July 12, 2005: Headlines: COS - Mali: Business: Natural Gas: Economic Development: Maine Today: Dean Girdis served with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa as a business development volunteer working primarily with agricultural enterprises
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July 12, 2005: Headlines: COS - Mali: Business: Natural Gas: Economic Development: Maine Today: Mali RPCV Dean Girdis, president and founder of Downeast LNG, hopes to build LNG Terminal in Maine:
July 12, 2005: Headlines: COS - Mali: Business: Natural Gas: Economic Development: Maine Today: Dean Girdis served with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa as a business development volunteer working primarily with agricultural enterprises
Dean Girdis served with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa as a business development volunteer working primarily with agricultural enterprises
Girdis has 17 years work experience in economic development and energy. From 1988 to 1990 he served with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa as a business development volunteer working primarily with agricultural enterprises. Since then, he has worked in the environment and energy sectors.
Dean Girdis served with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa as a business development volunteer working primarily with agricultural enterprises
Dean Girdis
President
Dean Girdis founded Downeast LNG in March 2004, and until May of 2005 funded the project with his own money. He is 41 years old, married, and has two sons, 6 and 8 years old, and lives in Washington, DC. He was born and raised in eastern Massachusetts. During his youth, he spent family vacations and summers in southern Maine where he still has family.
He has 17 years work experience in economic development and energy. From 1988 to 1990 he served with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa as a business development volunteer working primarily with agricultural enterprises. Since then, he has worked in the environment and energy sectors.
He has 12 years of international consulting and energy project development experience in about 30 countries. He has worked with a wide range of energy technologies and projects including: LNG: fuel wood in Rwandan refugee camps; decentralized power for rural African villages; wind power in the US, Cape Verde, and Egypt; gas pipelines and gas power plants throughout the world; and competitive strategy in the gas and power sectors.
The vast majority of his project development work was with the World Bank in developing countries, with a strong focus on the relationship between energy projects and economic and community development. He has worked for a range of clients including national and multi-national oil and gas companies, non-governmental agencies, United Nations Commission for Refugees, and CARE International.
Since 1998, he has worked in the LNG industry with seven years experience in LNG supply, competition and project and market development. While working with the World Bank and advising the Chinese government, he led a two-year study and formulated the development plan of the first LNG regasification terminal in China. Most recently, he was a director for three years at PFC Energy in the Gas & Power Group, where he advised national and international oil and gas companies in the gas and LNG sectors.
He was also an energy consultant at Arthur D. Little and an energy/environment consultant at Environmental Resources Management, working on energy financing and economics, corporate strategy, natural gas development, energy infrastructure development, environmental impact assessments and sustainable development.
Being from New England, he has followed closely the proposed LNG terminal developments in the region. He was particularly interested in the site identification process, site development activities, and community issues related to LNG terminal development. While some LNG developers seemed to have had technically sound proposals, there often appeared to be a disconnect between the project’s technical and commercial development objectives, environmental impact, and community involvement.
Mr. Girdis founded Downeast LNG because he believed a successful LNG project could meet the growing clean energy needs of the region with minimal environmental impact, while promoting local economic and community development.
He has a BSc in Entrepreneurial Studies (cum laude 1986) from Babson College, Wellesley, MA and a MSc in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy (with honors 1993), University London, England.
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Story Source: Maine Today
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Mali; Business; Natural Gas; Economic Development
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