WRMA Elects New Officers, Board Members for 2010-2011

Washington, DC, May 27, 2010 — Members of the Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA) elected Members of the Board and a roster of association Officers at its 12th Annual Meeting in Miami, Florida held earlier this month.

Elected for two-year terms to the Board of Directors were Richard Betts of E.ON Energy Trading; Jens Boening of EDF Trading; Stephen Doherty of Speedwell Weather Derivatives; Christina Hanson of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Martin Malinow of Galileo Weather Risk Management; and Bill Windle of RenRe Energy Advisors Ltd.

Elected for one-year terms were Nicholas Ernst of Evolution Markets and Lawrence J. Heitkemper of MDA EarthSat Weather.

Remaining on the Board as Directors for terms of one year are Catherine Besselman of Endurance Re; Peter Brewer of PCE Investors/Cumulus; and Sandeep Ramachandran of Swiss Re.

WRMA members also elected the Association’s officers. They are: President, Bill Windle; Vice President, Christina Hanson; Secretary/Treasurer, Sandeep Ramachandran; and Past President, Martin Malinow.

The newest members of the WRMA Board – Richard Betts, Jens Boening, Nicholas Ernst, Lawrence Heitkemper, and Christina Hanson — hail from the US and Europe.

Richard Betts is responsible for setting up the weather trading desk and the development of weather trading and hedging activities within the E.ON group’s European energy trading business, based in Dusseldorf Germany. Richard has held commercial roles over the last 15 years at a number of companies within the energy sector including East Midlands Electricity, Kinetica, Powergen and for the last eight years within E.ON’s trading business. Richard holds a BA in Business Studies.

Jens Boening is Head of Weather Derivatives at EDF Trading. Based in London, he is responsible for the group’s weather derivatives trading, structuring and origination activities. Prior to joining EDF Trading in 2009, Jens was Managing Director at WeatherBill (UK), worked for seven years in commodities and weather risk management roles at Merrill Lynch Commodities (Europe), and was as a consultant with Accenture.

Nicholas Ernst is Director, Weather Markets for Evolution Markets and manages Evolution Markets’ global weather derivatives desk, which facilitates over-the-counter and structured weather trades for banks, hedge funds, reinsurance and insurance companies, utilities, and energy marketers. Nick previously held positions at Enron Corp. and Bethlehem Steel Corp. He has a Bachelor’s degree in both Engineering and Economics from Lafayette College.

Christina Hanson was appointed Associate Director, Alternative Investments, of CME Group in October 2006. She is head of Weather Products and is responsible for generating new customer business and product development in the company’s weather derivative products. Prior to joining CME, Christina served as a Vice President of credit derivatives at Tullett Prebon Inc. and a Vice President at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.. She also has held positions at Goldman Sachs & Co. and at Merrill Lynch. Christina earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of South Carolina in 1993.

Larry Heitkemper is a Vice President and Director of the Weather Service Division for MDA Information Systems Inc., where he developed the commercial weather service business for MDA. He also serves as Project Manager for various research contracts funded by NOAA, NASA, USDA and the National Academy of Sciences. Larry received his B.S. in professional meteorology from St. Louis University and his M.S. in resource economics from the University of Maryland. He has completed the National Futures Association Commodity Trading Advisory Certification. He is a member of the American Meteorological Society, and the American Agricultural Economics Association.

“WRMA’s 2010-2011 Board of Directors shows the broad scope of the weather risk management industry with all segments of the industry well represented,” said Bill Windle, WRMA president. “The WRMA Board looks forward to the opportunities that lie ahead for the weather risk management industry.”