Speaker Profiles
Dan Pickering, '94 (Speaker) '94
Co-President, Head of TPH Asset Management, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
http://www.tudorpickering.com
Dan Pickering is the Co-President of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., a ~145 person Houston-based energy investment and merchant banking firm with offices in New York, London and Denver. He is currently the Chief Investment Officer and oversees TPH's energy-focused fund business - TPH Asset Management (TPHAM).
Dan has spent 20 years as an energy portfolio manager, researcher and analyst, first at Fidelity Investments (where he managed ~$1 billion of energy sector funds), then as Head of Research at Simmons & Company and as the founding partner of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
He began his career as an engineer and financial analyst at Arco Alaska and has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from the Missouri University of Science & Technology and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
William A. Von Hoene, Jr., JD '80 (Speaker) '80
Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Exelon Corporation
http://www.exeloncorp.com
William A. Von Hoene, Jr., oversees corporate development, corporate strategy, legal, regulatory, government affairs, investments and communications for Exelon, the nation's number one competitive energy provider. He previously served as executive vice president, Finance and Legal, of Exelon. Von Hoene joined Exelon in February, 2002 and has held numerous positions before assuming his current responsibilities in February 2012. He serves on Exelon's Executive Committee and is a member of the Boards of Directors of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, the Alliance to Save Energy, the Bipartisan Policy Center Energy Project, the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago and the Board of Advisors of Flying Food Group.
Prior to joining Exelon, Von Hoene was a senior partner at Jenner & Block, specializing in complex civil and whitecollar criminal litigation. While at Jenner & Block, he served on the management committee and, at various times, as hiring partner and chairperson of the firm's pro bono and diversity committees.
Von Hoene has served on numerous civic and public interest boards of directors. He is past president of the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., and past general counsel to the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Consulting Alliance and the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. He has previously served on the boards of directors of the Chicago Legal Clinic, the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Joffrey Ballet. He also serves on the Visiting Committee of the University Of Chicago Law School, and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Executives' Club of Chicago. In 2010, Bill was appointed to the Department of Commerce National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise. The council serves to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce and the President on a broad range of policy issues affecting the minority business community. In 2011, Bill was appointed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Supplier Diversity Task Force, a procurement initiative designed to help strengthen small and minority and women-owned businesses.
Von Hoene is a 1980 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he served on the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, and a 1976 graduate of Yale University.
Paul J. Gaynor, '93 (Speaker) '93
Chief Executive Officer, First Wind Corporation
http://www.firstwind.com/
Paul J. Gaynor is responsible for the strategic direction and overall management of First Wind.
Mr. Gaynor has more than 20 years of experience in the energy field, encompassing leadership and finance roles in the energy, power, and pipeline sectors. In addition, he has been engaged in several landmark energy and power financings across the globe.
Mr. Gaynor was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Noble Power Assets, LLC, a private equity-backed power acquisition company. Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Singapore Power Group (SP) and Chief Operating Officer of SP International (SPI).
Mr. Gaynor led a comprehensive restructuring of SP and oversaw project development and asset management at SPI. He joined SP as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, where he was responsible for all financial matters, including leading the initial public offering and introducing world-class finance practices into the organization.
From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Gaynor was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PSG International, a pipeline development company owned by GE Capital and Bechtel Enterprises. PSG developed, financed, built, owned, and operated gas, oil, and water pipeline systems across the globe. Mr. Gaynor assisted in the establishment of the company and oversaw financial matters. He was also responsible for acquiring a 32.5% interest in a natural gas system in Mexico and subsequently sat on the board of directors. In addition, he led the fundraising process for the $3 billion TransCaspian Gas Pipeline project in Central Asia.
Before PSG, Mr. Gaynor was Vice President and Manager of Asia Pacific operations for GE Capital's Structured Finance Group (SFG). He was responsible for deal analysis, execution, and internal approvals, leading a team that evaluated over 20 power projects between 1994 and 1998. Mr. Gaynor also led the Group's $400 million investment in Paiton Energy and Quezon Power, and he received internal approval for over $1 billion of projects. He also worked at GE Capital SFG in the U.S. before moving to Asia, and he sold power plants for GE Power Systems prior to attending business school.
Mr. Gaynor holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.