An advocate of transformational leadership, Dr. Ainojie ‘Alex‘ Irune has over 20 years‘ multi sectoral experience across Energy, Business/IT Consultancy, Research, Innovation & Development. He currently serves as an Executive Director on the Board of Oando PLC and as the Chief Operating Officer, Oando Energy Resources (OER); Africa’s leading exploration and production company and the upstream subsidiary of Oando PLC. Dr. Irune’s long-term goal for OER is sustainable business success through technical and commercial innovation. An integral part of maximising this success, has been evolving into a company that looks beyond today’s energy requirements to a future-focused and sustainable energy mix. This endeavour led to him spearheading a new subsidiary: Oando Clean Energy (OCEL). Today, he serves as OCEL’s President and CEO overseeing the design and execution of its business strategy, product innovation and capital raise efforts. As OER COO, he has operational oversight of the upstream business made up of 16 onshore and offshore assets across Nigeria and Sao Tome & Principe. Since taking on the role in 2018, he has successfully redefined OER’s business model, leading Joint Venture Improvement Initiatives to mitigate production inefficiencies, reduce costs and increase production; actions that culminated in a 17% rise in incremental production and over $43 million in cost savings for the JVs. Dr. Irune has secured over $1.5 billion in international ficing for incremental production and in excess of $500m in working capital ficing. He has also been instrumental in workforce-based initiatives to promote a more diverse and inclusive environment as well as build a positive internal culture. Prior to his current role, Dr. Irune held senior management positions across the Oando Group leading various transformational change programs. Notable amongst these are strategic initiatives that restructured the business and reduced the Group’s debt obligations, including partial business divestments to Vitol and Helios Investment Partners that generated inflows of over US$330 million. He also implemented the global communications strategy for Oando’s $1.5bn acquisition of ConocoPhillips Nigeria upstream assets. After completing his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Nottingham, Dr. Irune began his career as a research consultant in the United Kingdom, driving innovation and development focused on human-computer interaction for automobile companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Honda. Dr. Irune is committed to gender diversity and an advocate for a more just and equitable society with a strong focus on youth development and empowerment.