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Movers and shakers: Top executive moves in Houston energy transition of 2023

year in review

Promotions, corporate ladder climbing, and other top mover and shaker stories on EnergyCapital this year. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: As the year comes to a close, EnergyCapital is looking back at the year's top stories in Houston energy transition. From new board seats to internal promotions, this year marked a big one for some of Houston's energy leaders. Here were the top five most-read articles covering the mover and shaker news of 2023 — be sure to click through to read the full story.

Global consulting firm names new Houston energy practice leader​

Alvarez & Marsal announced the appointment of Jay Johnson as senior adviser to its energy practice. Photo via alvarezandmarsal.com

A top global professional services firm named a Houston-based energy leader amid industry evolution and regulatory changes.

Alvarez & Marsal, or A&M, announced the appointment of Jay Johnson as senior adviser to its energy practice.

“I enjoy bringing together teams of people to solve the complex challenges facing companies today,” Johnson says in a news release. “I’m looking forward to working with A&M’s energy team to build leadership and capabilities to address industry challenges.”

Click here to read the article from November.

Houston carbon storage solutions company names new energy transition leader at pivotal time of growth

Graham Payne, the new director of energy transition at Caliche Development Partners II, is bullish on Houston. Photo courtesy

Graham Payne sees a bright future for the multibillion-dollar energy transition economy in Houston.

“It’s been said that Houston is poised, like no other city, to lead the energy transition. And I’d have to agree, because we have all the requisite natural resources, industry, and talent,” says Payne, the new director of energy transition at Houston-based carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) company Caliche Development Partners II.

Caliche and other Houston-based energy transition companies secured $6.1 billion in private funding last year, up 62 percent from 2022, according to the Greater Houston Partnership.

Click here to read the article from October.

Investment banking firm launches cleantech group, names Houston-based co-leader

Moelis hired Arash Nazhad as Houston-based managing director and co-head of its newly formed clean energy technology group. Photo via rice.edu

A Houston investment banker has been tapped as co-leader of a new team at investment bank Moelis & Co. that will mine the energy sector for cleantech deals.

Publicly traded Moelis said September 7 that it hired Arash Nazhad as Houston-based managing director and co-head of its newly formed clean energy technology group. Nazhad joins Moelis from financial services giant Citigroup, where he was managing director of its clean energy investment team. He worked at Citigroup for nine years.

During his tenure at Citigroup and, before that, Norwegian energy company Equinor (which operates a Houston office), Nazhad helped carry out more than $50 billion in M&A advisory activities and helped raise over $40 billion in capital for clients. He’s been involved in the rollout of more than 20 IPOs.

Click here to read the article from September.

Houston energy transition leader joins California company's board with investment

Bobby Tudor has joined the board of an energy tech company. Photo via Houston.org

A Houston business leader has taken a seat at the table of a San Francisco-based tech company.

Puloli, an IoT solutions-as-a-service company has announced an investment from, Artemis Energy Partners, a Houston group founded by Bobby Tudor. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With the transaction, Tudor joins Puloli's board of directors, bringing expertise from a storied career in energy transition from his roles at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. and the Greater Houston Partnership.

"Bobby brings a tremendous amount of credibility and energy industry insight to Puloli and complements what Jodi Jahic and Aligned Partners bring to Puloli," Kethees Ketheesan, CEO of Puloli, says in a news release. "Bobby's endorsement of Puloli solution will be a big boost in accelerating our growth."

Click here to read the article from July.

Energy exec to take the reins of the Greater Houston Partnership

Steve Kean will transition from leading Kinder Morgan to assuming the role of president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership later this year. Photo courtesy of the GHP

A longtime energy executive has been named the next president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership. He'll take on the new role this fall.

The GHP named Steve Kean, who currently serves as the CEO of Kinder Morgan Inc., to the position. He's expected to transition from CEO to board of directors member at Kinder Morgan on August 1. Kean will then assume his new position at GHP no later than Dec. 1.

Dr. Marc L. Boom, GHP board chair and president and CEO of Houston Methodist, made the announcement at a press conference June 21.

“Steve brings incredible business acumen and leadership skills to the organization," Boom says in a statement. "Coupled with an extraordinary passion for Houston, he will build on the Partnership’s momentum to continue to advance greater Houston as a region of extraordinary growth and opportunity.”

Click here to read the article from June.

Moelis hired Arash Nazhad as Houston-based managing director and co-head of its newly formed clean energy technology group. Photo via rice.edu

Investment banking firm launches cleantech group, names Houston-based co-leader

new hire

A Houston investment banker has been tapped as co-leader of a new team at investment bank Moelis & Co. that will mine the energy sector for cleantech deals.

Publicly traded Moelis said September 7 that it hired Arash Nazhad as Houston-based managing director and co-head of its newly formed clean energy technology group. Nazhad joins Moelis from financial services giant Citigroup, where he was managing director of its clean energy investment team. He worked at Citigroup for nine years.

During his tenure at Citigroup and, before that, Norwegian energy company Equinor (which operates a Houston office), Nazhad helped carry out more than $50 billion in M&A advisory activities and helped raise over $40 billion in capital for clients. He’s been involved in the rollout of more than 20 IPOs.

“Moelis is very well-positioned to help clients navigate the far-reaching implications of the energy transition that is underway,” Nazhad tells EnergyCapitalHTX. “Houston is a major player in the cleantech ecosystem, and I’m thrilled to join Moelis and leverage the breadth of the firm’s capital market solutions, advisory services, and global connectivity to support clients in this space.”

Nazhad will run the new Moelis group alongside Rick Polhemus, the investment bank’s San Francisco-based managing director. Polhemus, formerly an executive at investment bank Morgan Stanley, joined Moelis last October.

Jeff Raich, co-founder and co-president of Moelis, says the backgrounds of Nazhad and Polhemus make them “uniquely positioned to lead our efforts and expand opportunities for clients in this rapidly changing environment.”

“The energy transition that is underway demands integrated advisory services, access to capital, and strategic long-term planning,” adds Navid Mahmoodzadegan, co-founder and co-president of Moelis.

“Achieving net-zero emissions will require a significant increase in spending,” Mahmoodzadegan adds, “and our dedicated clean energy efforts better position us to be a seamless partner to our strategic, financial sponsor, and venture capital clients as we leverage our dynamic advisory practice and global connectivity.”

Nazhad and his colleagues will be searching for cleantech deals in a supercharged sector.

The International Energy Agency says global investment in cleantech is on track to hit $1.7 trillion this year. An impressive share of that money is being pumped into cleantech startups. Globally, VC funding in the cleantech sector soared from $1.9 billion in 2019 to $12.3 billion in 2022, according to management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

Nazhad’s M&A experience should prove particularly beneficial for Moelis’ new cleantech arm.

A recent report from management consulting firm West Monroe indicates cleantech M&A “is picking up speed.” The report is based on the firm’s survey of 200 corporate and private equity executives.

“The overarching trend is that cleantech is no longer the stuff of speculation, but a viable sector benefiting from a confluence of tailwinds, including high energy demand, the need for secure supplies that complement fossil fuels, and more ambitious policymaking efforts targeting decarbonization,” the report says.

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Houston energy co. names new COO to scale offshore decommissioning

new hire

Houston-based Promethean Energy has named a new COO as it looks to scale.

Martyn Fear, former CEO of Altamesa Energy Canada Inc., will assume the role, the company announced last week. He brings decades of experience at energy companies such as BP and Maersk Oil and has held board positions at several private equity and venture-backed firms.

“Promethean has built a differentiated platform for managing and retiring late-life assets safely, efficiently, and responsibly,” Fear said in a news release. “The industry is facing a structural shift as decommissioning moves to the forefront, and the opportunity to combine operational excellence, disciplined project delivery, and innovative commercial models is incredibly compelling."

Promethean has developed an environmentally sustainable, integrated model for late-life asset management and offshore well decommissioning. Fear will oversee day-to-day operations at Promethean and the execution of this integrated operator-service model as the company looks to scale and expand to new markets.

“Martyn is a proven leader with a deep operational track record and a passion for building high-performance, safety-first organizations,” Aditya Singh, Promethean's CEO, added in the release. “As Promethean enters its next phase—scaling our integrated operator-service model and delivering first-time-right decommissioning at pace—his experience in transforming complex asset portfolios and leading global teams makes him the ideal COO to drive operational execution while we continue to advance our strategic vision.”

Last May, the company successfully decommissioned offshore orphaned wells in the Matagorda Island lease area. In November, it also announced that it had completed a multi-client project to safely plug and abandon an orphaned well on a storm-damaged platform in the South Timbalier lease area.

Both projects were based in the Gulf of Mexico, where Promethean is looking to grow.

Fervo taps new geothermal site and more energy transition news to know

Trending Topics

Editor's note: We're looking back at the biggest energy transition headlines from the second half of February, including Fervo's hottest well to date and the future of data centers in Texas. Below are the five most-read EnergyCapital stories from February 16-28, 2026.

1. Fervo taps into its hottest-ever geothermal reservoir

Fervo Energy has unlocked multigigawatt potential from a new geothermal energy site. Photo courtesy Fervo Energy.

Things are heating up at Houston-based geothermal power company Fervo Energy. Fervo recently drilled its hottest well so far at a new geothermal site in western Utah. Fewer than 11 days of drilling more than 11,000 feet deep at Project Blanford showed temperatures above 555 degrees Fahrenheit, which exceeds requirements for commercial viability. Fervo used proprietary AI-driven analytics for the test. Continue reading.

2. Texas could topple Virginia as biggest data-center market by 2030, JLL report says

A new report shows the role Texas could play as the data-center sector enters "hyperdrive." Photo via JLL.com.

Everything’s bigger in Texas, they say—and that phrase now applies to the state’s growing data-center presence. A new report from commercial real estate services provider JLL says Texas could overtake Northern Virginia as the world’s largest data-center market by 2030. Northern Virginia is a longtime holder of that title. Continue reading.

3. Texas claims No. 1 spot on new energy resilience report

Texas outpaced the rest of the country in a new energy resilience report, despite grid challenges and rising AI demand. Photo courtesy of ERCOT

A new report by mineral group Texas Royalty Brokers ranks Texas as the No. 1 most energy-resilient state. The study focused on four main sources of electricity in hydroelectric dams, natural gas plants, nuclear reactors and petroleum facilities. Each state was given an Energy Resilience Score based on size and diversity of its power infrastructure, energy production and affordability for residents. Continue reading.

4. Texas' oil and gas foundation could boost its geothermal future, UH says

A new UH white paper says that Texas is poised to lead advanced geothermal due to its oil and gas skills and capacity. Photo via UH.edu.

Equipped with the proper policies and investments, Texas could capitalize on its oil and gas infrastructure and expertise to lead the U.S. in development of advanced geothermal power, a new University of Houston white paper says. Continue reading.

5. HETI leader reflects on four years focused on the energy transition

Jane Stricker reflects on four years at HETI. Courtesy photo

It’s hard to believe only four years have passed since I joined the Greater Houston Partnership to lead the Houston Energy Transition Initiative. We talk about COVID years feeling simultaneously like just yesterday and a lifetime ago, and my time at HETI feels quite similar. The energy and climate landscape has evolved dramatically over the last few years, but one constant has endured…Houston remains at the heart of the energy industry. Continue reading.

5+ must-attend Houston energy events in March: CERAWeek and more

Mark Your Calendar

Editor's note: March is a major month for energy industry events in Houston, including CERAWeek and more must-attend summits and forums. Mark your calendars for the top events of the month, and register now.

March 2-4 — The Future Energy Summit

The Future Energy Summit is a premier global event bringing together visionaries, industry leaders, and energy experts to shape the future of energy. The second edition of the conference will provide a platform for groundbreaking discussions, cutting-edge technologies, and transformative strategies that will accelerate the energy transition.

This event begins March 2. Register here.

March 5 — 2026 Houston CISO Forum

The Energy Conference Network hosts an exclusive, executive-level cybersecurity leadership event for those in the energy industry. The 50-person, half-day forum will bring together chief information security officers, senior cybersecurity leaders, and industry experts for candid conversations, actionable insights, and peer collaboration.

This event takes place March 5 at Hyatt Regency Houston West. Limited registration available here.

March 10-12 — World Hydrogen & Carbon Americas

S&P Global Energy brings together two leading events — Carbon Management Americas and World Hydrogen North America — to form a new must-attend event for those in the hydrogen and carbon industries. More than 800 senior leaders from across the energy value chain will attend this event featuring immersive roundtable discussions, hands-on training, real-world case studies, and unparalleled networking opportunities.

This event begins March 10 at Marriott Marquis Houston. Register here.

March 23-27 — CERAWeek 2026

CERAWeek 2026 will focus on "Convergence and Competition: Energy, Technology and Geopolitics." The industry's foremost thought leaders will convene in Houston to cultivate relationships and exchange transformative ideas during the annual event. CERAWeek 2026 will explore breakthroughs, cross-industry connections, and powerful partnerships that are accelerating the transformation of the global energy system. 2026 highlights include an appearance by tech magnate Bill Gates.

This event begins March 23. Register here.

March 24-25 — 2026 Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition

The Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition, co-hosted by the Rice Alliance, Ion, HETI, and TEX-E, offers two days of exciting pitches from more than 40 global energy ventures that are transforming the industry. On Tuesday, March 24, you can attend a fast-paced pitch preview event at the Ion, followed by the official Pitch Competition at 1 pm on Wednesday, March 25, at George R. Brown Convention Center.

More details available here.

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