People in industry

David A. Gray joined Torch Offshore as general manager of its deepwater operations and deepwater management support.

Charlie Moncla of Moncla Well Services Inc. was installed as president of the Association of Energy Engineers.

Brian M. Ahern was appointed president and CEO of Verano.

Donald Jewitt resigned as president of Veteran Resources Inc. to pursue personal interests. Philip Loudon will assume his duties and responsibilities, in addition to continuing in his role as corporate director.

Minerals Management Services appointed Robert L. Sebastian leasing program manager, leasing activities section, office of leasing and environments, where he is in charge of policy, planning, adjudication and sales.

Philadelphia Gear Corp., a full-service provider of gearing and power transmission solutions, appointed John Maskaluk as general manager of its western region, headquartered in Lynwood, California.

Applanix Corp. appointed Peter Canter to marine products director, based in Toronto, Canada. He will focus on integrating the marine division’s operations with the sales and support infrastructure already in place for its airborne and land product groups. Mark Field is now marine business manager for international operations, based in the UK.

RigNet appointed Andreas Elton to sales director, responsible for domestic and international sales and customer consulting activities for the leading provider of communications networks on drilling rigs.

John McManus will manage Gibson Tube Inc.’s new office in Houston, Texas.

Mauricio Garrido became Titan Maritime LLC’s newest VP, focusing on supporting its global salvage response mission.

MainTech Maintenance, Inc. appointed John B. Harkins, Jr. as VP sales and marketing, bringing 30 years of experience in oilfield management and engineering positions. Eduardo (Eddie) Peters was promoted to operations manager, headquartered in Morgan City, LA. Dennis Calloway joined the company as Gulf Coast Accounts Manager. He will manage select Gulf Coast accounts.

Ron Johnson joined Rally Energy as corporate development VP. Mel Trethart joined as general manager, Egypt operations.

Robert Hollier, former president and CEO of Osca, and Steve Brading, former CFO of OSCA, will join Pinnacle Energy Solutions as owners and directors of the company.

Grant Prideco elected Michael McShane president and CEO and to the board of directors.

The Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAgCOE) elected John Bodin, Delmar Systems, Inc., to serve as chairman of LAGCOE 2003. Other newly elected officers are co-chairman, Alfred Thomas II, president and COO of PetroQuest Energy; Francis Brossard, production manager of Operators and Consulting Services Inc., treasurer. Sally Ware continues as event manager / director.

Thales Navigation Professional Products appointed Neil Vancans general manager of its newly formed Professional Products Strategy Business Unit.

JDR Cable Systems appointed Pat Herbert as group chief executive of JDR Cable Systems (Holdings) Ltd.

IOGCC elected North Dakota Governor John Hoeven the new chairman, Russell J. Harding, director of the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality; the current IOGCC second vice chairman will become vice chairman.

Nexen Petroleum U.S.A. Inc. named John "Mike" Glynn as engineering and development VP. Brian Reinsborough was promoted to exploitation VP. Purvis "Jay" Thrash was named deepwater development director. Mike Wells assumed the role of exploitation manager, and John Wagner assumed the role of chief geologist.

Albert E. Ferrara, Jr. joined NS Group as corporate development VP.

Rex Alman was named senior VP of Algeria and managing director of Anadarko Algeria Co. LLC. Mark Pease will replace Alman as U.S. operations VP. Tony Mayer will replace Pease as international and Alaska operations VP.Wood Group Pressure Control appointed Jorge Cela to Latin America regional manager, responsible for identifying and penetrating new opportunities.

Robert R. Austin established his firm to provide independent business development, marketing, sales and management services.

4outh Australian-based Beach Petroleum NL appointed Reg Nelson managing director.

Bruce Wilkinson assumed Robert H. (Bobby) Role’s duties as Jay Ray McDermott’s COO.

Gavin Hills-Jones joined Geotrace Technologies as new business director. Pamy Virdi joined as reservoir geophysicist of its UK subsidiary.

William C. Nolan, Jr. was elected chairman of the board for Murphy Oil Corp., succeeding Madison Murphy, who will remain on the board and serve as chairman of the audit committee.

Richard C. Haut, was named director of engineering group at the Houston Advanced Research Center.

James Pappas, deepwater production systems coordinator for Devon Energy Corp., was elected chairman of Gulf Coast section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

A. Rae Campbell was appointed VP of business development for Triton Projects Inc.

Friede Goldman Halter Chairman T. Jay Collins assumed the role of CEO as well.

Frank Bonner joined Knight Oil Tools as quality of service manager.

Eni appointed Vittorio Mincato CEO. The firm also set up an oil and gas committee comprising Alberto Ciô and Dario Fruscio.

Frank’s assigned Robert Gilbert to administration and sales VP.

Enventure Global Technology named Michael L. Terse as chief operations officer.

Board Chairman Jürgen Dormann assumed the operational leadership of ABB, to speed up effective implementation of the company’s strategy. Jörgen Centerman has resigned as president and CEO.

Javad Mortazavi, senior structural engineer, has joined EDG’s Houston-based office as a project manager. He brings 20 years of experience to EDG in civil / structural engineering to the firm, including offshore structural analysis, design and project management.

Michael Coffield joined Vanco Energy Co. as manager of affiliates. He will assume commercial management of the firm’s international affiliates and will be instrumental in establishing and managing affiliate companies with government, state oil companies and industry partners. Deane Pierce joined as chief drilling engineer.