OREANDA-NEWS. May 10, 2011. The PBN Company announced today that David Herbert, one of the City of London’s top investment bankers and emerging markets specialists, has joined The PBN Company as Executive Chairman. He will lead the firm’s Board of Directors, and also act as counselor to the firm’s regional and international strategic communications clients in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. 

Herbert recently concluded a highly successful 21-year career in investment banking, leading Barings’ and then ING’s Emerging Europe Corporate Finance business, where he simultaneously held the position of Head of International Corporate Finance. He created and headed corporate finance teams in London, Moscow, Kyiv, Warsaw, Bucharest and Almaty and was involved in the lead management of numerous milestone IPOs, including MTS, Wimm-Bill-Dann, CIB, Apteka 36.6, Kernel, KazakhGold and Exillon Energy. Herbert also had a distinguished career in the oil & gas industry, serving in senior executive positions for BP in London and Asia throughout the 1980s.

PBN also announced today that George Oganov, an entrepreneur and top adviser to Basic Element owner Oleg Deripaska, and Bernard Sucher, senior investment banker and emerging markets financial expert, have joined The PBN Company’s Board of Directors.

>Oganov sits on the Boards of several successful media, technology and medical companies in Canada and Russia. He is also a member of the Oversight Committee of the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA). Previously, he served more than 15 years in the Soviet and Russian Foreign Service, including as Counselor for Press in the Soviet and Russian Embassy in Washington DC. Oganov also led Presidential Press Advance on a number of Mr. Gorbachev’s state visits in the 1980s and early 90s.

Bernard Sucher has more than 18 years in leadership positions in Russia’s financial services industry. From 1993-2002, he helped found and build Troika Dialog, one of Russia’s most successful investment banks. He served as Chairman of Alfa Capital, one of Russia’s oldest asset management companies, and as Country Head for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He is currently a Director at Aton, a leading Russian investment group.

“David Herbert’s long experience as a banker and top executive in the emerging markets adds tangible value to PBN’s growth initiatives throughout the CIS and to client sectors served by the firm, including energy, telecoms, pharmaceuticals and the banking and financial services,” said PBN CEO Peter Necarsulmer. “David’s years of service as a PBN board member make David exceptionally qualified to serve as Executive Chairman.”

“I look forward to leveraging the skills and judgment I have developed in investment banking and the energy industry for the benefit of The PBN Company and its clients,” said Herbert. “I have been impressed by PBN’s performance while serving on the Board, and I am enthusiastic about guiding the firm’s next stage of development and further building on The PBN Company's outstanding track record in corporate reputation management, government relations and financial communications.”

Other independent members of the firm’s Board of Directors include Robert Sheppard, a 30-year veteran of the oil & gas industry; Sir Andrew Woods, former British Ambassador to the Russian Federation; and Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Development. Representatives of WPP, a strategic investor in PBN, are Executive Vice President Howard Paster and Andrew Scott, Director of Corporate Development. PBN’s shareholders and management are represented by CEO Peter B. Necarsulmer, President Susan A. Thurman, and Senior Vice President Myron Wasylyk who heads the firm’s Ukraine office.