OilVoice - President of ConocoPhillips Alaska Killed in Avalanche

President of ConocoPhillips Alaska Killed in Avalanche

Sunday, February 14, 2010

The president of Conoco Phillips Alaska, Jim Bowles, 57, was one of two people killed along with a third presumed dead after two avalanches in Southcentral Alaska recreation areas on Saturday, according to Alaska State Troopers. His companion, Alan Gage, a colleague of Bowles' at ConocoPhillips remained missing in the area and is presumed dead.

The avalanche occurred in the Grandview area wilderness between Girdwood and Seward on the Kenai Peninsula.

Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer said today:
"The entire ConocoPhillips family is deeply saddened and will greatly miss ConocoPhillips Alaska President Jim Bowles, who has served our company with distinction. Jim died and fellow employee Alan Gage is missing following an avalanche while snow machining on Feb.13 on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.

"Jim Bowles has led our Alaska organization and its some 900 employees since late 2004 and presided over a number of developments that ensured our company's place and standing in Alaska and will serve as a legacy to his leadership as we go forward.

"Alan Gage is a respected member of our capital projects organization and has been a ConocoPhillips employee since 2006. We are hopeful the search for him can resume soon.

"On behalf of everyone at ConocoPhillips, including those who had the privilege to know and work with these two gentlemen and those who did not, I want to extend our sincere condolences to the Bowles family and our heartfelt best wishes to the Gage family and make sure they know the high regard in which we hold Jim and Alan, both as co-workers and as friends."

Jim Mulva began his career with Phillips Petroleum Company in 1974 and served in a number of positions in Oklahoma, Texas, Montana and Norway. In 1997, he was appointed president of Phillips' Americas division, and in October of 2004, Jim assumed his current position of president, ConocoPhillips Alaska.

He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and completed the Kellogg School of Management's Advanced Executive Program in 1999.

He serves on the board of directors for The Nature Conservancy of Alaska. He has held various officer positions on the American Petroleum Institute and the National Ocean Industries Association boards and served on the board of directors of KCS Energy from 2003 to 2004.