Integrated Energy Transition Acquisition Corp.
MANAGEMENT & BOARD
Executive Officers
Narinder Singh, 43
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Mr. Singh has more than 12 years of experience in the energy industry as well as extensive experience in other sectors, including finance, management consulting and corporate advisory. He founded Aureus LNG in 2018 and is its sole owner. Through Aureus, Mr. Singh has been involved with multiple ongoing greenfield LNG downstream infrastructure projects across Asia Pacific, in Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. While most of these projects are still at development-to-FID stage, over the course of their development Mr. Singh has gained extensive exposure to a number of Asia Pacific power generation companies and industrial natural gas distributors. Before founding Aureus, from 2013 to 2018 Mr. Singh worked as a Managing Director of Australasia LNG Pty Ltd, a Melbourne, Australia based provider of mid-scale LNG infrastructure under long term contract, which he also founded. Prior to founding Australasia LNG, Mr. Singh served as a Senior Corporate Advisor for Valco Corporation, an Indonesian conglomerate with energy and commodities businesses. Mr. Singh has also served as a Strategy and Planning Director of a consulting firm where he was responsible for structuring and originating deals, banking risk management and management consulting for bio fuels and energy with emphasis on renewable energies. Prior to that, Mr. Singh worked for a Dutch company as a Sales Director for its risk management consulting unit. During his career, Mr. Singh has had extensive experience working with international management consultants as well as with global engineering and financial experts in the area of renewable energies and project financing for large infrastructure/ energy projects. In the banking and finance arena, he has worked alongside notable international consulting and solution providers such as IRIS AG of Switzerland, Capco Consulting and I-Flex Solutions.
Christopher J. Close, 56
Chief Financial Officer and Director
Mr. Close has over 30 years of experience as a senior financial and operating executive with broad leadership experience in various industries (energy, manufacturing, distribution, technology and services) and functions (financial planning and analysis, investor relations, human resources, information technology, legal, mergers and acquisitions, treasury, SEC reporting and accounting). Mr. Close has extensive transactional experience in mergers/acquisitions/divestures, wholesale and retail energy transactions and solar and upstream investments. Most recently Mr. Close worked as CFO for JNG together with Mr. Westerdale, as well as providing various companies independent consulting services centered around raising capital and financial statement preparation and process improvement. Mr. Close previously served as the Chief Financial Officer at Preferred Sands, Inc. a $400 million revenue private equity-backed oil and gas services company. Mr. Close navigated through a depressed commodity price environment culminating in a $700 million financing by KKR Capital Markets and an affiliate of Jefferies LLC. He also led the preparation and confidential filing of a registration statement for the initial public offering of a master limited partnership. Prior to joining Preferred Sands, Mr. Close worked for Exelon and Constellation Energy (now combined) for 10 years, lastly as Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for the Maryland coal generation business and division CFO and VP of Corporate Planning for Constellation’s non-utility businesses where he led the financial, commercial and administrative functions through the merger of Constellation Energy and Exelon, as well as the related divestiture of the coal assets. Mr. Close also served as the Vice President of Finance and Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at Exelon Generation from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Close started his career at the international accounting firm, Price Waterhouse in 1987 and further developed in various roles at ARCO Chemical Company and Airgas.
Richard W. Westerdale II, 55
President, Chief Operating Officer and Director
Mr. Westerdale has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Westerdale previously served as Senior Vice President and on the Board of Directors for Jiangnan Environmental Protection Group Inc., or JNG from 2018 until 2020. JNG is an international corporation that provides customized solutions, technologies and services for environmental air quality and emissions control. Prior to joining JNG, Mr. Westerdale was a Senior Advisor with the United States Department of State from 2011 to 2018 where he advised senior principals, including the Secretary, on the nexus of energy with U.S. national security and international energy policy priorities. Mr. Westerdale’s focus was on international energy affairs and their effect on U.S. business interests. Mr. Westerdale participated in the IEA Governing Board, was an Executive Director of the International Energy Forum and attended the G-7 and G-20 summits as a representative of the United States. Mr. Westerdale represented the Department in a variety of senior-level engagements, including bilateral and multilateral fora, and carried out official visits to advance international engagement, forge cooperation with partner-nations and establish agreements on a range of energy related initiatives. Mr. Westerdale previously worked for ExxonMobil for approximately nineteen years, last as part of a small staff group that reported directly to the Chairman and CEO. The team was responsible for ExxonMobil’s reserve replacement globally and streamlined the corporate approvals process to enable timely responses to market conditions. Prior to that, he held multiple other senior level positions at ExxonMobil, overseas in the Middle East and Australia. He gained extensive commercial and marketing experience by working with host governments and stewarding multi-cultural engagements. While in Abu Dhabi, his duties included initiation of commercial strategies, coordination of internal resources, and development of proposals that included competitive tender submissions as well as direct negotiations. While in Australia, Mr. Westerdale was responsible for overseeing marketing efforts into the Asia Pacific and developed the company’s first equity marketing strategy for LNG. Mr. Westerdale managed natural gas assets in Western Australia and represented ExxonMobil in multiple joint ventures, including leading the commercialization and economic development of the $6 billion Gorgon LNG project. Mr. Westerdale was also responsible for negotiating commercial agreements (joint venture governance and operating agreements) that facilitated resource monetization and worked closely with host governments to obtain necessary approvals to advance projects (i.e., Barrow Island access and royalty structure). He also led a team in evaluating an independent LNG marketing concept, including marketing strategies, which accounted for $30 billion of sales contracts into Asia Pacific that underpinned project development. Mr. Westerdale helped re-established ExxonMobil’s presence in Western Australia, by managing office expansion and staffing efforts. Prior to his tenure in Australia, Mr. Westerdale held a variety of positions in ExxonMobil’s downstream business, as well as engineering and sales assignments. From 2000-2001, Mr. Westerdale had full profit and loss responsibility for the New England Business Unit, which was a held separate company during the merger of Exxon and Mobil, with revenues of two billion dollars and a twenty-six percent market share. This included approximately 1,200 Mobil-branded dealer and distributor outlets in a six states as well as distribution terminals and trucking in the region.
Board of Directors
William Hunter, 53
Independent Director Nominee
William Hunter is an industrial and renewable materials private equity and c-suite professional helping to transition companies in an ESG focused environment. His background includes over 20 years as an industrial and natural resources investment banker with $20 billion in overall transactions, significant experience in public capital markets, M&A and restructuring, and tenure on multiple boards. Since 2016, Mr. Hunter has served as a board member and chairman of the audit committee for The American Battery Technology Company. From December 2017-July 2021, Mr. Hunter served as a Managing Director with AMCI Group and served on a number of AMCI boards. In addition, Mr. Hunter served as President, CFO, and as a board member for Advent Technologies following its business combination with AMCI Acquisition Corp. from February 2021 to July 2021. Prior to the merger with Advent, he served as the CEO and CFO of AMCI Acquisition Corp. from November 2018 to February 2021. From December 2019 to February 2021, he also served as Chairman of the board of directors for Ridley Terminals Inc. From July 2015-December 2017, he was the Managing Partner of Hunter Resources, a consulting firm advising on financial M&A, and capital raising strategy and offering executive management services. At Hunter Resources, he served as Acting Senior Executive for Conuma Resources and Mission Coal and provided strategic guidance on multiple acquisitions and financings with an aggregate value in excess of $1 billion. From 1991-2015, Hunter worked as an investment banker, most recently at Nomura Securities from August 2013-July 2015, where he advised Mitsui in their acquisition of a minority interest in the Moatize Coal Mining complex from Vale and Globe Specialty Metals in their $3.1 billion merger of equals transaction with FerroAtlantica. He previously worked at Teneo Capital from April 2012-July 2013, Dahlman Rose and Company from April-November of 2011, Jeffries and Company from February 2006-April 2011, TD Securities from October 1999- February 2006, BMO Nesbit Burns from March1998-October 1999, Natwest Markets from December 1993-March 1998, and KPMG Peat Marwick from December 1991-December 1993 and has worked with clients in the aerospace, defense, private equity, capital goods, industrials, transportation, metals, and energy sectors. Mr. Hunter received his B.Sc. from DePaul University in Chicago and an MBA with distinction from the Kellstadt School of Business at DePaul University.
David Kanter, 55
Independent Director Nominee
David Kanter has over 30 years of investment banking experience across many industries throughout the world. Since January 2015, Mr. Kanter has served as a Managing Director at Three Keys Capital Advisors, a boutique financial advisory firm in New York. In April 2017, Mr. Kanter joined Lexington Maritime Limited and was a founder of Lexington LNG Limited, where he continues to serve as a director. Mr. Kanter has served in senior roles at various investment banks, including: Lazard Frères & Co. LLC (August 1988?—?June 2001) where he had roles in both the mergers and acquisitions and capital markets departments; ABN AMRO Incorporated (June 2001?—?December 2008) where he served as the Head of Leveraged Finance and High Yield Capital Markets, North America ; Seabury Securities (April 2009-October 2011), where he served as Senior Managing Director and Head of Shipping; and at Sunrise Securities (November 2011?—?January 2015), where he served as Managing Director and Head of Shipping. From September 2014 to July 2015, Mr. Kanter also served as an independent consultant to Asgaard Navigation, a Brazilian owner and operator of offshore support vessels for the oil and gas industry, and, from July to December 2013, as a Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees of Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited, a Romanian property-owning company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Mr. Kanter graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College.
Anita Stefan, 60
Independent Director Nominee
Anita has over 30 years of capital markets experience. She recently retired from Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”) Capital Markets where she was Managing Director and Global Head of Business Services for Global Markets from May 2012 to December 2020. At RBC Capital Markets, Ms. Stefan led a global business services team including Capital Markets IT, Quantitative Services, Business Management, Client Strategy and Analytics and Trade Desk Supervision for Global Markets. Previous roles at RBC included Head of U.S. Commercial Mortgage Securitization from November 2004-December 2009, Head of Term Funding and Securitization from May 2001- October 2004, and Chief Dealer, Corporate Treasury from January 1998-May 2001, where she was responsible for the trading and execution of RBC’s hedging, discretionary trading and investment portfolios. Prior to joining RBC in February 1992, Ms. Stefan worked for Salomon Brothers Asia Ltd, located in Tokyo, Japan. While there, she worked in various sales and business analyst roles from February 1987 through December 1991. Ms. Stefan has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Ontario. She currently serves as a Board Director for Moorelands Kids. Anita completed the ICD Rotman Corporate Directors Education Program and was granted the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.