Richard Court was Premier and Treasurer of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and retired from Parliament after nineteen years as the Member for Nedlands. His government led the LNG marketing push into new markets, the successful deregulation of the Western Australian gas markets and the successful privatisations of the SGIO, BankWest, Alinta Gas, Westrail Freight and the DBNG pipeline.

Richard was appointed Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in June 2003 for service to the Western Australian Parliament and to the community, particularly the indigenous community, and in the areas of child health research and cultural heritage and to economic development through negotiating major resource projects including new gas markets furthering the interests of the nation as a whole.

John has 40 years of international experience in the upstream oil and gas business, spent with several major companies in Europe, Middle East, Africa and SE Asia. He has a rare ability to combine strong analytical thinking with systemic and intuitive insight. This ability enables him to see business decisions from a holistic perspective, to quickly identify the principal value drivers and issues and analytically critique solutions. He has a justified reputation for boundless energy, high motivation, professional integrity and enduring professional and personal relationships. John is one of the industry’s most respected independent opinion shapers.

Prior to joining RISC, Will’s international career in the upstream oil and gas business has included experience with Shell, Woodside and Chevron. After working on a number of oil and gas projects for Shell in the Netherlands as a process and project engineer, he was seconded into Woodside, initially evaluating development options for Browse Basin LNG and LNG import terminal projects before evaluating development of Bass Strait gas reserves. In early 2002 Will joined the Chevron-operated Gorgon LNG project, responsible for early LNG plant concept selection before coordinating opportunity decision analysis and commercial alignment in the development team. Through this career he has developed process design, concept evaluation, economic and commercial skills.

Thirty years of global upstream experience in technical and management positions with major operators and consulting firms.  Excellent technical skills, a strong ability to lead multidisciplinary teams combined with a thorough knowledge of the upstream business have led to a track record of delivering realistic assessments and added value. Geoff has extensive experience of mergers and acquisitions, independent expert roles, independent reserves/valuation reporting, development planning, and decision analysis in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

John has advised companies and Governments for 25 years in Australia, New York and London. After heading the Australian business of Credit Suisse for a number of years, John founded the independent corporate advisory firm Carnegie Wylie & Company in 2001.  This was acquired by the global financial advisory firm Lazard in 2007.  John is now CEO of Lazard Australia.  He also sits on a variety of community boards including the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Trust as Chairman and the Global Trust of the Rhodes Scholarships.

Gareth Young is the Lazard Australia Private Equity representative on the RISC Board. Gareth is a chartered accountant and has over 10 years of experience in private equity and corporate restructuring.

Prior to joining Lazard, Gareth was a member of the investment team at ISIS Equity Partners based in London for 7 years.