Biography
Simon joined BP in 1991 with a degree in Economics and Accounting from Bristol University. He completed his graduate training in Hamburg and then returned to London to take a risk management role in BP’s crude oil trading team. He was given his first position as a trader in 1995 and spent the next 4 years developing his crude trading skills in the West African, Mediterranean and Sour markets. In 1999, he moved across to the North Sea bench to run the physical and paper books and spent a brief spell in tax optimization. In 2004, Simon switched to run the new BP trading venture in the Caspian and head up a physical book in the same region. In 2007, Simon was asked to head up crude oil origination in London, which was responsible for generating new strands of business for the trading books. At the end of 2008, Simon took a sabbatical to fulfill some of his ambitions outside of BP. Following a year playing on the amateur circuit in South Africa, Simon founded a performance academy for aspiring elite golfers there and took some qualifications in NLP & sports psychology, a subject he teaches at his academy. He is passionate about coaching and developing young entrepreneurs and has interests in many business sectors.
