AEG – Affiliated Energy Group
Put Over A Century Of Experience To Work For You
AEG’s Management Team has broad depth, from the former Chief Legal Counsel and co-founder of several REPs, to the former CEO of a successful Texas REP purchased by a national energy company in early 2007, to a derivative and financial expert from Merrill Lynch and a Market Maker on the trading floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, to former executive officers of large energy companies such as El Paso Corp. responsible for developing numerous electric power plants, to a former Registered Principal with the NYSE, who was responsible for bringing multiple companies public, including Pizza Inn.
“Your Golden Rider”TM
Robert Scott Potosky, Esq.
Mr. Potosky is a licensed attorney and a licensed investment banker with extensive commercial and legal experience in the deregulated energy markets, from representing a variety of purchasers and sellers in M&A transactions involving retail electricity providers (a/k/a, “REPs” or “ESCOs”), serving as chief legal counsel to several REPs/ESCOs, to having previously co-founded two successful REPs/ESCOs.
Before joining AEG Affiliated Energy Group, as one of the three owners and co-founders of Dynowatt, LP, Mr. Potosky successfully formed and co-managed Dynowatt from start-up through successful attainment of its exit-strategy, and he was lead attorney and one of the two lead persons who negotiated Dynowatt’s successful sale to Accent Energy / Interstate Gas Supply.
Mr. Potosky has testified before the Texas Legislature regarding PURA (the statute deregulating the Texas electric markets) and fair competition and antitrust laws, and he has worked with the Texas House Regulated Industries Committee to draft prospective amendments to PURA and antitrust laws at the Chairman’s request. Mr. Potosky was also invited to (and did) participate in the briefing process and oral arguments at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit as Amicus Curiae, i.e., “friend of the Court,” with regard to several key provisions of PURA being interpreted in the Courts for the first time since their enactment.
Mr. Potosky has served as lead counsel and/or advisor to multiple electricity companies regarding legal, legislative, and regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, drafting energy supply agreements for both electric providers and governmental and industrial customers, and negotiating thousands of commercial transactions concerning retail and wholesale electricity supply with respect to federal and state agencies, cities, ISDs, various other political subdivisions, industrial factories, and other large commercial customers.
On behalf of multiple electric providers, Mr. Potosky has prosecuted and defended matters before the Texas Public Utility Commission and also pursued complex litigation as “Attorney in Charge” in large lawsuits in the federal Courts within Texas, New York and Maryland prosecuting violations of federal and state antitrust laws, antifraud laws, PURA and various other claims with regard to highly technical forms of conduct and trading activities in the national and local wholesale and retail gas and electricity markets.
Mr. Potosky remains a successful economist, constituting one of only a few individuals to have correctly predicted the collapse of the United States financial and housing markets at a detailed company-specific level several years in advance, having purchased “put” options solely in the following companies in the years leading up to the 2007/08 financial crisis: Fannie Mae, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual, Standard Pacific, Pulte Homes, Centex, and DR Horton. Pursuant to Mr. Potosky’s predictions, Fannie Mae and Washington Mutual suffered financial collapse eventually resulting in a government takeover, Countrywide Financial was toppled by the mortgage markets (resulting in a distress takeover by B.O.A.), while the shares of each of Standard Pacific, Pulte, and DH Horton suffered a price decline of at least 80%.
Mr. Potosky earned his Doctor of Law from Cornell Law School, New York, and started his career at Locke Liddell and Sapp (n/k/a Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell), where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, electric deregulation, various corporate transactions, securities, and venture capital financings. Before that, Mr. Potosky earned a BBA in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin, (McCombs) School of Business. Mr. Potosky is admitted to the Texas State Bar and several federal Courts and also holds his FINRA Series 79 and 63 licenses.
Charles (“Chad”) Chadwick Price
Mr. Price has a vast amount of experience in commodities, derivatives, financial, and securities markets and holds his FINRA Series 79 and 63 licenses.
Mr. Price has held a full badge on the Chicago Board of Trade and worked as a Market Maker on the trading floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, while at CBC Options. He also created and employed various hedging strategies and risk-management instruments, including, among others, Conversions, Reversals, Call and Put Spreads, Boxes, Butterflies, and Calendar Spreads, in addition to mastering the use of theoretical value sheets to determine Gamma, Delta, Vega, Rho, and Theta.
Before that, Mr. Price began his career in the Equities and Securities Division of Merrill Lynch, where he generated securities performance reports including fundamental and technical analysis, client portfolio analysis, and risk management.
Mr. Price also co-founded Caprock Uptown, a commercial and consumer finance company. While at Caprock Uptown, he formed and managed financial services relationships with business partners including Citibank, GMAC, Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and many other national banks, and managed the Business Development and Marketing divisions leading the company in sales revenue each year. Mr. Price graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Texas in Austin.
Simon Melhem
Mr. Melhem has over 20 years of experience originating, structuring, and negotiating domestic and international power generation projects and M&A transactions, coupled with extensive experience running operations within deregulated retail electricity markets since 2003.
As CEO of Dynowatt, LP, Mr. Melhem oversaw and successfully managed this Retail Electric Provider from its consummation through its successful sale to a leading national energy company in early 2007.
Before entering Texas’s retail electricity markets, Mr. Melhem served in senior roles at El Paso Corporation in Houston, London and Southeast Asia (Senior Vice President – Global LNG, and Vice President – Asia). During his tenure at El Paso, Mr. Melhem originated and closed several transactions for the development of electric power generation plants and LNG around the world, including power generation plants in Indonesia, Pakistan, and Philippines in addition to joint ventures for LNG development and purchases in Egypt and Turkey.
Prior to El Paso, Mr. Melhem served as a senior associate at Trinity International Partners, and before that Mr. Melhem worked as a senior financial analyst at Texaco, Inc.’s Cogeneration and Power Division and a senior planning analyst at Texaco’s Refining and Marketing Division, working with a variety of power projects, including projects in the Philippines, Panama and Thailand.
Mr. Melhem earned his MBA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and his MSc in Engineering Management and BSc in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston.
James (“Jim”) O. Young
Mr. Young brings years of extensive and unrivaled financial experience to AEG. As a former Registered Principal with the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. Young was responsible for bringing multiple companies public including Pizza Inn, where he raised a considerable amount of business capital.
Another of Mr. Young’s previous positions was Regional Vice President overseeing the operations of 33 AG Edwards Offices. Mr. Young has raised large amounts of Venture Capital Funding and remains active in the business world as a Rancher and Restaurant Owner. He joined AEG in 2007.
Andrea Barbeau
Mrs. Andrea Barbeau (f/k/a Andrea Loveless) is a licensed attorney with substantial experience in legal, M&A, commercial, and regulatory matters. Before joining AEG Affiliated Energy Group, Mrs. Barbeau gained in-depth knowledge of legal, M&A, and commercial issues pertaining to energy markets while working as in-house attorney for three different groups of retail energy providers (ESCOs) expanding and/or operating within Texas, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
In addition to handling mergers and acquisitions and providing legal and regulatory guidance, Mrs. Barbeau has worked on complex state and federal litigation involving issues of contract interpretation, wholesale supply mark to market valuation disputes, and market manipulation and antitrust suits in the retail and wholesale energy markets. Mrs. Barbeau’s prior clients have also relied on her for guidance in market entry filings and research in several recently deregulated states along with her experience drafting supply agreements for commercial and residential retail customers (on behalf of the REPs/ESCOs).
Mrs. Barbeau earned her Doctor of Law from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas (Merit Scholarship) and started her career working in-house for Dynowatt, LP’s legal department. Before that, Mrs. Barbeau earned a BS in Communications from The University of Texas at Austin. Mrs. Barbeau is admitted to the Texas State Bar.