– UK, London – Baron Oil Plc (LON: BOIL), the oil and gas exploration company, today announced the appointment of John Wakefield as independent non-executive Chairman and the appointment of Jon Ford, previously non-executive Director, as Technical Director, both with immediate effect.
Andy Yeo, who was previously Managing Director, now becomes Chief Executive of the Company with immediate effect.
These announcements follow the retirement of Dr Malcolm Butler, Executive Chairman, who has served the Company in both executive and non-executive roles since 2015. His departure from the Board will take effect from today’s date but he will continue to act as an Advisor to the Company until 31 March 2021.
“After a long and distinguished career in the Oil & Gas industry including five years with Baron Oil, at the age of 72 Malcolm has decided to step down from public company involvement to concentrate on his voluntary sector and academic interests. He is Founding Chairman of the UK Onshore Geophysical Library, a registered charity that provides open access to an extensive database of geological and geophysical information on the subsurface of onshore Britain, and a Director of its academic offshoot, the Beneath Britain research group, based at Oxford University,” said Chief Executive Andy Yeo.
He added: “On a personal note, having worked closely with Malcolm over the last decade both at Wessex Exploration and Baron, I will miss his wise counsel and good humour, as well as his willingness to share his prodigious technical expertise and experience. I join the Board in acknowledging with much gratitude the significant contribution he has made to Baron and we wish him the very best in the next chapter of his life.”
About John Wakefield
John is an experienced quoted company director and corporate adviser, having previously worked at several nominated adviser firms. He qualified as a solicitor with McKenna & Co and was a lecturer in law at the University of Newcastle before moving into corporate finance, first with Williams de Broë Limited and then at Rowan Dartington & Co Limited, where he was a founder director, shareholder and head of corporate finance. He was a corporate finance director of WH Ireland Limited from 2009 until 2016. He is currently a non-executive director at Drumz plc (AIM: DRUM.L), The Eternal Business Consultancy Limited, and Ovation Finance Limited. He has been a member of the AIM Advisory Group, chairman of the London Stock Exchange Regional Advisory Group for the South West, and chairman of South West Angel and Investor Network Limited.
John Wakefield said “I am passionate about working with quality, growing companies and in finding the best solution to fit their business requirements, whether that is funding, advising on transformative transactions or acting as a sounding board with input on strategy and tactics on commercially sensitive issues. I am now putting into practice the experience I have garnered from the past 30 years and am very much looking forward to working with the team at Baron.”
He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Oxford. John will assume the role of Chair of the Remuneration and Audit Committees.
About Jon Ford
Jon has more than 39 years’ experience in the upstream oil and gas industry in a variety of roles in petroleum geoscience and senior management. He has been involved in successful exploration, development and production projects in the UK, Netherlands, Romania, Tunisia and Indonesia among others. Following an initial 10 years with BP in the UK, Jon has worked worldwide in the junior sector as a senior technical manager for listed oil companies including Clyde Petroleum, Paladin Resources and Stratic Energy, and advised multiple clients as a consultant. He has been a non-executive director of Baron Oil since April 2019. Jon has a BSc in Geology & Geophysics from Durham University and is a Fellow of the Geological Society.
For more information: https://www.baronoilplc.com/
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