Management Team

Adrian Binks is chairman, Chief Executive Officer and major shareholder of the Argus Media group of companies. He developed our company after buying a partnership in a small newsletter business following an earlier career in BP and a brief stint working as an oil industry analyst in the City of London. In 1984 he took management control, renamed the company and started the development of a global business under the Argus brand. Adrian grew up in Leeds where he attended the local grammar school before studying history at Cambridge University. Adrian appears regularly on television for the BBC, CNN and NBC and writes from time to time for The Financial Times, The Economist, The Observer and many other newspapers. He is a member of the International Association for Energy Economics.

Henri Castries was Chairman and CEO of AXA, spending a total of 27 years at the company before retiring in 2016. During this time, he oversaw multiple merger and acquisitions transactions including AXA’s acquisition of Group UAP (1997) and Winterthur Group (2007), that were instrumental in building AXA Group’s global footprint across 64 countries and reshaping its operations. Prior to AXA, he served in the French Treasury Department, during which time he was appointed to oversee foreign exchange markets and balance of payments Since 2015, Henri has been Chairman of the French think tank, Institut Montaigne. In 2017 he joined General Atlantic as Chairman of Europe and special advisor. Henri supports General Atlantic's investment teams in evaluating investment opportunities in the region and assisting in value creation across the firm’s existing global portfolio companies. In addition, Henri currently also serves as a non-executive director of HSBC Group the French National Foundation for Political Sciences and Nestlé S.A, where he is also Vice Chairman.

Matthew Burkley is Chief Operating Officer of the Argus Media group of companies. Prior to joining us in September 2017, he spent six years as Chief Executive Officer of Genscape, a company that provides real-time fundamental data and analytics on commodities and energy supply chains. Matthew held a variety of positions in the financial markets and trading divisions of Thomson Corporation and Thomson Reuters, where his talents were used in several key roles including Global Chief Strategy Officer Thomson Reuters, Markets; Chief Financial Officer of Sales and Trading; and acting President of the sales and trading division. Matthew holds a bachelor’s degree in political economy from Colorado College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Gabriel Caillaux is Managing Director at General Atlantic (GA). Gabriel joined GA’s London office in 2004 and has since helped build out GA’s investment focus across the greater European region, extending into eastern Europe and the Middle East. He focuses on the firm’s investments in sectors including financial services, business services and internet and technology. He also serves on the board of directors of Citco, Network International, and Santander Asset Management. Gabriel previously worked at Merrill Lynch from 2000 to 2004, in the telecoms, media and technology division in London and New York. He holds a master's degree in finance from ESCP-EAP European School of Management.

Dod Fraser is President of Sackett Partners, a consulting company, and a member of several corporate boards. Dod is a board member of Subsea 7 S.A., OCI GP LLC, Rayonier Inc. and Fleet Topco Limited. Previously, he was a member of the board of Smith International, Inc., Terra Industries, Inc., Forest Oil Corporation and Acergy. In his professional career, Dod was an investment banker: a General Partner of Lazard Freres & Co. and until 2000 a Managing Director and Group Executive of Chase Manhattan Bank, now J. P. Morgan Chase, where he led the global oil and gas group. Dod serves as chairman of the audit committees of Subsea 7 and Rayonier; is a member of the audit and conflicts committees of OCI GP; and is a member of the compensation committee of Rayonier and audit committee of Fleet Topco Limited. Dod previously served as a member of the National Petroleum Council, trustee of Resources for the Future and trustee of The Lawrenceville School.

Stuart Ashman is the Chief Financial Officer and also the Company Secretary for the Argus Media group of companies. He joined Argus in 1999 having previously worked in accounting and finance roles in practice and banking in Australia and retail in the UK. Stuart was educated at the University of Tasmania and has been a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants for over 30 years.

Denny Houston was Executive Vice-President of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company before he retired in June 2010. He was Vice-President of Supply and Transportation of Exxon International from 1994 until the merger of Exxon and Mobil in 1999. Denny joined Exxon in 1974, working at the Baton Rouge refinery, and later undertook a variety of roles at the company in Houston and the Baytown refinery. He moved to Esso Singapore in 1988, where he was appointed Chairman and Managing Director from 1989, transferring to Exxon International at Florham Park in 1992 as General Manager of Supply. Denny is based in Houston and is married with two sons — one an investment banker in New York and the other a physician in Chicago.

Tom Intrator has extensive leadership experience in complex global organisations. He has a deep understanding of trading, risk management, commodity supply chains and market analytics and has worked extensively with customers and business teams across Europe, Asia and North America. Tom held senior global roles in Cargill over a career spanning 32 years, most recently as CEO of Cargill International and President of the Energy, Transportation and Metals Trading businesses, and prior to that as President of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation business. He has also served on a number of Cargill’s corporate committees, providing oversight on capital allocations, financial risk, business strategy, process and technology as well as ethics and guiding principles.

Adrian Binks is chairman, Chief Executive Officer and major shareholder of the Argus Media group of companies. He developed our company after buying a partnership in a small newsletter business following an earlier career in BP and a brief stint working as an oil industry analyst in the City of London. In 1984 he took management control, renamed the company and started the development of a global business under the Argus brand. Adrian grew up in Leeds where he attended the local grammar school before studying history at Cambridge University. Adrian appears regularly on television for the BBC, CNN and NBC and writes from time to time for The Financial Times, The Economist, The Observer and many other newspapers. He is a member of the International Association for Energy Economics.

Matthew Burkley is Chief Operating Officer of the Argus Media group of companies. Prior to joining us in September 2017, he spent six years as Chief Executive Officer of Genscape, a company that provides real-time fundamental data and analytics on commodities and energy supply chains. Matthew held a variety of positions in the financial markets and trading divisions of Thomson Corporation and Thomson Reuters, where his talents were used in several key roles including Global Chief Strategy Officer Thomson Reuters, Markets; Chief Financial Officer of Sales and Trading; and acting President of the sales and trading division. Matthew holds a bachelor’s degree in political economy from Colorado College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jeffrey Amos is Global Compliance Officer for the Argus Media group of companies. Jeffrey ensures that the company’s global price assessments are derived in strict conformity with its official methodologies and that all Argus staff are actively aware of their personal accountability to deliver compliance. From 1991 to 2008, Jeffrey worked at BP, fulfilling various roles in the UK and Russia, including financial and fiscal development, financial control, group operations assurance and as Commercial Director for BP’s UK ground fuels business.

Stuart Ashman is the Chief Financial Officer and also the Company Secretary for the Argus Media group of companies. He joined Argus in 1999 having previously worked in accounting and finance roles in practice and banking in Australia and retail in the UK. Stuart was educated at the University of Tasmania and has been a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants for over 30 years.

Jo Loudiadis is Senior Vice-President Commercial, Europe and Africa, based in London. Jo joined Argus in 2008 and is responsible for commercial structure and direction. She manages key client and third-party relationships within the EMEA and Russia region. Jo works alongside the respective sales and marketing teams, developing commercial strategy and relationships. Before joining Argus, Jo worked for McGraw Hill companies including Standard & Poors and Platts, where she undertook a variety of roles in sales management and business development.

Jamie Balderston leads the Argus conference portfolio globally, working with the Argus conference teams in London, Houston, Moscow, Singapore, Dubai and Rio de Janeiro. Jamie works alongside the respective business development, editorial and consulting teams to ensure the group delivers a topical portfolio of thought-leading and relevant conferences. Prior to joining Argus in 2017, Jamie spent 15 years with Euromoney, where he initially developed content for commercial conferences serving the financial services sector before joining the commodity sector in 2009 to lead the metals, mining, minerals and grain trading conference business.

Tania Ellery is Chief Human Resources Officer for Argus and is responsible for employee recruitment and selection, learning and development, and talent management across our 21 global offices. Before joining Argus, Tania held both regional and global senior human resources positions at Kroll, HSBC and Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. In these roles, she developed and deployed organisational planning, talent management, and learning and development programmes in support of key business strategies. Tania also led HR re-engineering programmes such as employee governance initiatives and compliance programmes to achieve business value. Tania attended Massey University in New Zealand, where she earned a bachelor of horticultural science degree, and Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Australia, where she earned a master of management in human resources degree.

David Fyfe is Chief Economist at Argus. He has more than 30 years’ experience of working in energy markets. Prior to joining Argus, David was most recently Chief Economist at commodity trading company Gunvor. Before this, he managed the oil industry and markets division of the International Energy Agency and edited its influential monthly Oil Market Report. David has a master’s degree in energy policy and economics from Imperial College London.

Seana Lanigan is responsible for Argus’ relations with external media globally. Seana started her career in energy markets as a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she covered Brent crude trading, congestion charging, gas substitution and carbon emission abatement. She also taught energy policy at Green College, Oxford. Her first role at Argus was as a market reporter on the crude and products markets, which she began in 1990. She later edited the Argus European Products report. Seana also worked at the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) (now Ice futures) where she was responsible for press relations and corporate marketing. She left the IPE to run international operations at Applied Derivatives Trading, an online magazine covering financial and commodity derivatives. She subsequently became Senior Vice-President and ran European operations for the Global Association of Risk Professionals. She rejoined Argus as Strategic Marketing Manager in 2004 before starting her current role in 2019. Seana studied PPE at Balliol College, Oxford.

Jim Nicholson is responsible for co-ordinating Argus’ editorial activities globally, supported by managing editors in London, Houston, Moscow and Singapore. The role includes development and implementation of editorial policies and procedures, and management of the company’s global regulatory engagement. Jim has worked previously in Singapore, in charge of Asia editorial and business development activity, and in London as head of business development for generation fuels. His career began as a magazine journalist with Reed Business Publishing, and Jim has spent most of his career in publishing and energy market price discovery. He joined Argus in March 2004. Jim holds an MA in modern languages from Oxford University.

Philip Shaw is Head of Operations, based in London. Philip started his career at BP before moving into energy consulting, working with Accenture and latterly Deloitte, where he worked with a range of oil and gas companies delivering projects across the upstream and downstream sectors. Prior to joining Argus in 2011 as SVP, Consulting Services, he ran the research and advisory practice at Energy Intelligence Group. Philip trained as an engineer at Nottingham University, and was awarded Chartered Engineer status by the Institute of Petroleum. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, which has published several of his papers in recent years.

Lucy Sladojevic is Head of Legal for the Argus Media group of companies, based in London. Lucy joined Argus in 2008. Prior to that, Lucy qualified and practised as a solicitor at London City law firm Slaughter and May before moving to West End firm Harbottle & Lewis, where she was made a Senior Associate. Lucy read law at Cambridge University.

Lloyd Thomas is Senior Vice-President, Consulting Services, based in our London office. He leads the global Argus Consulting Services team and provides oversight of Argus’ consulting activities within Europe. Lloyd joined Argus in 2011 as Head of European Consulting and has been instrumental in the development and expansion of the consulting division. He was promoted to Global Head of Consulting in 2017. Prior to joining Argus, Lloyd led the global research and advisory team at Energy Intelligence Group. Earlier in his career, he spent over 11 years as a management and strategy consultant in the energy practices at Deloitte and Ernst & Young. During this time he worked with a wide range of energy, utilities and infrastructure clients, helping to deliver strategy, performance improvement and large-scale capital programmes.

Matthew Thompson joined Argus in 2012, heads business development globally and is responsible for the development and implementation of Argus’ strategy in collaboration with the board, senior management and staff. Matthew is based in London and also covers corporate development activities and other key global and regional strategic initiatives. Matthew has worked in the energy industry for over 18 years with broad knowledge across global markets and more focused expertise in oil supply and trading strategy, refining, logistics and marketing. He started his career at Petroleum Economics Limited (PEL), before taking roles with Elf Oil UK. Following his time at Elf, Matthew spent seven years as a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s petroleum practice and from 2006 to 2012 he was Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). Matthew was educated at Sussex University, where he received his BA in Economics.

Adrian Binks is chairman, Chief Executive Officer and major shareholder of the Argus Media group of companies. He developed our company after buying a partnership in a small newsletter business following an earlier career in BP and a brief stint working as an oil industry analyst in the City of London. In 1984 he took management control, renamed the company and started the development of a global business under the Argus brand. Adrian grew up in Leeds where he attended the local grammar school before studying history at Cambridge University. Adrian appears regularly on television for the BBC, CNN and NBC and writes from time to time for The Financial Times, The Economist, The Observer and many other newspapers. He is a member of the International Association for Energy Economics.

Matthew Burkley is Chief Operating Officer of the Argus Media group of companies. Prior to joining us in September 2017, he spent six years as Chief Executive Officer of Genscape, a company that provides real-time fundamental data and analytics on commodities and energy supply chains. Matthew held a variety of positions in the financial markets and trading divisions of Thomson Corporation and Thomson Reuters, where his talents were used in several key roles including Global Chief Strategy Officer Thomson Reuters, Markets; Chief Financial Officer of Sales and Trading; and acting President of the sales and trading division. Matthew holds a bachelor’s degree in political economy from Colorado College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jeffrey Amos is Global Compliance Officer for the Argus Media group of companies. Jeffrey ensures that the company’s global price assessments are derived in strict conformity with its official methodologies and that all Argus staff are actively aware of their personal accountability to deliver compliance. From 1991 to 2008, Jeffrey worked at BP, fulfilling various roles in the UK and Russia, including financial and fiscal development, financial control, group operations assurance and as Commercial Director for BP’s UK ground fuels business.

Stuart Ashman is the Chief Financial Officer and also the Company Secretary for the Argus Media group of companies. He joined Argus in 1999 having previously worked in accounting and finance roles in practice and banking in Australia and retail in the UK. Stuart was educated at the University of Tasmania and has been a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants for over 30 years.

Jamie Balderston leads the Argus conference portfolio globally, working with the Argus conference teams in London, Houston, Moscow, Singapore, Dubai and Rio de Janeiro. Jamie works alongside the respective business development, editorial and consulting teams to ensure the group delivers a topical portfolio of thought-leading and relevant conferences. Prior to joining Argus in 2017, Jamie spent 15 years with Euromoney, where he initially developed content for commercial conferences serving the financial services sector before joining the commodity sector in 2009 to lead the metals, mining, minerals and grain trading conference business.

Peter Caddy is an adviser to Argus Media, having previously headed the global business development team. He was a director of Argus Media Limited between 1993 and 2016. Peter has worked at Argus for over 25 years in different parts of the world, including heading Argus’ Asian and US operations. Peter has been involved intensively in oil market pricing during this period and launched Argus’ non-oil — gas, power and coal — services between 1995 and 2001. Peter has a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and an MA from Cambridge University.

Tania Ellery is Chief Human Resources Officer for Argus and is responsible for employee recruitment and selection, learning and development, and talent management across our 21 global offices. Before joining Argus, Tania held both regional and global senior human resources positions at Kroll, HSBC and Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. In these roles, she developed and deployed organisational planning, talent management, and learning and development programmes in support of key business strategies. Tania also led HR re-engineering programmes such as employee governance initiatives and compliance programmes to achieve business value. Tania attended Massey University in New Zealand, where she earned a bachelor of horticultural science degree, and Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Australia, where she earned a master of management in human resources degree.

David Fyfe is Chief Economist at Argus. He has more than 30 years’ experience of working in energy markets. Prior to joining Argus, David was most recently Chief Economist at commodity trading company Gunvor. Before this, he managed the oil industry and markets division of the International Energy Agency and edited its influential monthly Oil Market Report. David has a master’s degree in energy policy and economics from Imperial College London.

Seana Lanigan is responsible for Argus’ relations with external media globally. Seana started her career in energy markets as a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she covered Brent crude trading, congestion charging, gas substitution and carbon emission abatement. She also taught energy policy at Green College, Oxford. Her first role at Argus was as a market reporter on the crude and products markets, which she began in 1990. She later edited the Argus European Products report. Seana also worked at the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) (now Ice futures) where she was responsible for press relations and corporate marketing. She left the IPE to run international operations at Applied Derivatives Trading, an online magazine covering financial and commodity derivatives. She subsequently became Senior Vice-President and ran European operations for the Global Association of Risk Professionals. She rejoined Argus as Strategic Marketing Manager in 2004 before starting her current role in 2019. Seana studied PPE at Balliol College, Oxford.

Jo Loudiadis is Senior Vice-President Commercial, Europe and Africa, based in London. Jo joined Argus in 2008 and is responsible for commercial structure and direction. She manages key client and third-party relationships within the EMEA and Russia region. Jo works alongside the respective sales and marketing teams, developing commercial strategy and relationships. Before joining Argus, Jo worked for McGraw Hill companies including Standard & Poors and Platts, where she undertook a variety of roles in sales management and business development.

Jim Nicholson is responsible for co-ordinating Argus’ editorial activities globally, supported by managing editors in London, Houston, Moscow and Singapore. The role includes development and implementation of editorial policies and procedures, and management of the company’s global regulatory engagement. Jim has worked previously in Singapore, in charge of Asia editorial and business development activity, and in London as head of business development for generation fuels. His career began as a magazine journalist with Reed Business Publishing, and Jim has spent most of his career in publishing and energy market price discovery. He joined Argus in March 2004. Jim holds an MA in modern languages from Oxford University.

Philip Shaw is Head of Operations, based in London. Philip started his career at BP before moving into energy consulting, working with Accenture and latterly Deloitte, where he worked with a range of oil and gas companies delivering projects across the upstream and downstream sectors. Prior to joining Argus in 2011 as SVP, Consulting Services, he ran the research and advisory practice at Energy Intelligence Group. Philip trained as an engineer at Nottingham University, and was awarded Chartered Engineer status by the Institute of Petroleum. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, which has published several of his papers in recent years.

Lucy Sladojevic is Head of Legal for the Argus Media group of companies, based in London. Lucy joined Argus in 2008. Prior to that, Lucy qualified and practised as a solicitor at London City law firm Slaughter and May before moving to West End firm Harbottle & Lewis, where she was made a Senior Associate. Lucy read law at Cambridge University.

Lloyd Thomas is Senior Vice-President, Consulting Services, based in our London office. He leads the global Argus Consulting Services team and provides oversight of Argus’ consulting activities within Europe. Lloyd joined Argus in 2011 as Head of European Consulting and has been instrumental in the development and expansion of the consulting division. He was promoted to Global Head of Consulting in 2017. Prior to joining Argus, Lloyd led the global research and advisory team at Energy Intelligence Group. Earlier in his career, he spent over 11 years as a management and strategy consultant in the energy practices at Deloitte and Ernst & Young. During this time he worked with a wide range of energy, utilities and infrastructure clients, helping to deliver strategy, performance improvement and large-scale capital programmes.

Matthew Thompson joined Argus in 2012, heads business development globally and is responsible for the development and implementation of Argus’ strategy in collaboration with the board, senior management and staff. Matthew is based in London and also covers corporate development activities and other key global and regional strategic initiatives. Matthew has worked in the energy industry for over 18 years with broad knowledge across global markets and more focused expertise in oil supply and trading strategy, refining, logistics and marketing. He started his career at Petroleum Economics Limited (PEL), before taking roles with Elf Oil UK. Following his time at Elf, Matthew spent seven years as a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s petroleum practice and from 2006 to 2012 he was Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). Matthew was educated at Sussex University, where he received his BA in Economics.

Pierre Lever heads the Argus Asia business and is based in Singapore. He is responsible for all strategic, commercial and market activity across Singapore, Dubai, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney. Pierre joined Argus in 2011 after his role as Managing Director for Planet Retail Ltd, a global information provider for the retail and consumer goods industry. At Planet Retail he led revenue and profit growth and expanded the reach of the business into new markets. He was a founding director of Fizzback Ltd, a venture capital-backed consumer insights business that was subsequently acquired by NICE Systems. Prior to this, Pierre was Sales Director and General Manager for the southern European operations of Forrester Research Inc., a Nasdaq-listed technology analyst firm. Pierre holds law degrees and an MBA from the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Feisal Sham has over 20 years of experience in global intelligence services and regional advertising businesses, having held key commercial management positions in the hospitality and retail advertising, media communications, petrochemicals and energy industries. Feisal leads Argus’ sales and marketing teams in Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing. His primary responsibilities include vendor partnerships, business development, training, key account management and developing and driving revenue-generation licensing models. Feisal has worked at AP Publications, SAFAN, HB Publishing and ICIS. He has been with Argus since 2000 and has expanded the company’s Asia-Pacific commercial business to include research, event management and new reporting services.

Anu Agarwal is based in Singapore. She works closely with the petroleum product industry across Asia and the Mideast Gulf to develop the role of Argus in meeting the dynamic requirements of this huge market. Anu has spent 10 years working for global petrochemical companies in strategy and business development as well as sales and marketing roles across Asia. She also spent six years reporting and analysing pricing trends in the chemical, refined products and biofuel markets as well as examining the underlying factors that influence global trade in these markets. Anu shares a keen interest in new product development with a track record of developing pricing services for new and emerging markets.

Gao Hua runs the Argus Beijing representative office and joined Argus in October 2004. Gao Hua started her career in energy by working at a PetroChina oil field in 1999. After a year, she left the oilfields to become a products reporter in ICIS C1Energy. She was quickly promoted to team leader. In her role at Argus, Gao Hua set up Beijing representative office and currently manages and builds key client relationships, seeks new business opportunities and develops the Beijing office’s commercial strategy.

Barbara Kalu set up and now heads the Argus Middle East office in Dubai. Barbara joined Argus in 2001 to oversee sales and marketing operations outside of the Americas as the company’s Commercial Manager, Europe, CIS, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Barbara previously worked at Platts, where she managed the company's key accounts. She started out at DRI/McGraw-Hill (now known as Global Insight) as an economic consultant, following receipt of her first degree from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Barbara also holds an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics.

Masaki Mita runs the Argus Japan office. He develops business strategy and advises Japanese market participants about the benefits of using independent price assessments. Masaki joined Argus in 2002 to open the Japan office in Tokyo. He previously worked as an energy market reporter at other international and local energy price reporting agencies, where he built his experience and knowledge in a variety of markets in Asia-Pacific.

Yeo Yu Kin heads Argus Consulting Services in Asia and is responsible for Argus’ advisory work in the region. Yu Kin started his career in 1990 with KBC Advanced Technology, a technical consulting company for the refining industry, before moving to market consulting with Purvin & Gertz in 2003. During his stay with Purvin & Gertz he was responsible for numerous studies in the oil and gas sectors and other energy related businesses, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic analysis, technical assessments, asset valuations, crude valuations and market assessments. Yu Kin joined Argus in 2014. He trained as a chemical engineer at the National University of Singapore and is recognised as a chartered engineer by the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Alan Bannister is based in Singapore and is responsible for corporate strategy for the further adoption of Argus assessments as industry benchmarks and determining the scope of market coverage in Argus reports. Prior to joining Argus in February 2018, Alan was head of Asia/Middle East energy and global LNG at Platts, Asia head of Nymex at CME and head of energy brokerage and clearing services at Newedge/Socgen in Singapore. In the UK, Alan was an emissions trader at Citibank, a broker at Tradition and Prebon, a power trader at ElPaso and a power trader and nuclear power station engineer at British Energy.

Becky Zhang is an Asia Petrochemical Analyst, based in Singapore. She covers the Asia-Pacific methanol, ethylene, and propylene markets. Becky has eight years of price reporting and market research experience, specializing in the petrochemical industry with an in-depth focus on market fundamentals and time market intelligence. She maintains a vast contact base in Asia-Pacific and is a regular presenter at methanol and olefins conferences. Prior to joining Argus, Becky worked for ICIS, covering Asia-Pacific MEG/PTA/polyester markets. Becky graduated from East China University of Science and Technology with a degree in Chemical Engineering and holds master’s degrees in Environmental and Energy Engineering from the University of Sheffield and Entrepreneurship from the University of Nottingham.

Mikhail Doubik heads the Argus Russia and FSU business and is based in Moscow. He is responsible for all strategic, commercial and market activity across Russia, former Soviet Union countries and Mongolia. Before joining Argus in April 2018, Mikhail worked in media and publishing, with over 20 years’ experience. He was the Chief Executive of Vedomosti, Russia’s first independent business newspaper, a joint project of the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal. He also worked as a director of Independent Media publishing group, where he managed an extensive portfolio of products, including Russian editions of Harvard Business Review and Esquire. Mikhail has a degree in journalism from Moscow State University and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Alexey Semenchuk is Senior Vice-President Commercial, of Argus Russia, based in Moscow. Since joining in 2011, Alexey has been responsible for commercial strategy, structure and expanding sales in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Prior to joining Argus, Alexey worked at Microsoft leading the enterprise and SMB accounts sales teams. In previous positions, he led sales and business development at large Russian IT companies. Alexey has an engineering degree from the Minsk Polytechnic University.

Ekaterina Derbilova heads editorial operations for Argus in Russia, CIS, and the Baltic, managing the editorial teams in Moscow, Nur-Sultan, Riga, and Kiev. She focuses on providing a clear strategic direction for local reports and ensuring productive collaboration between the editorial, commercial and business development teams to meet the needs of Argus’ customers. Before joining Argus, Ekaterina covered energy markets for Vedomosti, a Russian joint venture between the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, for over 10 years. She was promoted to manage Vedomosti Digital, and later become Editorial Director of the Vedomosti Group, which includes Harvard Business Review Russia. Ekaterina has a degree in governmental management.

Victor Parno heads the Argus business development department in Russia and the FSU. His responsibilities include launching and promoting price assessments, indexes and Argus products intended for trading companies and government agencies. After joining Argus in 2005, Victor held various positions in the editorial, consulting and business development departments. He launched the Argus Ukrainian Motor Fuels and Argus Russian Netbacks publications and helped set up and managed Argus’ Kiev office. Victor then joined leading Russian crude producer Bashneft, working in firm’s marketing department where he was engaged in pricing. In 2013 Victor returned to Argus, where he was responsible for crude and oil products in the business development department. He was promoted to Vice-President in 2015 and became head of the department in April 2018. Victor graduated from the International University in Moscow with a degree in linguistics.

Timur Ilyasov is responsible for Argus’ business development in central Asia and the Caspian region, supporting commercial, editorial, conference and marketing activities. He is based at the company's office in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Timur has been part of the Argus team for more than 10 years, starting his career as an analyst for the oil products markets in central Asia. In 2015, he was appointed vice-president for central Asia and the Caspian region. Timur has played a key role in the launch of a number of price assessments that have become regional benchmarks, and contributed to the creation of new products that are now widely used in the FSU energy markets. Timur holds a degree in political science and has been awarded a letter of thanks from the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Euan Craik is Global Head of Crude Oil at Argus, based in Houston. Euan oversees Argus’ refined products and petrochemicals services, drawing on over 20 years’ experience at Argus. He has been Chief Executive Officer, Americas, since 2006 and has overseen the rapid growth in Argus’ western hemisphere business. During Euan’s time in Houston, Argus has become the standard for pricing physical crude oil in the US, and has a growing presence in the refined oil products markets. Prior to his move to the US, Euan held senior managerial roles in London and Moscow, giving him a uniquely global insight into the markets that Argus serves.

Karen Johnson is Chief Operating Officer of Argus Media Inc. based in Houston. Karen joined Argus in 1994 and has led the commercial efforts in the Americas since 2003, growing the sales and marketing teams. She has also led divisions including finance, customer support and global sales during her tenure at Argus. Karen has a BA from the University of Houston’s Honors College and graduated cum laude with majors in English literature and marketing.

David Brooks is Senior Vice-President, Business Development for Argus’ global metals coverage. David joined Argus in April 2017 with 20 years’ experience in the metals publishing sector. David started his career as a metals reporter for industry publication Metal Bulletin in London in 1997, moving to the US a year later as North American Editor. After a spell working in the metals industry, he returned to editing before spending eight years as Publisher of American Metal Market with responsibility for all commercial and editorial operations. David is based in Pittsburgh and oversees a global metals team with hubs in Houston, London, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai.

Lori Ann Foertsch is Corporate Counsel of Argus Media, Inc. in Houston. Prior to joining Argus, she practised corporate and commercial law, with a focus on securities, mergers, acquisitions and dispositions. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center, and received her Bachelor of Science with distinction from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Stephen Jones is Global Head of Oil Products at Argus, and joined Argus in 2017 as Senior Vice President, Business Development, Petroleum, in Houston. With more than 30 years of experience, he is responsible for Argus pricing solutions that meet the rapidly changing trading requirements for the gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, marine fuels, base oils, asphalt, refinery feedstocks and biofuels markets. Prior to Argus, he was with Purvin & Gertz and IHS Market for 17 years, where he was Vice President of the Refining & Marketing team. He has been an instrumental leader for large international teams providing research and consulting services to the upstream, crude oil markets, refining, natural gas liquids, chemicals, automotive, maritime, and midstream industries. Stephen began his career with Exxon, where he advanced through roles in Baton Rouge and Houston, gaining expertise in crude oil trading, refinery optimization and market economics. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tulane University.

Jim Kennett is Managing Editor, Americas, based in Argus’ Houston office. Jim is a seasoned journalist with almost 30 years of newspaper, wire and online experience in the US and abroad, much of it covering the energy industry. Since 2008, he has overseen the production of proprietary data and related news and analysis for the North American operations of Argus Media. His dedicated team of journalists and analysts has nearly tripled to around 100 people during his tenure at Argus, where he monitors the content and quality of more than 40 publications. Jim has a strong history of news exposure, working a variety of roles from copy editor to correspondent for publications including Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle and The Moscow Times.

Kristine Klavers is Senior Vice-President responsible for Argus Consulting Services in America. She has over 20 years of experience in consulting and is an expert on global fuels, fuel quality and refining, and has strong contacts throughout the industry. Prior to Argus, Kristine led Hart’s consulting services, including the International Fuel Quality Center. She worked for Lyondell as an MTBE product specialist, and as a process engineer for a Japanese gasoline company in Japan. Kristine developed a catalyst for methane coupling at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan and gained her MSc in chemical engineering from the University of Twente, Netherlands.

Michaela Lim is Head of Human Resources, Americas at Argus. She is an accomplished HR leader with over 15 years of experience in global, multi-location, multi-state, complex matrix environments. She developed an excellent record of fostering a collaborative, trusted partnership with senior leadership through her senior roles with KMG Chemicals and SolvChem. Michaela attended Ottawa University where she earned both a BA and an MA in Human Resource Management.

Christina Vassil Wimmer is Senior Vice-President of sales for the Americas region, based in Houston. She joined Argus in 2008, managing northeast accounts from our Washington, DC, office and moved to Houston in 2011 to oversee and develop the growing sales team. Christina works alongside the sales and marketing teams developing commercial strategy and is responsible for sales operations in Houston, New York, Brazil, Mexico and Calgary. Before joining Argus, Christina worked for the American Bankers Association, Bloomberg and Nasdaq, where she held a variety of roles in sales, business development and marketing. Christina holds a BA in communications from George Mason University, Virginia.

Chuck Venezia is Senior Vice-President, Global Petrochemicals, based in Houston. He is responsible for driving Argus’ global petrochemicals strategy and oversees petrochemical business development. Chuck has more than 30 years of experience in the petrochemical industry. He served as Area Manager, Latin America for Chevron Chemical Company, where he managed the company’s polymer export sales and other chemical sales to Mexico and South America. He then worked for CheMatch as Executive Director, Latin America, focusing on the online trading platform for bulk petrochemicals. Chuck joined DeWitt in 2002 as a Principal. DeWitt was acquired by Argus in 2012. Chuck holds an MBA and MA from Tulane University and a BA from Union College.

Vanessa Viola is the Senior Vice-President of Latin America at Argus. She rejoined Argus in 2011 as our Brazil Country Manager and is now working to expand the company’s business across Latin America. Vanessa initially joined Argus in 2001, working as Deputy Editor of the Argus European Products report and Editor of the Argus International LPG report before leaving in 2005 to work as an LPG broker with Gibson in London. Prior to her assignments in the UK, Vanessa worked as a political and financial correspondent for Reuters (Brasilia, Sao Paulo), as a financial reporter for Brazil’s leading news agency Agencia Estado and as a press relations officer with energy engineering company Asea Brown Boveri, also based in Sao Paulo. A graduate from Brazil’s Casper Libero University with a BA in social communications, Vanessa has a master’s degree in international journalism from London’s City University. In addition to Portuguese and English, she is fluent in Spanish.

Miles Weigel is Senior Vice-President of Argus in New York, responsible since 2002 for Argus’ global business with commodity exchanges and management of the US northeast region. Miles started his career in the energy industry 30 years ago as Managing Consultant with DRI, the former economic forecasting unit of McGraw-Hill, active in market analysis and trading strategy development for major energy and chemical companies. In 1988, he became Vice-President at Saladin, an energy pricing analysis software leader. In 2000, Miles became Chief Operating Officer of IPG, acquired by Argus for its electricity pricing services. Miles received an MS in policy analysis and econometrics, and a BA in biology from the University of Rochester.

Lauren Williamson is Senior Vice-President, Business Development, for Argus’ global fertilizer portfolio. Lauren has been in information services since 2003 with additional in-industry experience in marketing and market development roles for Shell and Sabic, respectively. In her early career, she worked for ABC, NBC and Fox affiliates in a variety of roles and was a freelance writer in London, focusing on global politics, economics and security. Lauren received congressional recognition and won several Associated Press awards for her reporting and investigations. For Argus, she launched the Americas fertilizer portfolio in 2012 — winning the award for Best E-Newsletter from Trade Association Business Publications International and silver place for Newsletter Excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Lauren holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree from the University of London School for Oriental and African Studies.