Jaap Huijskes
Non-Executive Chairman
Jaap Huijskes was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Gulf Keystone in April 2018, having been a Non-Executive Director since November 2017.
Jaap has worked in the upstream oil and gas sector for nearly 30 years. He started his career with Shell and worked in a variety of project engineering and other roles around the world. Jaap’s last role with Shell was as Project Director for the Sakhalin II project, followed by a short period at head office as Executive Vice President for all of Shell’s upstream projects. Jaap left Shell to join OMV, the Austrian integrated oil and gas company, as their board member responsible for all upstream activities. OMV’s upstream activities at the time included significant exploration activities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Jaap is currently Non-Executive Chairman at Energie Beheer Nederland, the Dutch State upstream participation company, and Chairman at Royal IHC, a Dutch shipbuilding company.
Jón Ferrier
Chief Executive Officer
Jón Ferrier joined Gulf Keystone in June 2015 as Chief Executive Officer.
Before joining Gulf Keystone, he was Senior Vice President of Business Development, Strategy & Commercial at Maersk Oil in Copenhagen. Jón has considerable international experience across technical, commercial and a variety of managerial and leadership positions. Prior to Maersk Oil, Jón’s industry experience was gained with Anglo American, ConocoPhillips, Paladin Resources plc and Petro Canada/ Suncor, in a number of geographies.
He holds an MSc from Imperial College.
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
Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director
Martin Angle was appointed as Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director of Gulf Keystone in June 2019 having been a Senior Independent Non-Executive Director since July 2018.
He has had a distinguished executive career and his previous roles include senior positions with SG Warburg & Co. Ltd, Morgan Stanley, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, as well as the Group Finance Director at TI Group plc. More recently, he spent time at Terra Firma Capital Partners, where he held various senior roles in its portfolio companies. Martin has served as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Pennon Group, where he chaired the Remuneration Committee, Savills plc (Senior Independent Director), National Exhibition Group (Chairman), Severstal, and Dubai International Capital.
Martin is currently Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director of Spire Healthcare and is an adviser to the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter.
Garrett Soden
Non-Executive Director
Garrett Soden was re-appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in July 2020.
Garrett has extensive experience as a senior executive and board member of various public companies in the natural resources sector. He is currently President and CEO of Africa Energy Corp., a Canadian oil and gas exploration company focused on South Africa. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Etrion Corporation, Noble Group Holdings Limited and Panoro Energy ASA.
Garrett holds a BSc honours degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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.
Kimberley Wood
Non-Executive Director
Kimberley Wood was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone in October 2018.
Kimberley is a legal professional with 20 years’ experience and a specialist in the oil and gas sector. Most recently 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. Throughout her career she has advised a wide range of companies in the sector, from small independents through to super-majors. Kimberley was a Partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP from February 2011 to April 2015 and was previously at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP. She is included in Who’s Who Legal Energy 2020 and as an expert in Energy and Natural Resources in Women in Business Law, 2019.
Kimberley is currently a Non-Executive Director of Africa Oil Corp., an E&P company listed on the TSX (Canada) and Nasdaq OMX (Stockholm), with assets in Kenya and Nigeria and a member of the Lundin Group. She is also a Non-Executive Director of Valeura Energy Inc, a London and TSX (Canada) listed oil and gas company and an Independent Non-Executive Director of Energean, a London and Tel Aviv listed oil and gas company.
Jón Ferrier
Chief Executive Officer
Jón Ferrier joined Gulf Keystone in June 2015 as Chief Executive Officer.
Before joining Gulf Keystone, he was Senior Vice President of Business Development, Strategy & Commercial at Maersk Oil in Copenhagen. Jón has considerable international experience across technical, commercial and a variety of managerial and leadership positions. Prior to Maersk Oil, Jón’s industry experience was gained with Anglo American, ConocoPhillips, Paladin Resources plc and Petro Canada/ Suncor, in a number of geographies.
He holds an MSc from Imperial College.
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.
Stuart Catterall
Chief Operating Officer
Stuart joined Gulf Keystone as Chief Operating Officer in January 2017.
He has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, undertaking a broad range of senior leadership and technical roles with Amerada Hess, BHP Billiton and Celtique Energy. He has proven expertise in successfully developing oil fields and leading operations in remote, onshore international locations, including in the Middle East/North Africa region.
Stuart has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Southampton University and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College.
Gabriel Papineau-Legris
Chief Commercial Officer
Gabriel joined Gulf Keystone in September 2016 and was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer in January 2020.
He has over twelve 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.
Jane Barker
HR Director
Jane joined Gulf Keystone as HR Director in July 2016.
She has over 30 years’ experience in international and strategic HR in the oil and gas sector, including senior management roles with LASMO in London and Venezuela and as HR Director for Afren until 2016. Her early career was spent with Gulf and Chevron in the UK and she also spent five years in financial services as Head of HR for a UK insurance company.
Jane is a Business Studies graduate from the University of Otago.
Alasdair Robinson
Legal Director and Company Secretary
Alasdair joined Gulf Keystone as Legal Director 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.
Nadzeya Kernoha
Head of Finance
Nadzeya joined Gulf Keystone in January 2012.
She has more than ten years’ experience in audit and finance within the oil and gas sector and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte London where she worked within the Energy and Resource Audit Practice. Nadzeya held several roles with Gulf Keystone’s finance team before assuming her current role as Head of Finance in January 2019.
Nadzeya graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Economics from the American University in Bulgaria.
Ross Deutscher
Country Manager - Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Ross 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
HSE Manager
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.
Before joining Gulf Keystone, he 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, a Vocational Qualification as Occupational Health and Safety Officer and gained a Qualification Certificate as Gas Processing Operator from SAIT in Canada.
Mark Parsley
Subsurface Manager
Mark 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.
Maximiliano Tamola
IT Manager
Maximiliano 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.