Marcel van Poecke has more than 30 years of experience in the Energy sector.

He is the Chairman of AtlasInvest, a private holding company he founded in 2007.

AtlasInvest is engaged in investments across the broad energy spectrum.

He is Chairman of Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP). Previously he was Head of CIEP from 2014 – 2022. CIEP focuses on the energy sector outside North America with a particular focus on oil and gas: upstream, midstream, downstream and oil field services.

Marcel van Poecke is also the Chairman of ONE-DYAS, Chairman of VARO, Vice Chairman of CEPSA, Co-chairman of TES, Vice Chairman of Energy Intelligence Group and non-executive Director of Discover Exploration, Assala, Neptune, SierraCol and Black Sea Oil & Gas.

He also serves on the Board of Trustees of WCS in New York, The Wildlife Conservation Society.

Marcel van Poecke has a degree in Agricultural Business Administration from the University of Wageningen and a Master in Business Administration from the William E. Simon School of Management of the University of Rochester, USA.

Russell Hardy is CEO of Vitol, a global energy company with revenues of over $140 billion and an asset portfolio spanning power, oil, gas production, energy retail and renewables.

Russell has over 30 years’ experience within the energy industry, joining Vitol in 1993 from BP.

He has held a number of trading and management roles in Singapore and London and holds a MEng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London.

Joost Dröge is a Managing Director for Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP). CIEP focuses on the energy sector outside North America. Mr. Dröge is based in Brussels.

Prior to CIEP, he was a partner of AtlasInvest, a private investment company majority-owned by Marcel van Poecke. Between 1999-2007, Mr. Dröge was Director of Corporate Strategy at the refining company, Petroplus, where he had both M&A as well as operational responsibilities. His career in the energy sector started in 1993 as an oil trader.

He has a degree in chemistry from the University of Utrecht (NL).

Jay joined Vitol in 2009 and is focused on investment opportunities in Europe, Africa and Latin America. Prior to joining Vitol, Jay worked in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Global Energy Group. Jay holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

He is currently Investment Director and Partner at Vitol, based in London.

Dev Sanyal is Chief Executive Officer of VARO Energy Group AG, based in Zug, Switzerland. He was appointed to this role effective 1 January 2022.

Prior to this, Dev had a three-decade career with BP plc including over a decade as a member of the group executive committee during which time he was chief executive, alternative energy; executive vice president, gas and low carbon energy; and executive vice president, group strategy and BP’s Europe and Asia regions.

Dev joined BP in 1989 and held a variety of international roles in London, Athens, Istanbul, Vienna and Dubai. He was appointed chief executive, BP Eastern Mediterranean in 1999 prior to his appointment as chief executive, Air BP International in 2003. In 2006, he moved to the role of head of the group chief executive’s office. He was appointed group treasurer in 2007. During this period, he was chairman of BP Investment Management and was also accountable for the group’s aluminum interests.

Dev is an independent non-executive director on the board of M&G plc; a member of the advisory board of the Centre for European Reform and the board of overseers of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, where he obtained a master’s degree in economics and politics. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute.

He was an independent non-executive director of Man Group plc (2013-2022); a member of the energy advisory board of the Government of India (2017-2023); Accenture Global Energy Board (2012-2018); Global Council of the International Crisis Group (2012-2020); Vice Chairman, Centre for China in the World Economy, Tsinghua University (2014-2019); The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation Business Leaders Group (2012-2015); and Trustee of Career Ready (2007-2013).

Ernestina Benedetto joined VARO’s M&A and Strategy team in 2018. She brings more than 10 years of experience in M&A, strategy and corporate development across different industries and geographies (Europe, Asia and Latin America).

She started her career in M&A advisory in Argentina, and then moved to corporate development and strategy roles in Singapore and Switzerland.

She holds a degree in Economics and an MBA from INSEAD.

Rick Klop joined VARO in 2015 as part of the merger with Argos, where he had been on the Board of Directors since 2009. Rick brings 17 years of experience in the mid- and downstream oil business, where he has held different leading and directing roles in Supply Trading & Bunkering, Strategy & Investments and Finance (CFO).

His main areas of expertise are within oil, trading, commodities, oil logistics, oil marketing, retail, M&A, finance, risk management and general management. After his role as Country Manager, where Rick was leading VARO’s activities in Benelux and France, as well as looking after the Retail Strategy for the Group, he took on the role as Chief Financial Officer in June 2020. In this role he oversaw the company's financial operations. As of December 2023, Rick has been appointed EVP and Chief Operating Officer, Markets and Commercial, where he continues to drive the company's growth and operational excellence in its commercial activities.