarien Bank Limited as well as Executive Director for the Bermuda Public Accountability Board.
Wanda has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, and is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda, where she resides.
Julien Balkany
Non-Executive Director
Julien Balkany was appointed as a non-independent Non-Executive Director representing funds managed by Lansdowne Partners Austria GmbH on 3 July 2023.
Julien has extensive experience as an investor and board member in the international oil & gas industry. He is currently Managing Partner of Nanes-Balkany Partners, a group of investment funds that focuses on the oil & gas industry, which he co-founded in 2007. Since 2014, he has been Chairman of the Norwegian oil & gas exploration and production company Panoro Energy ASA. He has also been Non-Executive Director of several other private and publicly listed oil & gas companies including Norwegian Energy Company (Noreco), Gasfrac Energy Services, Toreador Resources, and Amromco Energy.
Julien began his career as an oil & gas investment banker and studied at the Institute of Political Studies (Strasbourg) and at UC Berkeley.
Jon Harris
Chief Executive Officer
Jon Harris joined Gulf Keystone in January 2021 as Chief Executive Officer.
Jon has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and joins GKP from SASOL Limited, an integrated energy and chemicals company based in South Africa where he was Executive Vice President, Upstream. Prior to this, he spent 25 years with BG Group in various international roles, including Executive Vice President Technical and General Manager Production Operations, as well as senior management assignments in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Egypt.
Jon received a Master of Engineering in Fuel and Energy (with distinction) from the University of Leeds, UK. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of PetroTal Corp.
Ian Weatherdon
Chief Financial Officer
Ian Weatherdon joined Gulf Keystone in January 2020 as Chief Financial Officer.
Ian has over 25 years’ experience in the international oil and gas industry. Most recently he was CFO of Sino Gas & Energy Holdings, an energy company focused on developing natural gas assets in China that was an Australian listed company (ASX:SEH) until acquired by a private equity firm. Previously, he held various executive roles at Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian exploration and production company which was acquired by Repsol in 2015, including: Vice President of Finance & Planning for the Asia-Pacific region, CFO of Equión Energía Limited, a Colombian joint venture between Talisman and Ecopetrol SA, and Vice President of Investor Relations.
Ian has a B. Comm from the University of Calgary and is a Canadian Chartered Accountant.
Gabriel Papineau-Legris
Chief Commercial Officer
Gabriel Papineau-Legris joined Gulf Keystone in September 2016 and was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer in January 2020.
He has over fifteen years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to his appointment at Gulf Keystone, Gabriel worked in private equity at Lime Rock Partners, where he was involved in investigating and executing E&P and oilfield services investment opportunities internationally as well as monitoring portfolio companies. Gabriel began his career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, advising oil majors, E&P companies and governments on M&A and restructuring transactions, and capital markets financing.
Gabriel graduated from HEC Montréal (BBA) and EDHEC Business School (MSc). He is also a CFA charterholder.
John Hulme
Chief Operating Officer
John Hulme joined Gulf Keystone in April 2022 as Chief Operating Officer.
John has over 30 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry and joins GKP from Noreco where he was Chief Operating Officer focused on the Danish offshore oil and gas fields. Prior to this, he held senior management and technical roles with Sapura Energy, Newfield Exploration, Santos, Anadarko Petroleum and ExxonMobil in locations including Algeria, Malaysia, China, Australia, USA and UK.
John received a Master of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in the USA.
Clare Kinahan
Chief HR Officer
Clare Kinahan joined Gulf Keystone as Chief HR Officer in August 2021.
Clare has over 30 years’ experience in the Engineering and Construction industry, undertaking a range of senior leadership roles with Halliburton, KBR and McDermott. She has broad experience in both strategic and operational HR across Europe, Middle East, Africa and USA.
Clare has a BA Hons in French from University of Reading and is a Chartered Member of CIPD.
Alasdair Robinson
Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary
Alasdair Robinson joined Gulf Keystone as Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary in June 2017.
After qualifying as a solicitor, Alasdair worked in investment banking for over ten years. In 2007, he joined Melrose Resources as Corporate Finance Manager and Company Secretary and became General Counsel and Company Secretary of the enlarged group upon its acquisition by Petroceltic International. Before joining Gulf Keystone, Alasdair worked for a fund management group as Finance Director and Head of Legal and Risk.
Alasdair is a law graduate of Aberdeen University and has an MBA from Strathclyde Business School. He is a member of the London Stock Exchange Regional Advisory Group.
Ross Deutscher
Country Manager – Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Ross Deutscher joined Gulf Keystone as Country Manager in January 2019.
Prior to his GKPI assignment he successfully served over eight years in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in senior leadership roles with Talisman Energy and Repsol, most recently as director accountable for the safe development of all operations and strategic leadership.
Ross has over 35 years’ experience in the exploration for new oil and gas fields, as well as the development of producing fields, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, western Canada and USA, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, UK and Dutch North Sea, Algeria and Spain.
Prior to Talisman and Repsol, Ross acquired oil and gas experience at Suncor, Vista Energy, Wascana Energy and Saskoil. He holds a BSc in Geological Engineering (Geophysics Option) from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
Patrick Bersebach
Head of HSE and Sustainability
Patrick Bersebach initially joined Gulf Keystone in 2013 as HSE Supervisor during the construction of PF-2 and was appointed to be the HSE Manager in 2016 and the Head of HSE and Sustainability in 2021.
Before joining Gulf Keystone, Patrick gained international experience when working for RWE Dea, Wintershall, EON E&P and Nord Stream in Europe, Libya, Algeria and Russia. Patrick’s HSE experience embraces all areas of the E&P business from seismic via drilling to production in several roles on the shop floor as well as in management.
Patrick holds an Engineering Diploma in Safety Engineering (Dipl.-Ing. / MEng. Equivalent) from Wuppertal University in Germany and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris, a Vocational Qualification as Occupational Health and Safety Officer and gained a Qualification Certificate as Gas Processing Operator from SAIT in Canada.
Aaron Clark
Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Aaron Clark joined Gulf Keystone as Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications in March 2021. He has over 10 years’ experience in investor relations and financial communications, specialising in the energy sector. Prior to Gulf Keystone, Aaron worked at Petrofac as Investor Relations & Communications Manager, following over six years at two financial communications firms, Finsbury and Tulchan Communications, where he advised international clients from a range of industries, including oil & gas.
Aaron holds a BA in French and Italian from University College London and is a CFA charterholder.
Mark Parsley
Subsurface Manager
Mark Parsley joined Gulf Keystone as Subsurface Manager in June 2018.
Mark has more than 20 years’ experience in various subsurface roles in ARCO, Hess and Tullow. Mark has performed roles as a Reservoir Engineer, Economist, Production Engineer, Production Planner, Subsurface Team Leader, Reserves Manager, and Subsurface Manager for assets in the North Sea, SE Asia, Algeria, Middle East, West Africa, and the USA.
Mark graduated from Oxford University in Geology and has an MSc in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College.
Jon Harris
Corporate Drilling Manager
As Drilling Manager, Jon has managed all Shaikan well activities for Gulf Keystone since 2017 including the drilling of new wells and all well interventions and well servicing.
He has over 35 years of international oil and gas industry experience in drilling, completions, well testing and drilling rig construction in both technical and management positions. Prior to Gulf Keystone, some highlights of Jon’s career include two major onshore oil and gas developments in Algeria for BHP, a multi-well subsea development in Australia for Woodside and two deep water exploration campaigns in the Falkland Islands for Borders & Southern, Premier and Noble Energy.
Jon graduated from Loughborough University with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer.
Maximiliano Tamola
IT Manager
Maximiliano Tamola joined Gulf Keystone as IT Manager in May 2019.
He has over 16 years’ of experience in the oil and gas industry, starting his career at YPF (Argentina) and moving to Repsol operations internationally. He was also a secondee in Akakus Oil operations in Libya. Maximiliano has led international IT projects in a variety of environments such as desert operations, deep-water drilling, Siberian fields, and countries in remote or high-risk areas. Prior to his appointment at Gulf Keystone, he was the Regional EMEA & International IT Services Manager at Repsol. He also has expertise in cybersecurity and digital transformation.
Maximiliano has an MBA in Management Information Systems from USAL and The State University of New York.