9/28 - Alternative Investments Conference

The Alternative Investment Conference is a unique event which is designed to facilitate interaction between alternative investment managers, investors, faculty and students. The conference will feature a keynote speaker and four panel discussions addressing issues relating to Private Equity, Natural Resource Investments, Hedge Fund and Real Estate investments. It will also provide opportunities for informal discussions and networking among conference attendees.

Sign up and get more info here.

10/2 - TEF Hosts Southwestern Energy Company

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:

SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY COMPANY

TUES, OCT 2, 7-8pm, GSB 3.130

Join us as we host Matt Sicinski (Assistant Controller), Cody Dreibelbis (Accountant II), and Shashil Patel (Senior Accountant) from Southwestern Energy Company. They will be speaking on oil and gas accounting.

The presentation will be on Tuesday, October 2nd, 7-8pm in GSB 3.130. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.


Southwestern Energy Company is a growing independent energy company primarily engaged in natural gas and crude oil exploration, development and production within North America. They are also focused on creating and capturing additional value through their natural gas gathering and marketing businesses, which is referred to as Midstream Services.

Bios:

Matt Sicinski, Assistant Controller, joined Southwestern Energy Company (“SWN”) in 2009 and is responsible for SWN’s fixed asset accounting, joint interest billings, accounts payable, international accounting, new ventures accounting, and the accounting for SWN’s oilfield service subsidiaries.  Prior to joining SWN, Matt worked at Key Energy Services (“Key”) where he was responsible for Key’s external reporting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Previous experiences also include employment with Ernst & Young LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP from 2000 through 2007 where he focused on assurance services for a variety of clients in the oilfield services and E&P industries as a Certified Public Accountant.  He earned an integrated B.B.A and M.B.A in accounting from Angelo State University where he ran collegiate track and cross country.

Cody Dreibelbis, Accountant II, joined Southwestern Energy Company (“SWN”) in 2010 and is currently a member of the Internal Controls & Compliance group. He completed the two-year rotational program where he rotated through SEC Financial Reporting, Revenue, Gas Gathering, and Gas Marketing. He earned a B.B.A from Sam Houston State University and M.P.A from The University of Texas at Austin.

Shashil Patel, Senior Accountant, joined SWN in 2011. She is currently in the Internal Controls & Compliance group and has been working heavily on security and controls during the EBS (Oracle) implementation project. Prior to joining SWN, Shashil worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”), where she focused on audit and assurance services for several upstream oil & gas companies as a Certified Public Accountant. She earned an integrated B.B.A. and M.P.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. 

9/25 - TEF Hosts Prudential Capital Group

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:

PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL GROUP

TUES, SEPT 25, 7-8pm, GSB 3.130

Join us as we host Brian Thomas from Prudential Capital Group. He will be speaking on energy and power private investing.

The presentation will be on Tuesday, September 25th, 7-8pm in GSB 3.130. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.

Brian Thomas is the Managing Director of Prudential Capital Group’s Energy Finance Group: Oil & Gas. He oversees the private placement activity in the Energy Finance Group’s oil & gas sectors consisting of a $6.1 billion portfolio (as of 6/30/12) of senior debt, mezzanine debt and private equity investments. Prior to this role, Brian served as Senior Vice President in Prudential Capital responsible for energy and corporate finance investments in the Dallas office-based territories: Gulf Coast and Louisiana. He joined Prudential in 1995. Brian received a BBA and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

9/11 - TEF Hosts Raymond James

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:

RAYMOND JAMES

TUES, SEPT 11, 7-8pm, GSB 5.142A

Join us as we host Scott McNeill and Tony Ceci from Raymond James. They will be speaking on Investment Banking and Natural Resources.

The presentation will be on Tuesday, September 11th, 7-8pm in GSB 5.142A. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.

Scott McNeill -

Scott McNeill, Managing Director, joined the Energy Group of Raymond James in 1998 and is focused on the energy service and equipment sector.  Scott has significant experience executing M&A and financing transactions for E&P, energy service & equipment, and midstream companies with over 100 transactions completed totaling $20 billion of value.  Prior to joining Raymond James, Scott worked with Arthur Andersen focusing on middle-market companies in the Enterprise Group and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.  He earned a B.B.A in accounting with a concentration in information systems from Baylor University and an M.B.A with honors from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tony Ceci -

Tony Ceci joined the Energy Group at Raymond James in 2012 and is active in mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and private placements within the energy industry.  Prior to joining Raymond James, Tony was employed by General Electric, where he held various positions in finance, including financial planning and analysis, commercial and manufacturing finance.  He is a graduate of GE’s Financial Management Program and served on GE’s Corporate Audit Staff.  Tony received an M.B.A, with honors, from The University of Texas at Austin and holds a B.A. with distinction in Economics from Connecticut College.

5/2 - “Financing Nuclear Projects" Panel Discussion

“Financing Nuclear Projects" Panel Discussion, 

Reception and EMIC Member Dinner 

May 2, 2012, 5:00-9:00 p.m. 

AT&T Conference Center on the UT Campus, Austin, TX 

Panelists include Dale Klein, an Associate Director of UT’s Energy Institute and formerly the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Brant Meleski, Managing Director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The panel discussion and reception will be open to UT faculty, students and the public. Dinner is reserved for EMIC members and panelists. RSVP to tanya.andrien@mccombs.utexas.edu.

5/3 - UTES Lecture: Americans’ Vehicle and Travel Choices

Americans' Vehicle and Travel Choices: Opportunities for Plug-In Vehicles in the Nation's Fleet Evolution

by

Dr. Kara Kockelman

and William J. Murray Jr.

3 May, 5:15-6:15pm

MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)

Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm

Please settle in by 5:10pm

 

Speaker
Dr. Kara Kockelman

 

Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Kockelman holds PhD, MS, and BS degrees in civil engineering, a Masters of City Planning, and a minor in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. She has received an NSF CAREER Award, U.C. Berkeley’s University Medal, MIT’s Technology Review Magazine Top 100 Innovators award, CUTC’s inaugural Young Faculty Award, RSAI’s Hewings Award, and ASCE’s Harland Bartholomew Award and Huber Prize. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Andes of Ecuador, and has advised UT’s student chapters of Engineers Without Borders, Society of Women Engineers, and Women in Transportation Studies.

 

Dr. Kockelman's primary research interests include energy and climate issues (vis-à-vis transport and land use decisions), the statistical modeling of urban systems (including models of travel behavior, trade, and location choice), forecasting transport policy impacts and crash consequences. She is an author of over 100 published papers – the majority of these with her terrific UT students. Recent and current projects include NSF grants for spatial econometric models of discrete response and studies of plug-in-electric-vehicle ownership and use, an NSF RCN on sustainable cities, an EPA STAR grant for land use, transport, and air quality models, NCHRP projects on demand modeling of non-motorized travel and tolled roadways, and TxDOT projects for holistic evaluation of competing network improvement projects and the development of a transportation economics reference for practitioners.

 

Abstract

 

Transportation constitutes nearly 20 percent of household expenditures, 30 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and 70 percent of domestic petroleum consumption. In a world of volatile fuel prices, energy security issues, and climate concerns, it is imperative to understand and accurately model how vehicle ownership and usage patterns – and associated traffic conditions, land use patterns, petroleum use, and emissions – can change under different policies and contexts. This presentation offers new data on ownership decisions and traveler preferences, coupled with behavioral models for microsimulating the nation’s personal-fleet evolution under various scenarios. It examines adoption opportunities for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) under long-run travel patterns, PEV cost effectiveness, and the performance of integrated land use-transport models in urban-system simulations. Modeled scenarios reflect different gas prices, PEV pricing, feebate policies, urban-growth boundaries, and network pricing.

 

In the long term, widespread adoption and use of alternative-fuel vehicles will depend on thoughtful marketing, competitive pricing, government incentives, reliable driving-range reports, energy pricing shifts, and – in the case of PEVs – adequate charging infrastructure. This presentation highlights many of the directions U.S. households, and their GHG emissions, may head, while describing methods for simulating the broader urban system.

 

4/26 - UTES Lecture: The Future of Water in Texas, and What It Means for Energy

The Future of Water in Texas, 

and What It Means for Energy

by

Thomas Mason

(Former GM of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)

and currently with Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody law firm)

26 April, 5:15-6:15pm

MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)

Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm

Please settle in by 5:10pm

Speaker
Thomas Mason

Tom Mason has 30 years of experience as an environmental lawyer. Most recently, he served as general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) from 2007 until July 2011. Prior to that, Mason was the LCRA’s general counsel.

 

Before joining the LCRA in 1987, Mason served as assistant general counsel for the Texas Department of Water Resources and director of the Water Quality Division of the Texas Water Commission. He was also a partner in a law firm with a statewide practice in environmental and administrative law. Mason's experience includes administrative, regulatory, litigation, and legislative matters associated with water, energy, and utilities.

 

Mason graduated from University of Texas at Austin (B.A., Plan II Honors Program, magna cum laude, 1975), Phi Beta Kappa, Special Honors in English; University of Texas School of Law (J.D., with Honors, 1980), Articles Editor, the Review of Litigation.