Board of Directors
Karen Simon is newly retired from J.P. Morgan as a Vice Chairman in the Investment Bank with over 35 years of corporate finance experience with the firm.
Most recently, Ms. Simon headed up Director Advisory Services, a newly established client service at J.P. Morgan focused on public company directors. From 2004 to 2016, Ms. Simon worked with private equity firms in J.P. Morgan’s Financial Sponsor Coverage group and was promoted to head the European group in 2007 and the North American group in 2013.
Ms. Simon held a number of other senior positions previously, including Co-Head of EMEA Debt Capital Markets and Head of EMEA Oil & Gas coverage. Ms. Simon spent 20 years of her career working in London and is a dual US/UK citizen.
She currently sits on the boards of Aker ASA in Oslo, an industrial investment company, and the Texas Woman’s Foundation, a non-profit charity focused on the needs of underprivileged girls and women across Texas. Ms. Simon graduated from the University of Colorado and has Masters degrees from Southern Methodist University and from the American Graduate School of International Management.
Mr. Rigas is a founding shareholder of Energean. He is a Petroleum Engineer with a combination of oil & gas and investment banking experience.
He has been the CEO of the Group since 2007 and has led Energean to successful listings on the London Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and a couple of transformational deals, namely the acquisition of the Karish and Tanin fields, offshore Israel, in 2016, and the acquisition of Edison E&P in 2019. Under his leadership, Energean has been able to secure $3bn financing for its projects and become the first E&P company in the world ever to commit to becoming a net zero emitter by 2050.
Being a leader of a rapidly growing E&P group, Mr. Rigas won the ‘Executive of the Year’ at the Oil and Gas Council’s Awards of Excellence in 2018.
Prior to setting up Energean, Mr. Rigas spent 18 years in investment banking and private equity investments in oil & gas, project finance and shipping (Capital Connect Value Partners, Piraeus Bank’s Shipping Investment Banking division). As Vice President of Shipping, Energy & Project Finance at Chase Manhattan Bank in London (1993-1999), Mr. Rigas arranged financing in excess of US$5 billion, mainly in the oil & gas sector.
He holds a Degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSc / DIC Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College.
Mr. Benos has extensive experience of working on international projects in the oil & gas sector, both in banking and industry, with a long track record of upstream financings in emerging markets.
He joined Energean from Standard Chartered Bank, where he worked as a Director in their London Oil & Gas team to deliver a number of significant projects and acquisitions in Africa, Asia and Middle East.
Mr. Benos previously worked for ConocoPhillips, where he held positions in European Treasury, North Sea Economics and International Downstream, with a focus on the North Sea, Central Europe and Middle East business. Mr. Benos began his career with Royal Bank of Scotland.
He is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) and holds an MSc in Shipping, Trade & Finance from Cass Business School.
Mr. Bartlett has over 30 years’ experience in the upstream oil and gas industry with most of that time spent in emerging markets. He has spent 11 years as an investment banker in the City and subsequently 5 ½ years in the Private Equity business and was the former Global Head of Oil & Gas Mergers and Acquisitions and Project Finance at Standard Chartered Bank plc.
He currently advises an African private equity group, Helios Investment Partners LLP on their oil investments and sits on the boards of several public and private companies in addition to running his own advisory business.
He currently is a Non-Executive Director of Africa Oil and Impact Oil & Gas. He heads the Audit Committee of the former and sits on the Audit Committee of the latter, while he is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination / Governance committees of both companies. He is on the Advisory Board of Upside Energy, who manage an EU funded initiative to discuss energy security issues for the EU. He was previously Chairman of Azonto Energy (ASX listed) and a NED of Eland Oil & Gas (AIM listed).
Prior to that Mr. Bartlett worked for Royal Dutch Shell for 21 years, having helped to establish Shell Capital after a long international management career as a Petroleum Engineer. Postings with Shell included offshore North Sea, The Netherlands, Somalia, New Zealand, Syria and London. He was a qualified Corporate Finance and Futures and Options Representative with the FSA.
He holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London.
Mr. Topouzoglou is an entrepreneur with more than 35 years’ experience in founding and growing companies in the energy transportation sector.
He is a founding partner of Energean. He is also the principal shareholder and founder of Prime and serves as Chief Executive Officer since 1999, a predecessor of PRIME Tanker & PRIME Gas, a worldwide leading international product tanker and gas carrier management company with a fleet of modern product tankers.
Mr. Topouzoglou also serves as Chairman of the board of First Lease Ship Trust, a listed shipping trust on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
He holds a BA in Business Administration and Economics from the University of Athens, Greece.
Martin began his career as petroleum geologist in 1979 and since then has worked worldwide for nearly 45 years, managing all forms of enterprise in the energy industry.
He earned a BSc in geology from Newcastle University and an MSc in petroleum geology from Imperial College, London.
He retired from BG Group in 2014 as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director after 32 years and since then has been a member of many Boards in many jurisdictions.
In October 2024, he stepped down as Executive Chairman of Tellurian Inc, following the sale of the company. He is a Non-Executive Director of Energean, BUPA Arabia, and CC Energy.
He is a Senior Advisor at Moelis and Company, is on the Advisory Board of Radia Inc, the mega-wind company, and Energy North, a green ammonia company.
Martin is a Merryck mentor and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
He’s on the Advisory Board of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York and the International Advisory Board of Newcastle University. He is an invited member of the National Petroleum Council of the United States.
Kimberley Wood is a legal professional with 20+ years’ experience and a specialist in M&A and the energy sector.
She is General Counsel & Company Secretary at Storegga, a developer of carbon capture, storage and hydrogen projects. She was previously a partner and Head of Oil and Gas for Europe and the Middle East at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. Throughout her career she has advised a wide range of companies in the sector, from small independents through to super‐majors. Ms. Wood was also previously a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP from February 2011 to April 2015 and an associate at Dewey & LeBeouf LLP as well as a former Deputy Chair and SID for Gulf Keystone Petroleum. She is included in Who’s Who Legal Energy 2023.
Ms. Wood is currently an independent Non‐Executive Director of Africa Oil Corp. Ms. Wood also Chairs of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee for Africa Oil Corp.
Ms. Wood is a dual British / Canadian citizen. She undertook her LLB at the University of Edinburgh and has an LLM in Public International Law from University College London.
Mr. Persianis was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director in July 2020. Mr. Persianis is an experienced Non-Executive Director with over 30 years’ international financial markets experience in Central Banking, Asset Management and Corporate Strategy.
He is currently the Managing Director of Nomuscapital Investments Ltd in Cyprus, a regulated Alternative Investment Fund Management company that sets up and manages private funds for a diverse range of private and institutional clients. Before that he was Founder and Managing Director of Centaur Financial Services, a discretionary portfolio management company with presence in the UK and Cyprus.
He has served as a Non-Executive Director at Central Bank of Cyprus (2014–2019), Bank of Cyprus PLC (2013) and Hellenic Bank PLC (2020-2024). He previously worked as a Senior Manager at Bain & Company (London), one of the world’s largest strategy consulting firms. He holds an Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA, Major in Finance & Investment Banking) from the Wharton Business School.
Sayma Cox is a highly accomplished energy executive with 27 years of global experience, predominantly in upstream oil and gas, spanning safety, production operations, and asset optimisation. A Petroleum Engineer by background, she has held senior leadership and executive positions at bp, ConocoPhillips, Maersk Oil, and Petrofac, as well as CEO-level leadership in the midstream sector.
She has a proven track record of delivering strategic transformation, operational excellence, and value creation across multi-billion dollar portfolios. Her expertise includes non-operated joint ventures, private equity-backed investments, and large-scale asset collaborations.
As Senior Vice President at bp, Sayma led the company’s extensive Non-Operated Joint Ventures (NOJV) portfolio, overseeing 400 assets across 60 countries. She was instrumental in optimising asset performance, driving strategic growth, and maximising value across bp’s global NOJV business.
In addition to her depth in safety and operational leadership, Sayma has significant experience in energy transition, including Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), positioning her as a key leader in shaping the future of sustainable energy.