Dr. Mark A. Schwartz, President, oversees SPS. Dr. Schwartz was formerly Chief Economist of ExxonMobil Corporation where he was responsible for developing the company’s long-range economic and energy outlook. Dr. Schwartz designed and managed the implementation of the energy modeling system and database that allowed ExxonMobil to develop their base-case global energy outlook as well as alternative cases to capture the impact of changes in price, economic growth, environmental policy and other critical assumptions. Prior to this position, Mark spent five years in Exxon’s International Gas Marketing Company, where he developed the Asian gas supply/demand balance and led several multi-company studies of China’s gas pipeline and LNG options. During his 25 years at Exxon he also had assignments in Upstream Planning, Treasurers, and Corporate Planning functions. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Clayton Vernon (Director of Modeling) directs PIRA’s Energy Modelling, including maintaining, improving, and designing all of PIRA’s major oil models, with an emphasis upon integrating our shortterm and longer-term forecasts with PIRA’s Global Demand Model. Prior to joining PIRA, Clayton worked for 10 years as an Epidemiologist at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, for 3 years at Enron, and for 2 years at Bank of America. Clayton has a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Rice University and a Ph.D. (ABD) in Econometrics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Frederick W.A. (Bill) Fuller, Director, has over 35 years of energy forecasting and analytical experience. During his 30-year tenure with Exxon International, Bill was the Advisor to Exxon’s Industry Group, providing briefings to supply management, and analyzing and forecasting oil market trends. In sales and marketing, Bill negotiated oil prices on sales to Exxon affiliates, established posted prices in the Caribbean and Asia, and oversaw tanker operations. Bill holds a BS chemical engineering from Cornell University.

Richard (Rick) Joswick (Director, Global Oil) develops PIRA’s outlook for crude and products pricing, refinery margins, and inter-regional supply balances. He authors PIRA's monthly European Oil Market Forecast and participates in special projects. He joined PIRA in 2004 after a 20-year stint with ExxonMobil in supply logistics, planning, refining, and research. Most recently, he was responsible for Exxon's near-term oil market forecast. Prior to this position, he focused on trading and logistics, refining economics, and heavy oil upgrading and, as part of his work, developed information systems in these areas. Rick has MS and BS degrees from Rutgers University in chemical engineering.

Ira B. Joseph (Director, International Gas) manages PIRA’s European Natural Gas Service. Ira joined PIRA in 1999 after working as director of Business Development at SageMaker, Inc., an enterprise information portal that provides a platform for integrating internal and external business content on behalf of energy companies. Prior to SageMaker, Ira held positions at Energy Intelligence Group (EIG) for over a decade, as Senior Editor of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly and Editor-in-Chief of World Gas Intelligence. He has authored several books on crude oil marketing and natural gas, including versions of EIG’s International Crude Oil Market Handbook and World Gas Handbook, as well as several articles on natural gas swaps and gas marketing strategy. Ira holds an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Ronald B. Gold (Director, Emissions Group) is an international energy economist with broad experience in analyzing energy, economic, and environmental trends. Dr. Gold retired from Exxon Company International at the end of 1997, where he was Company Economist and Manager of the Energy Outlook Division. In that capacity, he supervised a team of economists in preparing international energy and economic outlooks and conducting special business-related studies. Earlier in his career, he worked for the US Treasury Dept., Office of Tax Analysis, and was also an assistant professor of economics at Ohio State University. Dr. Gold received his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

In addition, PIRA will bring all of its expertise to bear in selected presentations to the annual Roundtables on topics like U.S. natural gas (Greg Shuttlesworth and North American Natural Gas Group), environmental policy (Ron Gold and the Emissions Group), electricity (Allan Stewart and the North American Electric Power Group; Bruno Brunetti and the European Energy Group) and U.S. refining and economics (Gary Eisen, and Dave Zinamon).

Michelle Patron (Director, Political Risk) oversees PIRA’s new Political Risk service and has over a decade of experience analyzing international energy issues. Prior to joining PIRA in 2004, Michelle was a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and worked as an international policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Clinton and Bush Administrations. She advised the U.S. Energy Secretary and other senior U.S. officials on relations with major energy producing and consuming countries including Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, China, Nigeria and the European Union. In 2001, Michelle served as Energy Attaché for the U.S. Department of Energy at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Prior to DOE, she worked at the International Energy Agency, the White House, UNICEF and the Center for International Environmental Law. Michelle holds a BA from Columbia University and an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).