Ithaca Energy Inc. (“Ithaca” or the “Company”) announces that the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) Iain McKendrick is ceasing active employment for personal reasons unrelated to his role or the Company.
Mr McKendrick will be leaving the Company during October 2013 and will be replaced by Mr Les Thomas, formerly an Executive Director of John Wood Group PLC (“Wood Group”) and prior to that the head of Marathon Oil’s European Upstream Business. Mr Thomas will take up the position of CEO and Executive Board Director on 1 October 2013.
Mr McKendrick has served as Ithaca’s CEO since December 2008, growing and developing the Company into a leading independent mid cap North Sea oil and gas operator.
Following the successful execution and integration of the acquisition of Valiant Petroleum plc and the significant progress and de-risking that has been achieved towards the start-up of the Greater Stella Area development, Mr McKendrick will leave the Company in October 2013.
Mr Thomas has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, in various subsurface, engineering, operational and senior management positions. Until June 2012, Mr Thomas served as a main Board Director of Wood Group and Chief Executive of its Production Facilities business and Group Director responsible for HSE. Prior to this, he spent 22 years with Marathon Oil, including four years as European Business Unit Leader, responsible for Marathon’s upstream business in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway.
Jack Lee, Non-Executive Chairman of Ithaca, commented:
“The Board would like to thank Iain for his enormous contribution and dedication to successfully growing the company from a market cap of under $40 million when he became CEO in late 2008 to over $700 million today. Under Iain’s leadership, Ithaca has established itself as a dynamic North Sea oil and gas company with a very exciting future and he leaves with the full support and best wishes of the Board.
I am pleased to be welcoming Les as Ithaca’s new CEO. He brings a wealth of operational experience that is ideally matched to delivering the next phase of growth for the Company. I am also particularly pleased that the Company has attracted a CEO of such an exceptional calibre and look forward to working with Les on continuing to deliver upon the Company’s existing strategy.”
Press Release, September 27, 2013