Sylvia K. Barnes

Sylvia K. Barnes Director City Appointee, Position 1 Originally appointed 02/22/08 Term expires 08/31/2008

Sylvia Barnes joined Merrill Lynch as a Managing Director in Investment Banking as part of the firm's acquisition of Petrie Parkman in December of 2006.  Ms. Barnes has over twenty years of financial experience and a background in engineering.  Her accomplishments include successfully executing a variety of merger, acquisition, and divestiture transactions for energy clients, structuring and placing private debt and equity, advising in the sale of public royalty trust units and public equity, and structuring commodity supply contracts.

Prior to joining Petrie Parkman, Ms. Barnes was with Enron Energy Services as Vice President for sixteen months, responsible for executing energy management contracts with large industrial clients, including refineries and chemical companies. Her responsibilities included negotiating and structuring long-term power and natural gas transactions, and demand management projects, as well as advising senior management on risk management strategies and commodity hedging programs.

From 1994 through 2000, Ms. Barnes worked for Nesbitt Burns Securities in New York and Houston. As Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Nesbitt Burns Securities, Ms. Barnes was head of the firm's US energy investment banking group and responsible for M&A, capital markets, and corporate finance advisory services for energy clients.   

From 1984 through 1993, Ms. Barnes worked for Bank of Montreal in New York and Calgary, specializing in structured finance and corporate banking for energy clients. Ms. Barnes began her career as a reservoir engineer for a subsidiary of Exxon, and was a licensed petroleum engineer. 

Her educational background includes earning a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Dean's List) from University of Manitoba, and a Master's of Business Administration from York University.

Ms. Barnes has been key-note speaker at a variety of industry events, including for the Texas Oil and Gas Association, the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers.  Ms. Barnes is associated with a variety of oil and gas industry professional associations including being on the board of Houston Producers Forum and an active member of IPAA.