Trading positions

PPL promotes Simmons to CRO

US utility PPL has named Matt Simmons as vice-president of risk management and chief risk officer. He replaces Vijay Singh, who is resigning from the company.

Simmons has been vice-president and corporate controller at PPL for three years and has more than 20 years of auditing, accounting and risk management experience, including positions at Duke Energy and Reliant Energy.

New Board Member for RWE Supply & Trading

Alan Robinson has been appointed to the newly created position of chief commercial officer (CCO) for commercial asset optimisation at RWE Supply & Trading. Robinson will remain head of short-term position management in the UK, which will be renamed commercial asset optimisation for power and cross commodity UK. In his new role he will be responsible for the commercial optimisation activities of RWE Supply & Trading.

Robinson joined RWE Supply & Trading in 2004 as the director of UK markets and took over responsibility for short-term position management within the UK in 2005.

Credit Suisse expands in commodities

Mi-Sonn Kim has been appointed as head of commodity investor sales for Europe at investment bank Credit Suisse. Kim will be based in London and will report to Kamal Naqvi, global head of commodity investor sales. Kim joins from Barclays Capital, where she was responsible for commodity investor solution sales for Germany and Austria.

BoA Merrill Lynch makes key hires

Mark Elliott has been promoted to the global general counsel of global commodities at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Before the merger, Elliott worked as head of legal in the EMEA region for Merrill Lynch commodities.

Merrill Lynch’s global commodities business is centred in London, Houston and Singapore, and Elliott leads a team of 22 lawyers in all three locations. He also sits on the senior executive management committee of Merrill Lynch’s commodities’ business. The bank has also hired Sander Press as managing director and head of coal trading for Europe and Asia. Based in London, Press is expected to join the company towards the end of December, where he will report jointly to David Goodman and Rob Jones, co-heads of global commodities.

Press joins from BHP Billiton where he was responsible for the company’s coal positions globally, including price risk management and all trading activity.

FC Stone hires Harrod

Tricia Harrod has been announced as vice-president of credit and risk administration at Kansas-based commodity risk management company FCStone.

Harrod will be responsible for the establishment, enforcement and oversight of the company’s credit policies and practices for exchange-traded commodities and OTC markets. She will report to Pete Anderson, president and chief executive of FCStone, and will replace Dennis Stuart, who has been appointed managing director of FCStone in Brazil.

Harrod joins from Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCP&L), where she was director of risk management.

Wall Morris appointed CEO of DMCCA

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCCA) has named Malcolm Wall Morris as the new chief executive officer (CEO). He will replace David Rutledge, who is retiring.

Previously, Wall Morris was CEO of Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX). DMCCA is the majority shareholder of DGCX, and Wall Morris will continue to play a key role in the development of the exchange. A replacement CEO has not yet been appointed.

Management changes at EPRI

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California, has appointed Carolyn Shockley as vice-president of the fossil generation sector, which provides information, processes and technologies to improve the reliability, operational and environmental performance, and efficiency of the new and existing fossil-fueled generating fleet.

Prior to joining EPRI, Shockley was general manager of power company GE Energy’s performance services projects.

Bryan Hannegan, the current vice-president, will lead an expanded renewable energy effort at EPRI that will focus on improving the cost and performance of current and emerging renewable generation technologies.

Hannegan will also continue to lead EPRI’s Environment sector, which provides research related to the generation, delivery and use of electric power.

Crédit Agricole expands renewables

Marc-Philippe Botte has joined Crédit Agricole Private Equity as an investment manager in the renewable energy business unit, dedicated to investments in companies and projects in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors through its fund Capenergie.

Before joining Crédit Agricole, Botte was director of the M&A department of Fortis Bank in Paris, where he was responsible for several transactions within the renewable energy sector.

Corbould appointed head of metals

Standard Chartered Bank has appointed Ben Corbould as head of metals trading in Asia. He will be based in Singapore and will report to Jeremy East, global head of metals trading. Corbould joins from Barclays Capital where he was head of metals trading in Asia. Prior to that, he was a metal derivatives trader at Macquarie Bank in London, New York and Sydney.

GTE adds to senior management

Florida-based energy company Gas Turbine Efficiency (GTE) has hired Alessandro Boursier as business development director for oil and gas industry. Boursier will lead and manage business development operations from GTE’s newest international office in Florence, Italy, which is set to open in October 2009. Prior to joining GTE, Boursier worked within General Electric’s oil and gas division.

John Duff has been appointed to GTE’s senior staff and will be responsible for business development and strategic power generation initiatives. Duff has been in the power industry for 32 years, most recently as senior vice president of Entegra Power Group.

Aon expands renewables practice

Risk management advisory company Aon has appointed Peter Lewis to the renewable energy practice of Aon Power. Peter will join the team, led by Tom Sexton, in early 2010. He joins from Marsh where he had a focus on offshore wind and servicing large UK construction projects.

Armajaro hires for new ag business

Commodities and financial services company Armajaro has appointed Adrian Brickell, Henry Morriss, James Nuttall and Anil Dharan to its new softs and agricultural commodity business, Armajaro Derivatives.

All four join from the commodities group at JPMorgan and have extensive experience trading and structuring bespoke hedging strategies. Brickell and Morriss will also join the board of Armajaro Derivatives.