Long-Serving IPA Employee Mary Ellen Yarossi to Retire, Nekkhil Mishra Named to IPA EMEA Regional Director Post
Ashburn, Va. (December 19, 2016)— Independent Project Analysis (IPA) is bidding farewell to Mary Ellen Yarossi, one of the company’s very first employees and the co-creator of core IPA programs for improving capital project outcomes. Yarossi will retire at the end of 2016 as the regional director of IPA operations in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Rising to the role of EMEA Regional Director is Nekkhil Mishra, who has been serving as IPA’s Deputy Director of Exploration and Production, with responsibility for overseeing IPA’s upstream work in EMEA.
Yarossi, who led IPA operations in the EMEA region since 2010, grew IPA business in the region and oversaw an increase in the size of IPA’s EMEA regional staff. In addition to sustaining existing IPA relationships with oil and gas and processes owner companies, Yarossi introduced IPA’s suite of capital project benchmarking, evaluation, and research capabilities to many new clients, including independent oil operators, power companies, and groups investing in infrastructure projects. Under her direction, owner companies have convened annually at the EMEA Industry Benchmarking Consortium (IBC) to find out about the cost and schedule competitiveness of their capital projects and to learn about Best Practices for the development and execution of projects.
Prior to taking the reins of IPA’s EMEA operations, Yarossi spent more than two decades alongside IPA Founder and President Edward Merrow building a company that today is recognized globally for its commitment to helping owner companies improve the effectiveness of their capital projects. “Mary Ellen was IPA employee number three and was essential in guiding the development of the company from her earliest days in the company,” Merrow said in an email to IPA staff announcing Yarossi’s decision to retire.
Yarossi and Merrow collaborated to create IPA’s Project Evaluation System (PES®1), the foundation for how IPA performs capital project risk and benchmarking evaluations at every stage in the project life cycle. Yarossi was the principal architect of the IBC, which Merrow described in his note to staff as “the most important bond between IPA and our customers.” In addition to serving as the company’s first chief operating officer, she also is the founding director of the IPA Institute, the company’s education and training arm. Yarossi has said she considers her role in establishing the IPA Institute one of her proudest accomplishments at IPA. The IPA Institute continues to serve as an important part of IPA’s operations today. “Mary Ellen has been enormously influential in the development of the company, and I am thankful for her unequaled service,” Merrow said.
Aside from Merrow and his wife, Loretta, IPA’s Corporate Secretary, Yarossi has been the most tenured member of the IPA Board of Directors, having a seat on the board since 1998. Yarossi has decided to also step down from the board in retiring.
Effective January 1, 2017, Mishra will assume the role of IPA’s EMEA Regional Director. Citing Mishra’s knowledge of regional industry trends, market conditions, and practices that influence capital project outcomes, IPA’s Chief Operating Officer Elizabeth Sanborn said, “Nekkhil has worked with IPA’s core clients across the EMEA region, identifying system and work process gaps that erode the capital effectiveness of projects. He has helped owner companies that must be able to deliver capital projects competitively given today’s unpredictable markets.” In addition, “Nekkhil’s strong familiarity with the issues affecting the oil and gas industry in the North Sea, the Middle East, and West Africa will benefit existing and new IPA clients that seek to improve asset development investments,” Sanborn said.
For the past 2 years, Mishra has served as the deputy director of IPA’s exploration and production business area, helping major oil and gas companies in the EMEA region improve the competitiveness of their asset development projects. Since joining IPA in 2007, Mishra has reviewed more than 60 large-scale projects worldwide for major U.S. and international gas exploration companies. Notably, he was IPA’s lead analyst for the evaluation of the largest oil discovery made on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and also one of the largest gas development projects in the world.
Mishra spent several years working closely with a core IPA client in the region to help its projects performance group achieve a competitive edge in their offshore O&G developments. Separately, he has led the presentation and discussion of oil and gas industry trends reported to owner companies belonging to the IPA-facilitated Upstream Benchmarking Consortium (UIBC).
Mishra is also an instructor with IPA’s education and training arm, the IPA Institute, leading courses on E&P megaprojects. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences on developing and executing capital projects. Mishra recently spoke on the topic of getting megaproject initiation right and megaproject Front-End Loading at the Major Projects Association (MPA) Annual Meeting held in Berkshire, United Kingdom.
Mishra received his Master of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from West Virginia University. He earned a Bachelor of Technology degree in Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology.
About IPA
Independent Project Analysis (IPA), Inc. is the preeminent consultancy in project evaluation and project system benchmarking and has become the industry leader in quantitative analysis of project management systems. The largest oil companies, chemical producers, pharmaceutical companies, minerals and mining companies, and consumer products manufacturers improve their capital project delivery systems using IPA’s consulting and project management training services.
IPA improves the competitiveness of our customers through more effective use of capital in their businesses. It is our mission and unique competence to conduct research into the functioning of capital projects and project systems and to apply the results of that research to help our customers create and use capital assets more efficiently.
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