Company
We knew there should be a better way.
So we built one.
With decades of collective experience in O&G data, we knew there was a lot to be desired. Happy with the status quo, the big companies were prone to inertia, maintaining a top-down business model with little interest in innovation. We knew there was better data to be found, better research to be made, better analysis to be applied and better service to be delivered. So we built a solution from the ground up, specifically and uniquely dedicated to meeting the needs that others ignore at your expense.
Welligence offers a more powerful flow of data—deep, granular data, continually updated and combined with unparalleled analytics and quality research, served up by the smartest and most responsive analysts in the industry.
Management Team
Deep expertise and serious intellectual firepower.
When it comes to data science, we have an industry-leading interdisciplinary team of Harvard professors, petroleum engineers, and computer scientists who have published more than a dozen papers on AI.
Ross Lubetkin
Ross Lubetkin
At Wood Mackenzie, Ross led the company’s research expansion into Brazil, and worked with and advised governments, E&Ps, investment banks, and buy-side clients.
Ross holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Seth Neel
Seth Neel
Dr. Neel co-founded Welligence Energy Analytics in 2016. From 2016-2021 he served as CTO overseeing all engineering and data science teams. Currently he serves as CDS, where he focuses on implementing data science best practices and strategic objectives.
In addition to his role at Welligence, he holds a tenure-track position on the faculty of Harvard Business School, where he leads research in machine learning and teaches data science. In 2017, he was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, and in 2019, he was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list in the Energy category. Dr. Neel holds a B.S. with Honors in Mathematics from Harvard, and a PhD in Machine Learning from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ivan Cima
Ivan Cima
Ivan is part of the Welligence founding team and oversees the execution of the company’s strategy and business development.
Before joining Welligence, he was the Global Head of Research Operations at Wood Mackenzie and, for five years, Head of Latin America Research. Prior to that, Ivan worked in the investment banking division of a leading Central European bank where he advised on transactions in the energy and consumer goods sections.
Ivan holds a B.S. with Honors in Economics and an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University.
Alberto Bullrich
Alberto Bullrich
Alberto joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2020 as Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to Welligence, he spent 15 years as Vice President at Wood Mackenzie, where he was the head of commercial operations for all of Latin America. He worked closely with the region’s NOCs, governments, E&Ps, and financial institutions. Prior to assuming this responsibility in 2005, he managed key accounts across Spain, Portugal, Germany and Austria for Wood Mackenzie in Europe, and spent six years with Cambridge Energy Research Associates, where he was a Director and Co-Head of the Latin America team.
Alberto holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Suffolk University and a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Management from Harvard University.
Ruaraidh Montgomery
Ruaraidh Montgomery
Ruaraidh joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2018, where he oversees all global upstream research. Prior to Welligence, he spent 13 years at Wood Mackenzie, covering Latin America’s upstream and corporate sectors, as well as the US Gulf of Mexico. He also worked for Hess in its UK North Sea business unit, gaining experience in well and facilities engineering.
Ruaraidh holds a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Pablo Medina
Pablo Medina
Pablo is part of Welligence’s founding team and currently serves as Head of New Ventures. He leads the regional and thematic expansion of the research coverage. Before joining Welligence, he spent six years as part of Wood Mackenzie’s Latin America research team.
Pablo played a prominent role in Mexico’s 2013 Energy Reform design and implementation, co-authoring the “Mexico and the Energy Revolution” whitepaper, quoted in the President’s bill. He speaks frequently at industry forums and shares his views with the media, and is a member of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders and the Mexican Council of Foreign Affairs.
Pablo holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sam Rastin
Sam Rastin
Sam joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2021 as Chief Technology Officer. As a software engineer and a tech leader of more than 20 years he has a successful track record in mentoring and recruiting top-notch engineering teams, introducing quality improvement, privacy, and security initiatives, and helping drive acquisitions. His prior roles include Director of Engineering at Sidecar, Director of Software Engineering at A.C. Moore, and Acting CTO at Benefits Data Trust.
Sam holds a B.S. in Biology from the George Washington University.
Akash Sadashivapeth
Akash Sadashivapeth
Akash joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2018 and leads the company’s Data Science efforts. Akash develops and maintains the data pipelines, algorithms, and analytics that form the backbone of the company’s products. He has particular expertise in building interactive data visualizations, where he has contributed to open source RShiny packages.
Akash holds a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in Data Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rhona McFarlane
Rhona McFarlane
Rhona joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2021 as a Vice President of Business Development in London. Prior to joining Welligence, she spent 11 years in different business development and marketing efforts across various energy research firms in Europe. Over this period, she has been a key player for Enverus, Westwood Global Energy Group, Argus Media and Wood Mackenzie, developing relationships and creating partnerships across the energy value chain, including with E&Ps, NOCs, financial institutions, and trading houses across the EMEA region.
Rhona holds a BSc (Hons) from Edinburgh University.
Derek Boulware
Derek Boulware
Derek joined Welligence in 2021, based in Cape Town, South Africa, to lead the Sub-Saharan Africa research team. Prior to Welligence, he was a Senior Manager at both Deloitte Consulting and PwC, leading the Africa oil & gas teams. He also worked with Wood Mackenzie, both as a Senior Petroleum Economist and as a Client Training Consultant, functioning across all aspects of the energy value chain. He has over 20 years of professional working experience and has delivered projects in 22 countries.
Derek holds a Master of International Business, B.A. in International Studies and a B.B.A., both from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
Andres Armijos
Andres Armijos
Andrés is an energy professional with over 15 years of experience in the Management Consulting, E&P and Oil Field Service industries, all focused on Latin America. Based in Houston, Texas, he has extensive knowledge of the region and has worked with NOCs, IOCs, and OFS companies in areas including strategic planning, forecasting, negotiation strategy, energy policy analysis and economic/financial modeling. In his last role, he led the strategic planning group at Halliburton’s Assets under Financed Service Contracts in Ecuador, as well as supporting new ventures across Latin America.
Andrés holds a B.S. in Operations Management with a minor in Engineering Studies from Carnegie Mellon University.
John Corr
John Corr
John joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2021 as Head of North Sea. Prior to Welligence, John led commercial analysis on the New Ventures team at Afentra (formerly Sterling Energy), including global opportunity screening and asset valuations.
John also spent eight years with Westwood Global Energy, eventually leading the Northwest Europe consulting team. He led both buy and sell side commercial due diligence and asset valuations on behalf of IOCs and private equity firms, largely focused on the North Sea upstream and midstream sectors.
John holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology from University College Dublin, Ireland and an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Martin Sherriff
Martin Sherriff
Martin joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2021 and leads the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) upstream research team. Prior to joining Welligence, Martin worked for IHS Markit for seven years, where he managed a team covering upstream asset valuation and marine support vessel tracking in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent regions. Martin possesses a wealth of expertise in Middle East upstream supply forecasting, cost modelling, country risk, LNG, and fiscal analysis.
Martin holds a Masters of Science in Geology from Southampton University.
Denise Hogg
Denise Hogg
Denise joined Welligence in 2020, bringing with her a wealth of Customer Service and Energy Industry experience. She currently serves as the Vice President of Customer Success, focused on ensuring that Welligence’s clients receive maximum value from their subscription and time.
Prior to joining Welligence, Denise worked for Wood Mackenzie for 18 years in a variety of Customer Service roles, the most recent being Director of EMEARC Customer Focus, where she led a team of professionals supporting NOC’s, E&Ps and Financial Institutions.
Denise holds a BSc (Hons) in Rural Resource Management from Napier University, Edinburgh.
Andre Fagundes
Andre Fagundes
Andre joined Welligence in 2018 and oversees the company’s coverage of Brazil, amongst other countries in Latin America. Prior to Welligence, he was an Associate Director at IHS Markit, leading the Latin America Upstream Research team’s regional coverage, and a Vice President at Barclays Investment Bank. He also worked at the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and numerous E&P companies in Brazil, including Galp Energia, Starfish Oil & Gas and Vale Oil & Gas.
Andre holds a B.A. in Economics from Queens College, an M.B.A from IE Business School, and a Master of Energy Economics from Rice University.
Matt Synder
Matt Synder
Matt joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2020 and oversees the US Gulf of Mexico upstream research. With over 25 years in the industry, he possesses extensive experience in upstream strategy, supply forecasting, valuations, and benchmarking. Prior to Welligence, he spent 14 years at Wood Mackenzie, heading up the US Gulf of Mexico and onshore Lower 48 research teams. He has also worked for numerous E&P companies focused on the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Matt holds a B.S. in Geological Sciences, with a specialization in Geophysics, from Penn State University.
Obo Idornigie
Obo Idornigie
Obo joined Welligence in 2020 to lead Welligence’s upstream coverage of Nigeria and Ghana, and support business development efforts across West Africa. Prior to joining Welligence, he spent 12 years with Wood Mackenzie as an Africa-focused analyst and later as a corporate analyst. Obo had previously worked for two years with the Nigerian government. He has authored reports on issues relating to gas monetisation in West Africa, the outlook for the offshore facilities market, and benchmarking fiscal terms in West Africa.
Obo holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Geology and Mining from the University of Jos, Nigeria and an MSc in Oil and Gas Economics from the University of Dundee, Scotland.
David Thomson
David Thomson
David joined Welligence Energy Analytics in 2020 as Vice President of Sub-Saharan Africa. With 20 years of experience in oil and gas research and analysis, he has worked on numerous consultancy projects and has extensive experience advising Governments, E&Ps and investors. Prior to Welligence, he worked for Wood Mackenzie for 14 years, covering the Sub-Saharan Africa upstream sector, Global Exploration, and the Latin America upstream sector. He started his career at Standard and Poor’s Platts covering European product markets and the North Sea.
David is a graduate of the University of St. Andrews.
David Moseley
David Moseley
David joined Welligence in 2021 as Vice President of North Sea. Prior to Welligence, David spent 11 years at energy research firms Hannon Westwood and Westwood Global Energy. Most recently, he was Senior Analyst and Reports Manager in the NW Europe team, where he was instrumental in creating and delivering a wide range of North Sea focused E&P analysis to upstream, midstream and investment companies. He has also worked extensively with government and regulatory bodies, delivering insights through both subscription products and bespoke consulting mandates. David is currently Communications Director for the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB).
David holds a Masters in Geoscience (Hons) from Keele University.
Advisors & Investors
Jeffrey Harris
Jeffrey Harris
Jeffrey Harris is the founder of Global Reserve Group, an investment and advisory firm focused on the energy industry. Additionally, he is a Venture Partner of Quantum Energy Partners, an energy-focused private equity firm, and serves on Quantum’s Investment Committee.
Prior to founding the Global Reserve Group in 2011, Mr. Harris had been at Warburg Pincus since 1983 where he was a senior partner at the firm and the Head of its Energy Group. While at Warburg Pincus, he was directly involved in advising over 30 companies around the world and overseeing over $4 billion of equity investment. He has significant experience investing in and working with companies in exploration and production, oilfield services, power generation, software and cleantech.
He currently serves and has served on the Board of Directors of over 50 private and public companies including Antero Resources, Avaya, Bill Barrett Corp., Kosmos Energy, Laredo Petroleum, Newfield Exploration, RigUp, Rockcliff Energy, Serica Energy and Sheridan Production.
Between 2005 and 2017, Mr. Harris was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business where he taught courses on venture capital, innovation and entrepreneurship. He received a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Ferris Hussein
Ferris Hussein
Ferris Hussein is a Managing Director at the Carlyle Group focused on global infrastructure and energy opportunities. He is based in Washington.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Hussein served as a Vice President of ExxonMobil where he oversaw acquisition strategy. Prior to ExxonMobil, Mr. Hussein served as an attorney for the Republic of Iraq and, prior to that, for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Mr. Hussein currently serves on the Board of Directors of SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SMHI). He received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Robert Israel
Robert Israel
Robert Israel currently serves as a managing member of One Stone Energy Partners private equity fund. The fund is focused on investments in natural resources, primarily oil and gas, and related businesses.
Previously, Mr. Israel was a Partner at Compass Advisers, a transatlantic strategic advisory and private investment firm. During his time at Compass, Mr. Israel was the Head of the firm’s energy practice. He has been involved in a wide range of energy related engagements, principal investments and corporate finance, including exclusive advisory to Lukoil on the formation of its strategic relationship with ConocoPhillips.
Prior to joining Compass in May 2000, Mr. Israel was the Head of the Energy Department of Schroder & Co. Inc., where he advised companies in all segments of the energy industry. Notable assignments include Conoco Inc. management on its separation from Dupont Inc., which resulted in the largest IPO, to that date, in U.S. history.
Mr. Israel has been directly involved in several energy related investments including Venture Production Company, Brasoil Do Brasil, Hart Energy, Canyon Offshore Company and Suelopetrol C.A.
Currently, Mr. Israel is a Director of BlueCrest Energy, an Alaska based oil and gas company; Yoho Resources Inc., a Canadian exploration and production company; and API, Inc. a company which manufactures secure equipment for U.S. and foreign government agencies.
Mr. Israel holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Middlebury College. He served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Latin America and West Africa.
Michael Kearns
Michael Kearns
Michael Kearns is a Professor and National Center Chair in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, with secondary appointments in the departments of Economics, Statistics, and Operations, Information and Decisions of the Wharton School. He is the Founding Director of Penn’s Warren Center for Network and Data Sciences, as well as the Penn Program in Networked and Social Systems Engineering. His research includes topics in machine learning, algorithmic game theory, computational social science, and quantitative finance and algorithmic trading.
Mr. Kearns spent a decade at AT&T Bell Labs, where he was the Head of the AI department, which conducted a range of systems and foundational AI and machine learning research. He has also consulted extensively in the technology and finance industries.
Mr. Kearns studied math and computer science at UC Berkeley, and completed his Ph.D. in computer science at Harvard University in 1989. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory.
Stephan Farber
Stephan Farber
Stephan Farber is the founder and CEO of Sound Post Capital, LLC, a multi-family office with a focus on energy, real estate and media.
Previously, Mr. Farber was a Director at Deutsche Bank. He also held similar roles at BAML and UBS. Prior to his career in banking, he worked for many years in the entertainment industry. He has worked with companies such as Columbia Records and Sony Classical and with artists David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and Philip Glass.
Stephan received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Oberlin College, where he serves on the President’s Advisory Council.
An avid supporter of the arts, Stephan serves on the boards of Arco Collaborative (established by internationally renowned violinist Jennifer Koh) and Ojai Music Festival. In his free time, Stephan enjoys collecting and playing pre-war Gibson mandolins.
Alexandre Nogueira
Alexandre Nogueira
Alexandre Nogueira heads the international investment efforts of the J. Mendes Investment Office, a single family office based in Brazil. His experience includes over a decade of private equity investing, having executed deals in Europe, Latin America and the United States.
Prior to J. Mendes, Mr. Nogueira worked in Business Development at TRX Investments, where he structured acquisition and development projects in real estate. Prior to TRX, Mr. Nogueira worked in the Portfolio Management Group at Goldman Sachs, where he managed discretionary investment funds for private clients.
Mr. Nogueira received a degree in Industrial Engineering with honors from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil, a Master in Finance with high honors from HEC Paris, an M.A. in International Studies from the Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Donald E. Zilkha
Donald E. Zilkha
Over the past 30 years, Mr. Zilkha has been involved in strategic advisory, leveraged buyouts, restructurings, recapitalizations and reorganizations both as a principal and a third-party adviser. He began his career in 1973 with J.P. Morgan where he gained expertise in structuring tax incentivized investments, restructuring bank credits and M&A advisory. In 1981, Mr. Zilkha joined James D. Wolfensohn, one of the first investment banking boutiques, where he served as a senior member of the firm’s M&A advisory team, and as a General Partner of Wolfensohn Venture Partners.
In 1986, Mr. Zilkha established Zilkha & Company, an investment banking boutique specialized in delivering M&A expertise and strategic guidance to large multinational companies. Through 1994, Zilkha & Company originated or participated in transactions valued at over $3.5 billion. In 1994, the company entered the private equity/venture capital business, focusing on seed capital and restructuring opportunities. In 1998, Mr. Zilkha established Zilkha Capital Partners private equity fund, and in 1999, Mr. Zilkha established and raised funding for Zilkha Venture Partners, which focused on seed stage companies. In 2006, Mr. Zilkha founded Zilkha Partners. The firm pursues a constructive activist approach to the implementation of value-creating strategies for small-cap public companies.
Mr. Zilkha received a B.A. with honors from Wesleyan University and serves as a Trustee Emeritus of Wesleyan University. He has served on the Board of Directors of Electronic Retail Systems and was the Chairman of Colt’s Manufacturing Company.
