Leslie Blair, Director
Mr. Leslie Blair has more than 35 years of upstream oil and gas industry experience principally in Asia and West Africa. He is the CEO of Eland Oil & Gas Ltd. From 1998 he was with the Addax Petroleum Corporation where he held several senior management positions including Managing Director, Middle East (based in Dubai), General Manager, Taq Taq Operating Company (based in Kurdistan, Iraq), and Executive Director Business Development (based in Nigeria). Mr. Blair played a big part in building Addax Petroleum into the largest independent oil company in Nigeria with production rising from 8,000 bopd to over 120,000 bopd in ten years. He was also instrumental in Addax Petroleum’s acquisition of interests in the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone as well as other interests in OPL 291 and the Okwok Field in Nigeria. Addax Petroleum was recently acquired by the Sinopec Group and Mr. Blair resigned his position in January 2010. Prior to joining Addax Petroleum, Mr. Blair was General Manager/Commercial Manager, Hardy Oil and Gas Company in India from 1996 to 1998. Prior to that he was based in Vietnam from 1989 to 1996 initially with Enterprise Oil plc, a major independent oil company based in Ho Chi Minh City, as Finance Manager and latterly as General Manager, British Gas Exploration and Production where he directed the upstream activities and together with a downstream British Gas/BP team produced the first National Gas Master Plan which was subsequently adopted by the Vietnamese Government. Mr. Blair is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and he has a Master of Arts Degree in Economics and Finance from Aberdeen University, Scotland.
Ambassador (rtd.) Howard F. Jeter, Director
Howard F. Jeter has served as a director since April 2005. Ambassador Jeter retired from the State Department in 2003 after a distinguished 27 year career in the Foreign Service. He retired with the rank of Career Minister. Ambassador Jeter served as the United States Ambassador to Nigeria. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, State Department Director for West Africa, President Clinton's Special Envoy for Liberia, and Ambassador to Botswana, respectively. Ambassador Jeter was Deputy Chief of Mission and later Charge d’Affaires, ad interim, in Lesotho and Namibia. He also had multi-year assignments in Tanzania and Mozambique. Ambassador Jeter has lived and worked in Africa for more than 18 years. In 2006, Ambassador Jeter was named President and CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, from which he retired in 2008. Ambassador Jeter also chaired the Africa Advisory Group of the U.S. Export-Import Bank and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Africare and the Center for International Affairs at Morehouse College. In Nigeria, he is an Honorary Board Member of the Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, the Outreach Foundation, and was recently named to the International Advisory Board of the Ken Nnamani Centre for Leadership and Development.
Andrew C. Uzoigwe, Director
Dr. Uzoigwe has served as a director since April 2005. Dr. Uzoigwe started his career with Dow Chemical Company where he held various senior positions in its Walnut Creek Research Center and in its Specialty Chemicals Production Facility in Pittsburgh, California. He joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 1981. During his tenure at NNPC, Dr. Uzoigwe held several senior technical and management positions, including Chief Engineer and Project Coordinator (Petrochemicals), Group General Manager (R&D Division), and Managing Director of NNPC’s Refining and Petrochemicals subsidiaries. In 1999 he was appointed the Group Executive Director (Exploration and Production), a position he held until he retired from NNPC in 2002. Dr. Uzoigwe is a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer and a Registered Professional Chemical Engineer in the State of California. He is also a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow of the Polymer Institute of Nigeria.
Friday Oviawe, CPA, Director
Mr. Friday Oviawe is the Managing Partner/CEO of Jackson Friday CPA, LLC (“the Firm”). He has over 20 years of professional audit and accounting experience. The Firm is involved in providing tax, audit and accounting services to small and medium-sized companies. Prior to establishing the Firm, Mr. Oviawe worked at BDO, Seidman, LLP as a Senior Audit Manager in General Audit Services. Before joining BDO Seidman, Friday Oviawe was a Manager in the New York office of McGladrey & Pullen, LLP where he provided audit and business advice services to middle market companies in both the private and public sectors and not-for-profit organizations including A-133 Audits. Before joining McGladrey & Pullen, Mr. Oviawe spent over six years with Mitchell & Titus, LLP. At Mitchell & Titus, he provided audit and business services to fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium-sized companies. Mr. Oviawe is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Mr. Oviawe is a Chartered Accountant as well as a Chartered Banker. In addition, he holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Finance.
Peter Ntephe, CEO and Director
Mr. Peter Ntephe was appointed Chief Executive Officer of ERHC Energy in April 2010. He had been the Chief Operating Officer and acting Chief Executive Officer since 2008. Mr. Ntephe has been involved in fundamental aspects of the Company's executive management since 2001, having joined initially as Corporate Secretary. His roles have included key participation in the negotiation, securing and maintenance of the Company's oil and gas interests in the Gulf of Guinea. As Chief Executive Officer, he oversees the executive management of ERHC Energy and its subsidiaries. He is responsible for ensuring that the group's strategic objectives are met. Mr. Ntephe has had a career spanning over 22 years, in the public and private sectors. Mr. Ntephe has a Master of Science degree from the University of Oxford. He also has three degrees in law (including one with a specialization in regulatory issues from the University of London) and a degree in management from Brunel University, London. Mr. Ntephe has taught Business Law as part of adjunct faculty in the Business School of the American Intercontinental University, London.
