I am the managing director of Dar&Company in Bethesda, MD. We provide business advice and corporate governance coaching to presidents, CEOs, and chairmen of energy and utility companies. Our clients have ranged from the largest utility holding, energy finance and energy technology companies in the world to energy funds, operating start ups, spinoffs and near IPOs. We offer no advice on securities of any kind and recommend no companies (other than as transactional, merger, acquisition or investment partners for clients). I have been in the energy industry since my college days at MIT, where I got my start in energy at the MIT Energy Lab as a graduate student in the mid-late 1970s. I hold degrees in engineering, corporate finance/international business (MBA) and applied economics (doctoral). I have served on the boards of 5 publicly traded energy operations and energy consulting firms. I have been CEO of 2 natural gas and electricity operations, marketing and trading companies. I have also founded strategy and risk management practices at 2 major energy consulting companies. I regret not providing company specific investment ideas or indications in my articles. This is owing to my wife’s federal government responsibilities and the nature of my professional activities.