New ERHC Directors a] Mr. Leslie Blair [ from Addax Petroleum Corporation, Executive Director Business Development] & b] Mr. Friday Oviawe, CPA [Mr. Oviawe is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)]
Nominee Biographies
Ambassador (rtd.) Howard F. Jeter. Ambassador Jeter is the former President and CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation. He has also served as Executive Vice President of GoodWorks International, LLC, an international consulting firm focused on business facilitation and investment promotion for Africa and the Caribbean. A former career diplomat, Ambassador Jeter served for 27 years in the American Foreign Service and retired from the U.S. State Department with the rank of Career Minister. Ambassador Jeter was U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, to the Republic of Botswana, and also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Director of West African Affairs, and Special Presidential Envoy to Liberia. Other diplomatic postings held by Ambassador Jeter include those in Namibia, Lesotho, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Ambassador Jeter holds a BA in Political Science from Morehouse College, a MA in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Columbia University, and a MA in African Studies from UCLA. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Foreign Service Association, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Ambassador Jeter is a former Chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Advisory Committee on Africa and a member of the Board of Directors of Africare. For the past two years, Ambassador Jeter has served as Chair of the Selection Panel for the Rangel Fellowship Program, a collaborative program administered by the State Department and Howard University. Ambassador Jeter has received numerous awards and recognition for his work and service, including a Presidential Meritorious Award, State Department Superior Honor Awards, Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards, the Rainbow/Push Coalition International Peace and Justice Award, and the prestigious Bennie Trailblazer Award from Morehouse College.
Andrew Uzoigwe, Ph. D Dr. Uzoigwe retired from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (“NNPC”), in 2002, where he served as the Group Executive Director (Exploration & Production), from 1999 until 2002. Prior to that position he served as Managing Director of NNPC’s subsidiary companies, Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company and Eleme Petrochemicals Company Ltd. During his long tenure at NNPC, Dr. Uzoigwe also held several senior technical and management positions including Chief Engineer and Project Coordinator (Petrochemicals), and Group General Manager (R&D Division), prior to becoming a Managing Director of NNPC’s subsidiary companies. He started his career with Dow Chemical Company where he held various senior positions in its Walnut Creek Research Center and in its Specialty Chemicals Facility in Pittsburg, California. Dr. Uzoigwe has also served on the Governing Boards of the Raw Material Research and Development Council and the National Emergency Management Agency. Dr. Uzoigwe is a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer and a Registered Professional Chemical Engineer in the State of California. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow of the Polymer Institute of Nigeria. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He also holds a MS and a Doctorate in Petroleum/Chemical Engineering from Stanford University California.
Leslie Blair. Mr. Leslie Blair has over 35 years of upstream oil and gas industry experience principally in Asia and West Africa. From 1998 he was with the Addax Petroleum Corporation where he held several senior management positions including Managing Director, Middle East (based in Dubai), General Manager, Taq Taq Operating Company (based in Kurdistan, Iraq), and Executive Director Business Development (based in Nigeria). Mr. Blair played a big part in building Addax Petroleum into the largest independent oil company in Nigeria with production rising from 8,000 bopd to over 120,000 bopd in ten years. He was also instrumental in Addax Petroleum’s acquisition of interests in the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone as well as other interests in OPL 291 and the Okwok Field in Nigeria. Addax Petroleum was recently acquired by the Sinopec Group and Mr. Blair resigned his position in January 2010. Prior to joining Addax Petroleum, Mr. Blair was General Manager/Commercial Manager, Hardy Oil and Gas Company in India from 1996 to 1998. Prior to that he was based in Vietnam from 1989 to 1996 initially with Enterprise Oil plc, a major independent oil company based in Ho Chi Minh City, as Finance Manager and latterly as General Manager, British Gas Exploration and Production where he directed the upstream activities and together with a downstream British Gas/BP team produced the first National Gas Master Plan which was subsequently adopted by the Vietnamese Government. Mr. Blair is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and he has a Master of Arts Degree in Economics and Finance from Aberdeen University, Scotland. Mr. Blair is being nominated to the Board for the first time.
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Friday Oviawe, CPA,. Mr. Friday is the Managing Partner/CEO of Jackson Friday CPA, LLC (“the Firm”). He has over 20 years of professional audit and accounting experience. The Firm is involved in providing tax, audit and accounting services to small and medium-sized companies. Prior to establishing the Firm, Mr. Oviawe worked at BDO, Seidman, LLP as a Senior Audit Manager in General Audit Services. Before joining BDO Seidman, Friday Oviawe was a Manager in the New York office of McGladrey & Pullen, LLP where he provided audit and business advice services to middle market companies in both the private and public sectors and not-for-profit organizations including A-133 Audits. Before joining McGladrey & Pullen, Mr. Oviawe spent over six years with Mitchell & Titus, LLP. At Mitchell & Titus, he provided audit and business services to fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium-sized companies. Mr. Oviawe is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Mr. Oviawe is a Chartered Accountant as well as a Chartered Banker. In addition, he holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Finance. Mr. Oviawe is being nominated to the Board for the first time.
Peter Ntephe. Mr. Peter Ntephe has been the Chief Operating Officer and acting Chief Executive Officer of ERHC Energy from 2008. Mr. Ntephe has been involved in fundamental aspects of the Company's executive management since 2001, having joined initially as Corporate Secretary. His roles have included key participation in the negotiation, securing and maintenance of the Company's oil and gas interests in the Gulf of Guinea. As Chief Operating Officer and acting Chief Executive Officer, he oversees the executive management of ERHC Energy and its subsidiaries. He is responsible for ensuring that the group's strategic objectives are met. Mr. Ntephe has had a career spanning over 22 years, in the public and private sectors. Mr. Ntephe has a Master of Science degree from the University of Oxford. He also has three degrees in law (including one with a specialization in regulatory issues from the University of London) and a degree in management from Brunel University, London. Mr. Ntephe has taught Business Law as part of adjunct faculty in the Business School of the American Intercontinental University, London. Peter Ntephe is being nominated to the Board for the first time.
