Team

Leadership Backed by Experience

Apex is led by a world-class management team with a proven track record of delivering exploration, development and production projects across multiple geographies. Many of our senior management team played a significant role in the success of one of the largest oil producers in Egypt and subsequently established Apex attracted by the opportunities for a well-funded, experienced operator in the MENA region.

Our management is guided by a supportive and experienced Board that includes Apex
executives, Bluewater and independent Directors with substantial industry and regional experience.

Executive Management

Apex International Energy is led by industry veterans with extensive experience growing profitable upstream oil and gas assets, with a particularly strong track record in Egypt.

Click on the pictures below to learn about the depth of our experienced team

Thomas M. Maher

Thomas M. Maher
President and CEO

Houston Management

Bob Milius

Bob Milius
Chief  Financial Officer

David A. Pivnik

David A. Pivnik

Vice President – Geosciences

Nicolas Evanoff

Nicolas Evanoff
General Counsel and Vice President, Commercial

Frederico Ribeiro

Frederico Ribeiro
Director of Geology

Jacob Owolabi

Jacob Owolabi
Manager of Strategic Planning and Business Analysis

Egypt Management

Keith R. Dowling

Keith R. Dowling
Apex Vice President for Engineering
PF General Manager & Managing Director

Raed Saba

Raed Saba
Apex Deputy Country Manager & Exploration Manager
PF Board Member

Dalal Hanno

Dalal Hanno
Regional HR and Administration Manager

Ihab Ismail

Ihab Ismail
Apex Sr. Finance Manager
PF Deputy Finance General Manager & Board member

Ali Soliman

Ali Soliman
Apex Regional Drilling Manager
PF Deputy Operations General Manager

Mohamed Ghareeb

Mohamed Ghareeb
Apex Sr. Information & Communication Technologies Manager

Ashraf Elmanawy

Ashraf Elmanawy
Apex Sr. Contracts & Procurement Manager

Taher Gado

Taher Gado
Apex Health Safety & Environmental Manager
PF Deputy HSE General Manager

Mahmoud El Khamissy

Mahmoud El Khamissy
Apex Projects Manager
PF Deputy Projects General Manager

Board of Directors

Apex International Energy benefits from an experienced Board of Directors

Click on the pictures below to learn about the directors

Roger B. Plank

Roger B. Plank
Founder & Chairman

Thomas M. Maher

Thomas M. Maher
Director

Rod J. Eichler

Rodney J. Eichler
Director

Amr Diab

Amr Diab
Director

Ihab Toma

Ihab Toma
Director

Graeme  Sword

Graeme Sword
Director

Luc Grillet

Luc Grillet
Director

  • Thomas Maher joined Apex International Energy in May 2016 as President and COO, and became the CEO based in Cairo in May 2022. Prior to joining Apex, he held several senior leadership positions in his thirty-year career with Apache Corporation in the USA, Australia and Egypt. His teams enjoyed success growing production and reserves in all three countries.

    Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Massachusetts, a master’s in geology from Miami University (Ohio), and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He is an American Association of Petroleum Geologists Certified Petroleum Geologist.

    Tom is a past Chairman and current member of the Egypt Oil & Gas Executive Committee and a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt Oil and Gas Committee. He previously served on the Board of Governors for the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, and Board of Trustees for the Community Services Association in Egypt, and Cairo American College.

     

  • Robert “Bob” Milius joined Apex in October 2017 as Chief Financial Officer with over 20 years of global corporate finance and investment banking experience.

    Prior to joining Apex, Bob served in banking roles as a for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and has lived in the Middle East providing M&A and capital raising services to public and private companies and Government related entities throughout the energy and power value chain.  He has also worked in other banking roles and was based in New York.  In addition to strategic advisory and corporate finance work, Bob has experience in complex structured and project finance transactions in the energy sector, including both in the MENA region and elsewhere around the world.

    Bob received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • davidpivnik

    Dave Pivnik serves as Apex’s Vice President – Geosciences and New Ventures and Deputy Exploration General Manager of Farah Petroleum Company.  He brings nearly 30 years of geotechnical and leadership experience, including 10 years spent in Egypt.

    Prior to joining Apex in 2016, he served in many geo-technical and leadership positions around the world with both majors and independent exploration and production companies. He discovered and developed several significant new oil and gas fields while in Egypt and Australia, and has played key roles in exploration and development efforts in the North Sea, SE Asia, Rocky Mountains and west Texas.  Dave has also managed geotechnical subsurface teams, including specialists focused on petroleum systems and geomechanics. His experience and skill set spans exploration and development, and his new ventures experiences are geographically wide-ranging, including MENA, SE Asia, Europe and Oceania. He has authored and co-authored numerous geotechnical papers, serves as an Associate Editor for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and has taught geology at the university level.

    Dave holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from the State University of New York at Fredonia, a master’s in geology from the University of Rochester, and a PhD in geology from Dartmouth College.

  • Nicolas Evanoff joined Apex as General Counsel and Vice President, Commercial in July 2022, after serving as outside general counsel and company secretary since December 2019.  Prior to joining Apex, he served as general counsel and chief legal officer for publicly traded companies on the New York, Johannesburg and London stock exchanges engaged in petroleum exploration and production in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Republic of Georgia and Kazakhstan.  Nick also has experience in senior executive and legal positions in the international offshore drilling industry, including leadership of the Asia/Middle East regional legal function for Transocean, based in Jakarta, Indonesia and general counsel of Vantage Drilling.   His thirty-year legal career began in Houston, Texas with the law firm of Baker Botts, LLP.

    A chemical engineering graduate of Texas A&M University, Nick studied law at the University of Houston Law Center, where he graduated magna cum laude, then studied international law in Germany as a Fulbright scholar.  His primary expertise is in corporate and securities law, mergers and acquisitions, finance, corporate governance and commercial agreements in the petroleum sector.

  • Frederico “Fred” Ribeiro joined Apex in December 2016 as Director of Geology and has over 30 years of broad geoscience experience, including five years based in Egypt.

    Prior to joining Apex, he was a global new ventures and exploration independent consultant. He has also served in several managerial and technical positions around the world with a variety of exploration and production companies (majors, independents and NOC).

    Fred holds a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from the School of Mines of the Federal University of Ouro Preto (EM-UFOP), Minas Gerais, Brazil, a master of science’s degree in remote sensing from the National Institute of Spatial Research (INPE), São Paulo, Brazil and a doctorate in structural geology and tectonics from EM-UFOP in cooperation with the Royal Holloway University of London. He is a member and a certified petroleum geologist of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

  • Jacob Owolabi joined Apex in February 2017.

    Prior to joining Apex, he served in multiple finance and operations analyst roles with various upstream E&P businesses.

    He received a bachelor’s degree from Rice University.

  • Keith Dowling joined Apex in May 2016, and was appointed Vice President Engineering – Egypt in August 2019. He previously served as Vice President Business Development and Reservoir Engineering for Apex.  Keith has over 35 years at other independent E&P companies in various technical and management roles in various basins around the world and in the US in both conventional and unconventional resources.  Keith has extensive experience in Egypt – both Western Desert and Gulf of Suez operations.

    He received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University. Prior to attending Texas A&M, Keith received his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Bradley University.

  • Raed Saba joined Apex in May 2017 as Deputy Country Manager and Exploration Manager and brings over 29 years of experience working with Shell in geoscience and leadership roles; including assignments in Egypt, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands. Prior to joining Apex, he was the Government Relation Manager and Senior Country Advisor and was the Shell Egypt Exploration Manager prior to that position.

    Raed also served in Total and Western Geophysical in different technical assignments.

    He received his bachelor’s degree (with Honors) in geology and geophysics from Cairo University.

  • Dalal Hanno joined Apex in June 2016 as Regional HR and Administration Manager – Cairo and prior to Apex, she served at Apache Egypt and was the Manager for Public Relations and Deputy Human Resources Manager. Her responsibilities included promoting corporate values and the company image to enable business success. This helped staff the region with the right person in the right position. She also managed HR functions related to policy, payroll, mentoring, etc. and represented the company in business activities with other companies in the industry and the national oil company regarding HR and Administration. Dalal was instrumental in guiding the company and helping bridge the cultural differences in a multi-national company.

    Prior to her time at Apache, Dalal worked for Elf Aquitaine Egypte, Flopetrol and Phoenix Resources Company of Egypt.

    She holds a bachelor’s degree in French literature from Ain Shams University and a Diploma in Human Resources Management from the American University in Cairo.

  • Ihab Ismail joined Apex in February 2017 as the Accounting Manager and became Sr. Finance Manager at Jan 2022. Prior to joining Apex, he served as the finance manager in foreign oil companies and as a board member of the joint venture operating companies operating in Egypt including Tri Ocean Energy, EnQuest and Statoil Egypt. He has also worked for Apache Egypt, Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, Qarun Petroleum Company and Coopers & Lybrand Including assignments in Algeria, Azerbaijan, and Norway.
    He brings 32 years of experience with strong knowledge in oil & gas finance, accounting, tax, ERP system implementations and procurement. Ihab had been responsible for multi-fund budgets ranging from $10 million to $600 million.
    Ihab holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ain Shams University, and certificates in accounting, finance, HSE & management from the University of North Texas(Houston), Southern Methodist University(SMU-Dallas), American Management Association(NYC) and Statoil Academy.

  • Ali Soliman joined Apex in November 2017 as Regional Drilling Manager and brings over 35+ years of experience with drilling and operations. Prior to joining Apex, he was managing a consulting business. Prior to his consulting services he served as the Drilling Manager Tethys Petroleum Limited (Dubai-Tajikistan). Ali has also worked for Energean Oil & Gas, Oil Search, Regal, Tullow, Merlon, Reed Hycalog, Phoenix Resources, Khalda Petroleum Company and Suez Oil Company.

    Ali received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Cairo University.

  • Mohamed Ghareeb joined Apex in November 2016 as Regional IT Manager , and became Regional Sr. Information & Communication Technologies Manager in Jan 2022. Prior to joining Apex he was the Regional IT Manager MEA region for Medtronic, the global medical device giant. He has also worked as a Senior systems administrator for Apache Egypt and has experience in other industries such FMCG, Technology and pharmaceutical.

    Mohamed has been successful aligning business and technology through applying best industry practices, improved standards, governance and effective communication and continuous service improvement.

    Mohamed Ghareeb received his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Tanta University, ITIL Expert Certificate in IT Service Management and Project Management Professional from PMI Institute. Mohamed has several professional, IT and leadership certificates from Microsoft, Cisco and Axelos.

  • Ashraf Elmanawy joined Apex in January 2018 as Contracts & Procurement Manager and brings over 28 years of experience. Prior to joining Apex, he served as the Contracts Manager for GUPCO, Petzed, BP Egypt and NPC.

    Ashraf received his bachelor’s degree in commerce from Ain Shams University. He is a full member of CIPS UK, has paralegal knowledge of work-related matters, qualified to join CIArb UK, along with numerous other certifications in the contracting and supply chain disciplines.

    Ashraf is a member of the CRCICA Panel of Experts, assigned as co-Arbitrator for a CRCICA case, and volunteer founder and vice-chair of CIPS Egypt Branch.

  • Taher Gado joined Apex in May, 2019 as Health, Safety and Environmental Manager. Prior to joining Apex, Taher was working as a Consultant with the HSE Capacity Building Program initiated by the Minister of Petroleum as part of the Egyptian Oil and Gas sector modernization program.

    He began his career as a MWD/LWD Field Engineer for five years then started a career in HSE in 2001 with British Gas in Egypt and later Transglobe in Egypt along with several temporary international assignments.

    Taher received his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Alexandria University and master’s in environmental, health and safety management from University of Portsmouth. He also earned a post graduate diploma in safety, risk and reliability engineering from Heriot Watt University and a national general certificate from NEBOSH in the UK.

  • Mahmoud El Khamissy joined Apex in April 2021 as Projects Manager bringing over 39 years of experience in International Projects Management and Controls. Prior to Apex, he worked for Shell International for 23 years as Projects Manager and Project Services Manager in Houston, Malaysia and Egypt. Prior to that he worked for ADNOC in Abu Dhabi and ENPPI in Egypt as a Project Manager.

    Mahmoud received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo. He is a PMP and completed an 18 months Post Graduate Study in Project Management in Russelsheim, Germany.

  • RogerPlankPicture

    Roger Plank founded Apex and served as CEO from inception thru April 2022. He now serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors. His previous experience included several senior executive positions, including CFO and later President, over thirty plus years, at Apache Corporation. Roger was actively involved in building a significant and profitable upstream business with a balanced portfolio of assets and an international footprint spanning six different countries. 

    Roger previously served on the Board of Directors of Newfield Exploration and Parker Drilling where he was Lead Director. He also currently serves on the board of Houston’s Alley Theatre.

    He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Colgate University in 1979 and his MBA from St. Thomas University in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minn. in 1982.

  • Thomas Maher joined Apex International Energy in May 2016 as President and COO, and became the CEO based in Cairo in May 2022. Prior to joining Apex, he held several senior leadership positions in his thirty-year career with Apache Corporation in the USA, Australia and Egypt. His teams enjoyed success growing production and reserves in all three countries.

    Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Massachusetts, a master’s in geology from Miami University (Ohio), and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He is an American Association of Petroleum Geologists Certified Petroleum Geologist.

    Tom is a past Chairman and current member of the Egypt Oil & Gas Executive Committee and a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt Oil and Gas Committee. He previously served on the Board of Governors for the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, and Board of Trustees for the Community Services Association in Egypt, and Cairo American College.

     

  • Rod Eichler was previously Executive Vice President and Executive Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of Apache Corporation having spent over 20 years with the company.

    He served as Apache’s country manager in Egypt for 10 years. This included the discovery of Apache’s largest ever conventional field (Qasr field) and doubling the Company’s gross operated production in Egypt to over 330,000 boed in less than five years. As Apache’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Rod was responsible for all worldwide operations including five North American and four international business units.

    Rod received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a certified professional geologist, and a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.

    Rod has served as a director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and the U.S.-Egypt Business Council.

  •  

    Diab_Amr_5479Amr Diab is a Managing Partner at Cailon Capital, a private investment vehicle and an Advisory Director at Morgan Stanley International. He was previously a Managing Director and Co-Head of Investment Banking for the Middle East and North Africa at Morgan Stanley based in Cairo and Dubai.

    Amr began his career at Morgan Stanley Investment Banking in New York in 1992. During his tenure he was part of the president’s office working on strategic transactions for Morgan Stanley.

    He moved to London with Morgan Stanley Investment Banking before leaving in 2000 becoming a founding partner in Bessent Capital, Walter Capital and Cheiron Capital. He rejoined Morgan Stanley in 2007.

    Throughout Amr’s career, he has been involved in several major transactions in the US, Europe and Middle East, specifically in Egypt.

    Amr is a Fulbright Scholar and received his bachelor’s in Economics from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and his master’s degrees from Columbia and London Business School.

  • Ihab Toma currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Vantage Drilling. He also currently serves as Board Director for Apex International and 3T/Drilling Systems and sits on the Executive Board of Directors of IADC, International Association of Drilling Contractors.

     Mr. Toma has over 35 years of experience in the oilfield industry, spanning many functional positions, including line-management, sales and marketing, Geoscience information solutions, operations, HR, and R&D.

    He has previously served as a Senior Advisor to First Reserve Corporation and in various executive capacities and leading positions at Transocean and Schlumberger.

    His positions with Transocean included Executive Vice President – Operations, Executive Vice President – Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President – Marketing and Corporate Planning.

    Prior to Transocean, he spent 23 years with Schlumberger at various management and functional positions with global and regional responsibility and with assignments in Europe, North America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Most notably Ihab served as President of Schlumberger’s Information Solutions business  and as VP Sales and Marketing for Oilfield Services – Europe, Africa and Caspian.

    Mr. Toma began his career with Schlumberger in 1986.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt.

    Previous Directorships: AGR Group (Vice Chairman), Engström & Engstöm (Chairman), Fara-Rever and Paradigm Geophysical Corp.

  • Graeme Sword is a co-founding Partner of Bluewater. Graeme has particular expertise in the worldwide oil and gas reserves and oilfield services sectors of the industry.

    He has over 20 years of private equity experience. Prior to joining Bluewater, he was Partner and Head of Oil & Gas at 3i, a UK-based private equity firm. Prior to joining 3i in 1995, Graeme was a Brand Manager at Unilever. Graeme holds a M.A. (Hons) degree in Geography and Political Science from the University of Dundee.

    Mr. Sword is currently a board member of Apex International, Siccar Point Energy, Wellesley Petroleum, Mime Petroleum, Unique Maritime Group, 3t and ROVOP.

  • Since April 2020, Luc Grillet has been the Chief Operations Officer working as IFC’s Regional Head of Operations (RHO) for the Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) region, at headquarters in Washington DC.

    From April 2015-March 2020, Luc Grillet served as Senior Manager overseeing IFC’s investment & advisory activities in Central America & Caribbean based in Panama. He holds a Doctorate in Economics and MA in International Economics from Universitaet Konstanz, Germany, and MBA from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

    Luc Grillet has nearly 3 decades of international finance experience, including more than 20 years with IFC and several years with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and the Inter-American Development Bank’s private sector department.  His scope of experience includes multiple roles focusing on infrastructure, manufacturing, services, and energy and extractive industry sectors in areas of business development, debt and equity investment structuring, portfolio supervision, advisory services, and credit risk management, and covering multiple regions (Europe & Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, East Asia Pacific, South Asia, and LAC) previously based in Frankfurt am Main, Caracas, Washington DC, Lima, Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Istanbul, and Panama.