Ophir Energy Plc

Nicholas Smith was appointed as a Non-executive Director in October 2007 and as Chairman in September 2009. He is a member of Remuneration Committee and Chairman of the Nomination Committee. Nicholas Smith trained as a chartered accountant before joining the Jardine Fleming Group, becoming Chief Financial Officer from 1993 to 1997. He is Chairman of Aberdeen New Thai Investment Trust plc, Senior Independent Director of Schroder AsiaPacific Fund plc and Non-Executive Director of JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust plc.

Dr Nick Cooper was appointed as an executive director and Chief Executive in June 2011. He is a member of the Nomination Committee. Prior to joining Ophir, Nick Cooper was Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of Salamander Energy plc. He began his career as a geophysicist with BG and Amoco before joining Booz-Allen & Hamilton. From 1999-2005 he was a member of the oil and gas team at Goldman Sachs. In September 2014 Nick was appointed as non-executive director of Siccar Point Energy Limited. Nick has a BSc and PhD in Geophysical Sciences and an MBA from INSEAD.

Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer Bill Higgs was appointed as an executive director and Chief Operating Officer in September 2014 and he is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee. Bill has over 25 years of global exploration, development and operations experience, the majority with Chevron Corporation. His roles at Chevron included Senior Vice President of Operations for Saudi Arabia Chevron, Reservoir Manager for Tengizchevroil in Kazakhstan, Asset Manager for the BBLT development in Block 14 Angola and General Manager for Strategy for Chevron Corporation. In his time at Chevron he was also a member of the Corporate Reserves Audit Committee and the Decision Review Boards for the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG developments in Australia. Bill has spent the last two and a half years as Chief Executive Officer of Mediterranean Oil & Gas plc (acquired by Rockhopper Exploration plc). Bill has a BSc in Geological Sciences from the University of Leeds and a PhD in Structural Geology from the University of Wales.

Ronald Blakely was appointed as a non-executive director in July 2011 and as Senior Independent Director in February 2013. He is Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committees. Ronald Blakely spent over 38 years working for Royal Dutch Shell companies. On his retirement in October 2008, he held the role of Executive Vice President Global Downstream Finance, while previous roles included CFO of Shell Oil Products in the USA and CFO of Shell Canada. Ron Blakely was appointed Non-Executive Director of Songa Offshore SE in April 2015. Mr Blakely is a member of the Society of Management Accountants of Alberta, Canada.