Tulsa World: SemGroup chooses new CFO

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SemGroup chooses new CFO
A longtime Tulsan is hired as chief financial officer.

KEY POST
Bob Fitzgerald: He will become CFO when SemGroup emerges from Chapter 11 protection.

By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
Published: 11/18/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 11/18/2009 9:40 AM

Complete coverage: Read all the stories and documents related to the SemGroup collapse.

SemGroup LP's choice for chief financial officer is a longtime Tulsan with deep experience in the energy, transportation and accounting fields, company officials announced Tuesday.

Bob Fitzgerald was selected after a monthlong search for SemGroup's second CFO in its nine-year history. He will assume the post when SemGroup emerges from Chapter 11 protection.

"Bob brings more than 28 years of experience dealing with the kinds of sophisticated financial issues that will be critical to SemGroup as we become a publicly traded company," presumptive CEO Norm Szydlowski said in a statement. "His background and talent will make him a tremendous addition to the SemGroup management team."

Fitzgerald will join SemGroup after a yearlong stint as CFO of Windsor Energy Group in Oklahoma City. Before that he worked for Broken Arrow transport firm LinkAmerica Corp., Arrow Trucking Co. of Tulsa, Williams Communications Group and the local PriceWaterhouseCoopers accounting office.

His resume also includes 19 years with BP Amoco in Chicago, Houston, Denver and Tulsa. He earned an undergraduate accounting degree at Western Illinois University and a master's degree in finance at the University of Tulsa.

Fitzgerald's hiring does not need court approval. SemGroup, which declared bankruptcy in July 2008 after amassing at least $2.4 billion in margin losses on failed oil futures trades, has gained court and creditor approval of its reorganization plan and hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 as early as this week.

SemGroup's only other CFO in its history was co-founder Gregory Wallace, who resigned last year amid the company's financial collapse. Wallace, along with co-founders Tom Kivisto and Kevin Foxx, started SemGroup in 2000 and quickly acquired other operations to build it into one of the nation's fastest growing private firms — an oil, gas and asphalt storage and transport behemoth with billions in assets and annual revenue.

By late 2007 and early 2008, SemGroup was becoming cash-starved as the company's short futures positions were devastated in oil's historic run-up to $147 per barrel.

Critics later accused Wallace, Kivisto and Foxx of enriching themselves while the company floundered, noting that three executives combined received more than $70 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation in the 12 months prior to SemGroup's bankruptcy petition.

A Bankruptcy Examiner's investigation, guided by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, accused Wallace and other executives of misleading creditors and obscuring the company's risky trading strategies and cash-flow crisis. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also has investigated events leading up to SemGroup's collapse.

SemGroup has sued Wallace, Kivisto, Foxx and others. They have denied any wrongdoing.

Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search firm, began its nationwide effort to find Wallace's replacement earlier this year. Former Citgo Petroleum Co. executive Philip Reedy was hired in September but resigned as a SemGroup consultant last month before his new employer could emerge from bankruptcy.

Fitzgerald spent three years as Arrow Trucking's CFO before leaving in 2006. From 2000 to 2003, he was vice president of finance at Williams Communications Group, the Williams Cos. Inc. spinoff that filed for its own bankruptcy in 2002.

Szydlowski is serving as a SemGroup consultant and will take over as CEO when the company emerges from bankruptcy. He will replace Terry Ronan, who is leaving after taking over for the displaced Kivisto and guiding the company through Chapter 11.

Rod Walton 581-8457
rod.walton@tulsaworld.com By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Tulsan named as SemGroup's new CFO," which was published on 11/17/2009.

	Report Comment M_Sizzle, Tulsa (11/17/2009 1:14:01 PM) Congrats Bob...sounds like a good gig.
	Report Comment Mar, Tulsa (11/17/2009 1:21:27 PM) I'm glad to see that SemGroup will be up and running again. I hope they succeed.
	Report Comment Benny, (11/17/2009 2:14:38 PM) Great choice! Bob is well respected in the Tulsa community!

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