Natural Resources >> Sector Roundtables >> February 21, 2000

Roundtable Forum: Natural Gas Transmission & Distribution

RONALD J. BARONE is the Managing Director of the Natural Gas & Electric Utilities Group of UBS Investment Research. An analyst since 1971, Mr. Barone specializes in natural gas pipelines/distribution companies, electric utilities, independent power producers, and energy master limited partnerships. He has been ranked on Institutional Investor's All-American Research Team for 29 consecutive years, including a number one spot in the natural gas category in 2003. Prior to the UBS AG acquisition of PaineWebber Incorporated, Mr. Barone was the natural gas analyst at PaineWebber. Prior to that, he followed natural gas and electric utilities at Kidder Peabody & Co. Mr. Barone earned an MBA degree from New York University and a BA degree in Economics from Manhattan College. Profile
DONATO J. EASSEY is First Vice President of Merrill Lynch where he is a member of the Merrill Lynch Fundamental Equity Research Department. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, he was associated with Duff & Phelps/ MCM Investment Research Co. and Transco Energy Company. Mr. Eassey earned his BBA degree from the University of Texas, San Antonio after serving in the US Air Force. He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife and three sons. Profile
David N. Fleischer is a Managing Director with Goldman, Sachs & Company, where he is on the Investment Policy and Stock Selection Committees. He is responsible for coverage of natural gas companies and master limited partnerships. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Fleischer spent 17 years as a Securities Analyst at several major financial institutions and investment firms. He earned a BA degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School. Mr. Fleischer is a CFA and was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Profile
Launer, Curt
Curt Launer is a natural gas and master limited partnership Analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., based in New York. Mr. Launer has more than 20 years of equity research experience and has achieved 19 appearances on the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team with 12 number one finishes in the natural gas sector. He recently was named to Institutional Investor's Best Analysts of All Time list and recently was inducted into the Institutional Investor Hall of Fame. Mr. Launer joined Deutsche Bank in 2010 as a Managing Director in the natural resources group focused primarily on the corporate coverage of the midstream energy and MLP sector. Profile
TWST: Our focus in this discussion is to learn about the implications

for investment in the transmission, generation and distribution

companies of the natural gas sector and to discover the next