VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EGY; LSE: EGY) (“VAALCO” or the “Company”) today announced that Fabrice Nze-Bekale was appointed as a new independent director to the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Nze-Bekale will serve on the Audit, Compensation, Strategic and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. He will stand for election at the Company’s next annual meeting of stockholders. Additionally, Bradley Radoff has resigned from the Board of Directors effective January 28, 2022.
Preng & Associates assisted in the search. “We had great pleasure in working with VAALCO Energy to appoint Fabrice Nze-Bekale to their board of directors,” said Lead Search Consultant, Jozsef Marton. “The energy sector in #Africa is going through a period of great #transformation. It is important that companies operating in the region understand the local environments they are doing business in. Born in Gabon, Fabrice will bring hands on knowledge of growing businesses both in country and across Africa giving VAALCO increased capability to grow their operations responsibly in Gabon and beyond.”
Andrew L. Fawthrop, VAALCO’s Chairman of the Board commented, “We believe that Fabrice will bring a unique perspective to our Board with his significant Board and senior management experience in mining and banking in West Africa that will help support VAALCO in achieving our strategic goals. He has built an extensive network of connections in the U. K. and particularly in Gabon, and has developed a keen understanding of doing business in the region. We also want to recognize Brad Radoff for his service on VAALCO’s Board and we would like to thank him for his insight, expertise and dedication during his tenure. We are excited about the future for VAALCO with the continued development of our interests in offshore Gabon, upside opportunities in Equatorial Guinea and the potential to integrate accretive acquisitions aimed at further strengthening VAALCO and growing shareholder value.”
Fabrice Nze-Bekale has over 25 years of experience in mining, banking, telecoms, M&A and international finance. Mr. Nze-Bekale has served on numerous boards and as a senior executive across his career. He currently serves as an independent director on the Board of Orabank Gabon, where he is also the Chairman of the Audit Committee and serves on the Risk Committee. From 2012 to 2020, he was a member of the Board of the Fonds Gabonais D’Investissements Strategiques, Gabon’s sovereign wealth fund. He has also served on the Boards of several Gabonese mining companies.
Mr. Nze-Bekale has been Chief Executive Officer of ACT Afrique based in Dakar, Senegal since 2017, providing strategic advisory and investment banking expertise to governments as well as to public and private entities in West Africa. Prior to joining ACT Afrique, from 2012 to 2017, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Societe Equatoriale Des Mines, the national mining company in Gabon, which he helped create to manage Gabon’s investments in the sector. Prior to that, he was Director of Investment Banking for Standard Bank PLC based in London from 2008 to 2011 and Finance Manager for Celtel International from 2005 to 2008. Fabrice began his career at Citibank Gabon, where he rose to become the Head of Corporate Banking. Mr. Nze-Bekale is a Gabonese national and holds a Masters degree in Finance and Financial Engineering from the University of Paris-Dauphine (France) with an MBA from the London Business School (UK).
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