Charles Watson is the founder of The Natural Gas Clearinghouse. Later renamed Dynegy, the firm was a highly diverse energy trading company that was similar to rival Enron in many respects. Watson attempted to orchestrate a buyout of Enron in late 2001, but withdrew following the restating of Enron's financials. At one time this was the 11th to the largest corporation on the Fortune 500.
Watson left Dynegy in late 2002 when Dynegy's own finances took a turn for the worse amid allegations of accounting frauds, misconduct in the California energy crises and other serious problems. He was replaced by Bruce Williamson.
He later founded Eagle Energy Partners where he acted as the chairman. Eagle Energy Partners was later acquired by Lehman Brothers and then sold to EDF Trading, pending Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy. At Lehman Brothers, he served as a Partner and Managing Director. He currently serves on the board of EDFT, the managing partner and governing body of Eagle Energy Partners. He is also a Senior Advisor to the EDF Group in North America.
Watson, an Oklahoma State University alumnus, and member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, is principal of Caldwell Watson. He is currently the minority owner of the Iowa Wild hockey team, and is the vice chairman and minority owner of the Houston Texans, where he chaired Houston's 2004 Super Bowl host committee.
Watson was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame and was named "Master Entrepreneur" by Ernst & Young. In 2005, Watson was named Chairman of the Sigma Chi Foundation.
Watson has served on the Boards of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), Natural Gas Council (NGC) and is currently on the boards of Baker Hughes, Baylor College of Medicine, Mainstream Renewable Power, Shona Energy Company, Patman Drilling Inc., Central Houston Inc., and Angeleno Group. In 1996 Watson co-founded Caldwell Watson Real Estate Group and was a Principal. He is the chairman of Wincrest Ventures, a venture capital company he founded in 1994. He has been a Director of Theatre Under the Stars and Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Watson is a Member of the Executive Committee of Edison Electric Institute as well as a founding Member of the Natural Gas Council. Partners at one point with Fritz Strayer.
Mr. Watson is also chairman and CEO of Advanced Blast Protection Systems (ABPS), a company that developed new technology to greatly increase the protection tools available to those dealing with blast, fire and ballistic assaults.
He is now is chairman of the board and co-founder of Twin Eagle Resource Management (founded in September 2010), a Houston-based company that provides wholesale energy and midstream services throughout North America.
Watson is also the former owner of the Houston Aeros minor league hockey team (now the Iowa Wild).
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,600 staff and was a major electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper company, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion during 2000. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years.
Andrew Stuart "Andy" Fastow is a convicted felon and former financier who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation, an energy trading company based in Houston, Texas, until he was fired shortly before the company declared bankruptcy. Fastow was one of the key figures behind the complex web of off-balance-sheet special purpose entities used to conceal Enron's massive losses in their quarterly balance sheets. By unlawfully maintaining personal stakes in these ostensibly independent ghost-entities, he was able to defraud Enron out of tens of millions of dollars.
InterNorth Inc. was a large energy company headquartered at the Northern Natural Gas Building in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States, specializing in natural gas pipelines but also a force in the plastics industry, coal and petroleum exploration and production. It was a predecessor to Enron Corporation.
Vinson & Elkins LLP is an international law firm with approximately 700 lawyers worldwide headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (NYSE: KMI) (KMEP) is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc. The company, which is classified as an oil and gas master limited partnership (MLP), owns or operates petroleum product, natural gas, and carbon dioxide pipelines, related storage facilities, terminals, power plants and retail natural gas in the United States and Canada.
Dynegy Inc. is an electric company based in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It owns and operates a number of power stations in the U.S., all of which are natural gas-fueled or coal-fueled. Dynegy was acquired by Vistra Corp on April 9, 2018. The company is located at 601 Travis Street in Downtown Houston. The company was founded in 1984 as Natural Gas Clearinghouse. It was originally an energy brokerage, buying and selling natural gas supplies. It changed its name to NGC Corporation in 1995 after entering the electrical power generation business.
Houston Natural Gas Corporation (HNG) was a gas utility headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company was acquired by InterNorth Inc. in 1985, with HNG executives taking top positions at InterNorth. Following the transaction, InterNorth was renamed Enron Corporation, and the company headquarters was moved from InterNorth's base in Omaha to the former HNG offices in Houston. The company is notable for former CEO Kenneth Lay who became CEO of the newly formed Enron.
Constellation Energy Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across the continental United States.
John Douglas Arnold is an American philanthropist, former Enron executive and founder of Arnold Ventures LLC, formerly the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was a Houston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012. He now focuses on philanthropy through Arnold Ventures LLC.
Robert C. McNair was an American businessman, philanthropist, and the owner of a National Football League team, the Houston Texans.
Robert L. Bradley Jr. is CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research (IER). An expert in the history and political economy of energy and energy corporations, Bradley is a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), as well as Energy and Climate Change fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London.
Calpine Corporation is the largest generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources in the United States, with operations in competitive power markets.
Prisma Energy International Inc., was a former subsidiary of Enron Corporation, formed in 2003 to own and manage the majority of Enron's overseas assets, formerly known as "Enron International". Prior to its official organization, Prisma was referred to within Enron as "InternationalCo". Enron's original bankruptcy reorganization plan, presented in early 2002, would have created a company broadly similar to Prisma, but including Portland General Electric and the energy trading business, both later divested separately. As one of the final steps in Enron's liquidation, following their 2001 bankruptcy, Prisma was sold to Ashmore Energy International Ltd., a unit of Ashmore Group Plc., in 2006. Prisma was structured as an 'offshore' United States corporation incorporated in the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands, but with its headquarters in Houston, Texas. It served as a holding company for 15 gas and electricity businesses. Its subsidiary, Prisma Energy International Services LLC, employed approximately 125 individuals, most at its headquarters in Houston, Texas. Assets in which Prisma Energy managed an interest employed an additional 6,500 employees worldwide. Following its 2006 sale to Ashmore Energy International Limited, Prisma Energy International Inc. was merged/amalgamated with Ashmore Energy International Limited with Prisma Energy being the survivor company. In December 2006, Prisma Energy International Inc. changed its name to Ashmore Energy International and, subsequently, in May 2007 to AEI.
EOG Resources, Inc. is an American energy company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in the Heritage Plaza building in Houston, Texas.
Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in the eponymous accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date. Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud at trial. Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing. A preliminary autopsy reported Lay died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. His death resulted in a vacated judgment.
Richard Kinder is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan Inc., an energy and pipeline corporation.
The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal involving Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Upon being publicized in October 2001, the company declared bankruptcy and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen – then one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world – was effectively dissolved. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in U.S. history at that time, Enron was cited as the biggest audit failure.
Charles E. Bayless is a former president of West Virginia University Institute of Technology and a regional vice president of West Virginia University. He retired from WVU Tech on June 30, 2008.
Sutton Bridge Power Station is an 819 MW gas-fired power station in Sutton Bridge in the south-east of Lincolnshire in South Holland, England. It is situated on Centenary Way close to the River Nene. It is a major landmark on the Lincolnshire and Norfolk border and on clear days with its bright red lights it can be easily seen as far away as Hunstanton.
Michael C. "Mike" Linn is an American attorney and businessman from Houston, Texas. He is the founder of Linn Energy, a defunct company that was engaged in hydrocarbon exploration.
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