EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Rob gerhard, chief executive officer
Rob is a Chartered Accountant (SA), a CFA charterholder, and holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering. He founded Riverside Energy in 2010 as a vehicle to develop US oil and gas investments. Riverside made a major step forward in the acquisition of Chevron’s Michigan assets in 2016, supported by a major investment from White Deer Energy. Since then, 9 follow-on acquisitions have made Riverside Michigan’s largest natural gas producer, an employer of over 250 people principally in Northern Michigan, and with company assets in Indiana and the Texas panhandle. Riverside is actively developing its carbon capture and storage (CCS) business that will capture and sequester up to 500,000 tons per annum CO2 from natural gas processing commencing in 2025. Prior to his work with Riverside, Rob worked in accounting and consulting at KPMG, in strategy consulting with Monitor-Deloitte and as founder and CEO of Umbono Capital, the investment group he had started in 1998 and which built a capital base from a portfolio of successful mining venture investments in the 2000s.
Rob symons, chief financial officer
Rob is a Chartered Accountant (SA). He serves as the CFO of the Riverside Energy Group and has been with the firm since 2000 in investment banking, corporate advisory, natural resources investing and operations management roles. Rob has wide experience in the field of finance, including directing economic development programs in third world countries with an international aid organization.
JIM SCHRAMSKI, chief operating officer
Jim holds a BS summa cum laude in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He has a breadth of experiences in asset development and production management in unconventional reservoirs. Jim was hired as a Petroleum Engineer by Atlas Energy to support their New Albany Shale development program in southwest Indiana. He has performed reservoir, production and facilities engineering roles with Chevron North America E&P in the Antrim Shale. Jim focuses on the active operational management of the group’s investment assets.