Sylvia K. Barnes
Ms. Barnes joined KeyBanc Capital Markets as Head of Oil & Gas Investment and Corporate Banking in October 2011 with over 20 years of financial experience and a background in engineering.
Previously, Ms. Barnes was Head of Energy Investment Banking at Madison Williams. Prior to joining Madison Williams, Ms. Barnes served as Managing Director at Merrill Lynch &Co.'s energy investment banking practice. She joined Merrill Lynch as part of the firm's 2006 acquisition of Petrie Parkman & Co. During the six years Ms. Barnes was at Petrie Parkman and Merrill Lynch, she successfully executed a variety of merger, acquisition, and divestiture transactions for energy clients, advised on public and private equity offerings and structured and placed private debt and equity. Prior to joining Petrie Parkman, Ms. Barnes was with Enron Energy Services as Vice President, responsible for executing energy management contracts with large industrial clients, including refineries and chemical companies. From 1994 through 2000, Ms. Barnes worked as Managing Director and Senior Vice President for Nesbitt Burns Securities in New York and Houston, serving as head of the firm's U.S. energy investment banking group. From 1984 through 1993, Ms. Barnes worked for Bank of Montreal in New York and Calgary, specializing in structured finance and corporate banking for energy clients.
Ms. Barnes began her career as a reservoir engineer for a subsidiary of Exxon, and was a licensed petroleum engineer. She received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Dean's List) from University of Manitoba, and a Master's of Business Administration from York University. Ms. Barnes is active in oil and gas industry activities and the Houston community. She currently is a board member of the Houston Energy Finance Group and Chairperson of the Santa Maria Hostel Foundation, and recently served as a board member for the Harris County Houston Sports Authority and the Houston Producers Forum.
Timothy S. Duncan
Tim Duncan is currently the President & Chief Executive Officer of Talos Energy LLC, a new Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico focused company with equity commitments from Apollo Capital and Riverstone Holdings. He co-founded and was Sr. Vice President of Business Development for Phoenix Exploration Company (funded by Riverstone, Pine Brook, Soros), which sold to Apache Corporation in August of 2011. Prior to Phoenix, he was with Gryphon Exploration Company (funded by Warburg Pincus) where he was the principal lead in all of their technical and commercial evaluation efforts and their eventual sale to Woodside Energy in September of 2005. Tim also worked in various reservoir engineering and portfolio evaluation functions for Amerada Hess Corporation, Zilkha Energy Company and Pennzoil E&P Company. Tim has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Mississippi State University and an MBA from the Bauer Executive Program at the University of Houston. He is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, IPAA and Houston Producers Forum. Tim also serves on various local Advisory Boards including the Petroleum Engineering program at the University of Houston.
Allen May
As the VP of Business Development for HighMount, Allen is responsible for leading growth through acquisitions of oil and gas exploration and producing properties. In his role, he spearheads a multi-disciplined business development team that evaluates and closes large acquisitions and mergers.
Prior to HighMount, Allen was the VP of Business Development for Denali Oil & Gas, a private equity backed E&P company focused on South Texas gas and Eagle Ford Oil. Before Denali, he was a co-founder of Elang Energy, an exploration and development company focused on oil and gas investments in Indonesia. As a VP with Samson Investments in the 2000’s, he led the International and Gulf of Mexico business units. Allen also led Amoco’s London based North Sea exploration business in the mid-1990’s, then worked as a senior executive in business development for BP in London and Houston.
Allen began his career as a geophysicist with Amoco in New Orleans, after obtaining a B. S. degree in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1977. Today, he serves as an industry advisor to the Colorado School of Mines.
