Board of Directors
Karen Simon is newly retired from J.P. Morgan as a Vice Chairman in the Investment Bank with over 35 years of corporate finance experience with the firm.
Most recently, Ms. Simon headed up Director Advisory Services, a newly established client service at J.P. Morgan focused on public company directors. From 2004 to 2016, Ms. Simon worked with private equity firms in J.P. Morgan’s Financial Sponsor Coverage group and was promoted to head the European group in 2007 and the North American group in 2013.
Ms. Simon held a number of other senior positions previously, including Co-Head of EMEA Debt Capital Markets and Head of EMEA Oil & Gas coverage. Ms. Simon spent 20 years of her career working in London and is a dual US/UK citizen.
She currently sits on the boards of Aker ASA in Oslo, an industrial investment company, and the Texas Woman’s Foundation, a non-profit charity focused on the needs of underprivileged girls and women across Texas. Ms. Simon graduated from the University of Colorado and has Masters degrees from Southern Methodist University and from the American Graduate School of International Management.
As the founding shareholder and CEO of Energean, Mathios has led the company since its inception in 2007. A Petroleum Engineer with a background in investment banking, Mathios has been instrumental in transforming Energean from a single-asset operator in Greece, into a leading hydrocarbons exploration and production company across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Under his leadership, Energean has executed landmark transactions that reshaped its portfolio and scale, including the development of Karish in Israel and the acquisition of Edison E&P’s Italian and Egyptian assets.
Since founding the company in 2007, Mathios has played a vital role in turning Energean into a multi-country, cash-generative platform with over 1 billion boe of reserves and over 150,000 boe/d of production (2025) - up from just 1 million boe and 1,000 bbl/d at inception. This trajectory reflects not only operational execution, but consistent strategic foresight and disciplined capital allocation.
The company has since secured a 20-year commercial position in Israel backed by ~$20 billion in contracted gas sales, providing long-term cash flow visibility, energy security and durable competitive positioning.
He successfully led Energean’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2018, its subsequent dual listing on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and multiple capital market transactions that strengthened the company’s balance sheet and enabled sustainable shareholder distributions.
A Petroleum Engineer by training, he previously structured more than $5 billion in mainly oil & gas financing at Chase Manhattan Bank in London, later leading private equity investments as Managing Partner of Capital Connect Venture Partners and heading Piraeus Bank’s shipping division.
A pioneer in sustainability within the E&P sector, he became the first upstream CEO to commit to a net-zero strategy in 2019, positioning Energean as a European ESG leader. The company has since earned multiple awards for sustainability and environmental responsibility.
His leadership has been internationally recognised, including CEO of the Year in London (2018), Independent of the Year for Energean, and Deal of the Year for the company’s IPO by the World Energy Council.
Mathios holds a degree in Mining & Metallurgical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSc/DIC in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London.
Panos Benos, Energean CFO, has over 25 years of international experience in the oil and gas sector, spanning both investment banking and industry, with extensive expertise in upstream financing across emerging markets.
Panos joined Energean in 2011 from Standard Chartered Bank, where he served as Director in the Oil & Gas team in London, leading a number of award-winning project finance and acquisition transactions across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Prior to that, he worked at ConocoPhillips between 2002 and 2006, holding roles in European Treasury, North Sea Economics and International Downstream, with a regional focus on the North Sea, Central Europe and the Middle East. He began his career at Royal Bank of Scotland.
Panos is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) and holds an MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance from Bayes Business School in London.
Mr. Bartlett has over 30 years’ experience in the upstream oil and gas industry with most of that time spent in emerging markets. He has spent 11 years as an investment banker in the City and subsequently 5 ½ years in the Private Equity business and was the former Global Head of Oil & Gas Mergers and Acquisitions and Project Finance at Standard Chartered Bank plc.
He currently advises an African private equity group, Helios Investment Partners LLP on their oil investments and sits on the boards of several public and private companies in addition to running his own advisory business.
He currently is a Non-Executive Director of Africa Oil and Impact Oil & Gas. He heads the Audit Committee of the former and sits on the Audit Committee of the latter, while he is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination / Governance committees of both companies. He is on the Advisory Board of Upside Energy, who manage an EU funded initiative to discuss energy security issues for the EU. He was previously Chairman of Azonto Energy (ASX listed) and a NED of Eland Oil & Gas (AIM listed).
Prior to that Mr. Bartlett worked for Royal Dutch Shell for 21 years, having helped to establish Shell Capital after a long international management career as a Petroleum Engineer. Postings with Shell included offshore North Sea, The Netherlands, Somalia, New Zealand, Syria and London. He was a qualified Corporate Finance and Futures and Options Representative with the FSA.
He holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London.
Mr. Topouzoglou is an entrepreneur with more than 35 years’ experience in founding and growing companies in the energy transportation sector.
He is a founding partner of Energean. He is also the principal shareholder and founder of Prime and serves as Chief Executive Officer since 1999, a predecessor of PRIME Tanker & PRIME Gas, a worldwide leading international product tanker and gas carrier management company with a fleet of modern product tankers.
Mr. Topouzoglou also serves as Chairman of the board of First Lease Ship Trust, a listed shipping trust on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
He holds a BA in Business Administration and Economics from the University of Athens, Greece.
Martin began his career as petroleum geologist in 1979 and since then has worked worldwide for nearly 45 years, managing all forms of enterprise in the energy industry.
He earned a BSc in geology from Newcastle University and an MSc in petroleum geology from Imperial College, London.
He retired from BG Group in 2014 as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director after 32 years and since then has been a member of many Boards in many jurisdictions.
In October 2024, he stepped down as Executive Chairman of Tellurian Inc, following the sale of the company. He is a Non-Executive Director of Energean, BUPA Arabia, and CC Energy.
He is a Senior Advisor at Moelis and Company, is on the Advisory Board of Radia Inc, the mega-wind company, and Energy North, a green ammonia company.
Martin is a Merryck mentor and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
He’s on the Advisory Board of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York and the International Advisory Board of Newcastle University. He is an invited member of the National Petroleum Council of the United States.
Kimberley Wood is a legal professional with 20+ years’ experience and a specialist in M&A and the energy sector.
She is General Counsel & Company Secretary at Storegga, a developer of carbon capture, storage and hydrogen projects. She was previously a partner and Head of Oil and Gas for Europe and the Middle East at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. Throughout her career she has advised a wide range of companies in the sector, from small independents through to super‐majors. Ms. Wood was also previously a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP from February 2011 to April 2015 and an associate at Dewey & LeBeouf LLP as well as a former Deputy Chair and SID for Gulf Keystone Petroleum. She is included in Who’s Who Legal Energy 2023.
Ms. Wood is currently an independent Non‐Executive Director of Africa Oil Corp. Ms. Wood also Chairs of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee for Africa Oil Corp.
Ms. Wood is a dual British / Canadian citizen. She undertook her LLB at the University of Edinburgh and has an LLM in Public International Law from University College London.
Mr. Persianis was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director in July 2020. Mr. Persianis is an experienced Non-Executive Director with over 30 years’ international financial markets experience in Central Banking, Asset Management and Corporate Strategy.
He is currently the Managing Director of Nomuscapital Investments Ltd in Cyprus, a regulated Alternative Investment Fund Management company that sets up and manages private funds for a diverse range of private and institutional clients. Before that he was Founder and Managing Director of Centaur Financial Services, a discretionary portfolio management company with presence in the UK and Cyprus.
He has served as a Non-Executive Director at Central Bank of Cyprus (2014–2019), Bank of Cyprus PLC (2013) and Hellenic Bank PLC (2020-2024). He previously worked as a Senior Manager at Bain & Company (London), one of the world’s largest strategy consulting firms. He holds an Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA, Major in Finance & Investment Banking) from the Wharton Business School.
Sayma Cox is a highly accomplished energy executive with 27 years of global experience, predominantly in upstream oil and gas, spanning safety, production operations, and asset optimisation. A Petroleum Engineer by background, she has held senior leadership and executive positions at bp, ConocoPhillips, Maersk Oil, and Petrofac, as well as CEO-level leadership in the midstream sector.
She has a proven track record of delivering strategic transformation, operational excellence, and value creation across multi-billion dollar portfolios. Her expertise includes non-operated joint ventures, private equity-backed investments, and large-scale asset collaborations.
As Senior Vice President at bp, Sayma led the company’s extensive Non-Operated Joint Ventures (NOJV) portfolio, overseeing 400 assets across 60 countries. She was instrumental in optimising asset performance, driving strategic growth, and maximising value across bp’s global NOJV business.
In addition to her depth in safety and operational leadership, Sayma has significant experience in energy transition, including Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), positioning her as a key leader in shaping the future of sustainable energy.