Iona Energy Inc. announced welcoming of Philip Oldham as interim chief operating officer, David Sherrard as VP Developments, and Nick Ritchie as VP Asset Management. Mr. Philip Oldham originally joined the company to elevate its capacity for execution and growth as a UK North Sea operator. He will be responsible for growing the company's operational capacity, leading Iona's transition to becoming Operator at Trent & Tyne and advancing the Orlando oil field development with its partners, until a permanent replacement is found for Mr. Alan Curran, the company's previous chief operating officer.

Mr. Oldham previously led the organizational development of Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited from a small non-operated position to being the second large oil production operator in the UK Continental Shelf. Mr. David Sherrard will resume his role as VP Developments, the position he held with Iona between December 2010 and July 2013, when he became the company's reserves advisor. John Baillie, Iona's VP Developments since mid-2013, will be leaving the company to pursue other interests.

Most recently before joining Iona, Mr. Sherrard was responsible for the growth and transformation of a $5 million subsurface consultancy (RML) into a $100 million per annum broad based service provider (Senergy) offering high-end professional advice covering well operations and a full compliment of technical advisory services. Specific responsibilities included staff recruitment and management that saw the organization grow from 20 to 400 staff, client engagement, and leading the overall technical direction of the subsurface business. Mr. Sherrard was International Director for Senergy with remit to rationalize international offices and build regional management teams in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

In this period he was based in Abu Dhabi and, later, in Singapore. Mr. Nick Ritchie originally joined the company in February 2014 and, having quickly demonstrated strong capability, has been promoted to the role of VP Asset Management. Mr. Ritchie is responsible for numerous facets of delivery items for the company's Orlando, Kells, and West Wick developments, and additionally holds the role of Interim Drilling and Wells Manager in relation to Iona's numerous development efforts.

Prior to joining Iona, Mr. Ritchie was the Director Facilities Engineering and New Developments Technical Director for Endeavour Energy UK Ltd. While at Endeavour Mr. Ritchie was a member of the International Leadership Team and during his tenure was jointly accountable for delivering significant reserves and production growth, as well as engaging in strategic planning and business development.