Chairman | Kevin Burke

Kevin Burke has 30 years experience in the structuring and financing of transactions and the broader strategic development of companies in the natural resources and oil & gas sectors. He was co-founder and Executive Chairman of two publicly listed companies, Dana Petroleum and Vanguard Petroleum; a pioneer Western company in oil production in the West Siberian oil province of the former Soviet Union (which was subsequently sold to Sibir Energy), and a Non Executive Director of Oilexco. Prior to that, he worked in corporate finance, M&A and venture capital. He is a qualified chartered accountant and holds a Sloan Fellowship from the London Business School.

Executive Director and CEO | David Marshall

David Marshall has over 30 years experience in Petroleum exploration and production. Previous experience includes positions as Senior Vice President Operations and General Manager of Oilexco North Sea Ltd and various managerial positions in both onshore and offshore drilling and production operations in the UK, Caspian Region, North Africa, the Middle East and Western Europe. He holds a Masters Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot Watt University and a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Civil Engineering from Glasgow University.

Non-Executive Director | Rakesh Patel

Rakesh Patel has a degree in Economics from Thames Valley University. He qualified as a chartered certified accountant with Gerald Edelman, a London firm of Chartered Accountants and then moved into the corporate finance division, dealing with acquisitions, disposals, mergers, private placings and stock market flotations. Having advised and assisted on the acquisition of Ryman Limited, Rakesh was invited to join the Rymans Group as Group Financial Controller. Rakesh then returned to Gerald Edelman and was made a partner heading up the firm’s corporate finance division. Rakesh joined Adler Shine LLP, chartered accountants, as an equity partner where he heads the Corporate Finance division.

Executive Director | Chief Financial Officer | Gregor Goodwin

Gregor Goodwin is a qualified CA and has 18 years of Finance and Private Equity experience. He trained with KPMG where he spent seven years working on a broad mix of audit, transaction services and Corporate Finance assignments. Following KPMG, he joined 3i plc and spent six years in the European buyout team, identifying, structuring and executing mid market buyout and growth capital investments across a range of industry sectors. He also represented 3i’s interests on the board of six portfolio companies and managed successful exit and restructuring transactions.

Following 3i, he joined Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance where he spent four years leading the bank’s debt and equity investment in some high profile buyouts. He joined DEO Petroleum in October 2009. He holds a first class Honours degree in Accountancy (BAcc) from Glasgow University.

Executive Director and General Counsel | Richard Mays

Dr Richard Mays is a Scots qualified solicitor. For the past five years he served in a variety of senior management roles for Oilexco North Sea Ltd. Most recently, he was Vice President Commercial (Operations) and in that role he led the legal, commercial, contract and procurement teams. He has wide experience of UKCS acquisitions and divestments, decommissioning agreements, upstream infrastructure agreements and oil and gas commercial contracts. He has previously acted as a consultant to other oil and gas companies and has advised a large number of energy industry companies.

Formerly Professor of Law at The Robert Gordon University and Depute Dean of the Aberdeen Business School, he delivers training both in the UK and internationally in the field of oil and gas commercial contracts. He holds an Honours Degree in Law, the Diploma in Legal Practice from Strathclyde University, a Masters Degree in Commercial Law from Aberdeen University and a PhD in the field of Corporate Responsibility from Edinburgh University.