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The team
CITAC's team members are highly enthusiastic about their work. The combined knowledge and experience of our team represents decades of close involvement in every aspect of the energy industry in Africa. All of our personnel have previously worked for Major Energy Companies, Oil Trading, Marketing and Finance Companies and have considerable experience in the energy industry in Africa, as can be seen from their résumés. All of CITAC Africa LLP's permanent employees and the majority of CITAC's associates are fully bilingual in French and English
Members:
Our team
Mark Elliott
Chairman
Mark has 35 years of oil business experience, with an emphasis on trading and refining in Africa. He has worked in the UK, the USA, West Africa, Algeria, Italy and France. His experience includes work with Vitol, Chevron, Gulf Oil, Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Total.
Gary Still
Executive Director
Gary has 25 years of oil business experience in the marketing of Aviation fuels and Oil products gained by trading in Africa. Gary has worked in the UK and West Africa with Trafigura Ltd., Channoil and Shell International Trading & Shipping Co.
David Bleasdale
Executive Director
David has over 20 years senior management experience in downstream oil spent with the Total group, including refining, retail, wholesale/consumer/specialities sales & marketing, distribution and trading. For 6 years he managed Total’s worldwide Marine Fuels and Lubmarine divisions in Paris, prior to which he directed Logistics and Commercial Sales at Total UK. David also headed up product trading for Total in both Europe and Singapore during 10 years in the Trading & Shipping division. He has extensive financial, strategy and audit experience.
Elitsa Georgieva
Manager, Consulting Services
Elitsa has degrees in Economics and Political Science and M.Litt in Middle East Security from the University of Aberdeen. She has experience in consulting services and has worked as an oil market fundamentals analyst, refining sector analyst and macroeconomics analyst for ISI Emerging Markets (a Euromoney company), Petroleum Economics Ltd. (PEL) and KBC Process Technology.
Richard Augood
Database/ICT Manager
Richard has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Leeds and spent many years within the oil & petrochemicals sector working for Platts. Richard also has dealing-room experience from four years spent managing the trading systems for Banca di Roma's London branch. Richard will be primarily focused on the development and maintenance of the CITAC database.
James McCullagh
Consulting Analyst
James joined Citac from a marketing consultancy where he worked with major French companies from a range of sectors. He also has wide experience of North Africa, gained during his time as Press Attaché of the Tunisian National Tourist Office in London and through his university studies. James holds a French and History degree from the University of Warwick and a professional translation/interpretation qualification from the British Institute in Paris.
Chantal Bailly-Chaplin
Finance Manager
Chantal was born in the UK and moved to her Father's native France at the age of eleven where she completed her studies to degree level in modern languages at Poitiers University. In 1989, Chantal set up her own language school and then returned to the UK in 1993 to become a French teacher. She left several years later to oversee the Finance department of an IT support company and then went on to combine her business acumen and experience in Finance when she became Head of Operations at a national property company.
Matthieu Le Moing
Marketing Coordinator
Matthieu joins CITAC having recently completed a double Masters degree in International Business Management from the University of Poitiers and La Rochelle Business School. He speaks fluent French and English and has a wealth of international experience having worked and lived in various countries. He was previously Marketing Assistant for Siyabona Africa Travel in Cape Town.
Isabelle Njoya
Administrative Coordinator
Isabelle was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon where she grew up. She left her home country after her International Baccalaureat in Arts and Languages to do a masters degree in Economics at the Kiev International University of Civil Aviation. Fluent in French, English and Russian, she joined CITAC after 10 years of experience within the travel industry both with airlines and travel agencies occupying several roles such as a Sales and Travel Consultant, Ticketing Agent, Customer Relations, Marketing and PR Officer.
Associate consultants
Suzanne Taylor
Business And Training Consultant
Suzanne has 12 years of experience in the oil industry. She worked in the London trading office of TOTAL S.A. for six years, including two years specialising in Risk Management with the responsibility for planning and delivering management training programmes. In addition to her oil industry credentials, Suzanne is also qualified as a lecturer in adult education. She is a guest lecturer at the IPE (International Petroleum Exchange).
Neil Fleming
Markets And Training Consultant
Neil has 20 years experience in the energy industry. Neil was the Vice-President of Information and Trading Services at Platts, and previously, Editorial Vice-President. Experienced in project management, market design and price discovery, Neil was responsible for Platts' expansion into the power and gas sectors in Europe, and changes in market pricing, including the Brent-Forties-Oseberg Benchmark. A former journalist, he has worked extensively in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the Middle East.
George Dikker Hupkes
Business Consultant
George has 30 years of oil experience in Marketing and General Management. He has worked with Shell International in both East and West Africa as well as in the Far East. George was latterly Change Manager for Shell Oil Products for the North, West and East African regions.
Hugh Goldsmith
Business Consultant
Hugh has 30 years of oil management experience in marketing and logistics with the emphasis on economically disturbed markets in Africa and the Caribbean. He has worked with Shell International in Togo, Haiti, Uganda, Chile, Kenya, Japan, the UK, Hong Kong and Thailand. Most recently Hugh has been operating as Managing Director of Trigon Energy in Ghana.
Robert Cosic
Refining Consultant
Bob is a chartered chemical engineer with over 30 years oil industry experience in Fuels and Lubricants. He has held positions in senior business management, corporate and market strategy development, process engineering, refinery planning and HSEQ with Mobil, Amoco, Murco, Elf and Total in Europe and Africa. He is a guest lecturer at the South African Petroleum Industry Association Development Programme and the Minerals and Energy Education Training Institute.
Mike Blunden
Technology Consultant
Mike is a chartered chemical engineer with more than 37 years experience in the oil industry. He started his career in the chemical industry before moving to contracting and oil refining. He spent more than 20 years with UOP as a sales manager covering Europe, Africa and major oil companies selling process technologies,catalysts and services.
Careers
Here at CITAC we are always eager to hear from interested individuals with the skills and experience to make a positive contribution to our team.
If you think you have something to offer please contact us and tell us a bit about yourself.