Subject: re : trading support operations - london
ted ,
we have had discussions about barry in the past and i have followed - up on
specific instances you have mentioned - i believe they date back to 1998 and
prior to my first hand experience of working with barry throughout 1999 , and
the people who raised concerns then acknowledge that the environment has
changed since then . we are not so barry - dependent . we have a team of quality
risk management professionals as evidenced by the fact that it is the primary
recruiting ground for the rac team ( david port , oliver gaylard ) .
barry ' s role is much less hands - on now and he is not our candidate for the
global products position - this will continue to be kevin sweeney . the role i
suggest for barry is the high level co - ordination of the operations team -
his energy , enthusiasm and ability to execute on a plan , combined with his
considerable institutional knowledge , making a superior candidate difficult
to find . frankly , i suggested steve young not for additional depth , but to
address the relationship issue that clearly exists - i do not belittle this
issue , and while i don ' t think that anyone can point to any " prosecutable "
offences that barry may have committed in recent history , his management
style doesn ' t help to promote the view that he is totally impartial and
objective . i will say that he has always been open and frank ( very frank )
with me - indeed if mally and sweeney had been as open we may have had a
different story to tell on helsinki .
as an aside , i have not been involved in or consulted on the ' world tour ' ,
although i know that barry suggested this sort of thing to sally a few weeks
back . i think it is great that brent price is involved , but we would be happy
to contribute staff to this too .
regards
fernley
to : fernley dyson / lon / ect @ ect
cc : rick buy , sally beck / hou / ect @ ect
subject : re : trading support operations - london
fernley ,
as we discussed earlier this year , i have serious concerns about barry that i
think are both well - founded and reasonably well documented . to be fair , i
will say that since ql of last year , i have not seen any further
" prosecutable " offenses and he has made some attempts at being more
communicative . however , i am clearly unwilling to stake my career on his
transformation , particulary with as influential person as john sherriff in
charge of the office . probably more to the point ,
it continues to concern me that london has not developed an operations team
that is not so barry - dependent . evidence to this effect are , the fact that
he is your only candidate for the global products position , that someone from
houston has to be part of the " world tour " in europe ( brent price ) , that
your candidates for a senior interim operations head in helsinki was david
port or richard sage , and that your suggestion for additional depth is steve
young .
further for the record , i believe that i am not the only one with whom barry
has a credibility issue - arthur andersen , other global products personnell ,
and other risk people in london have expressed similar concerns to me - i
just happen to be the most vocal .
ted
fernley dyson
02 / 08 / 2000 04 : 07 pm
to : richard causey / corp / enron @ enron
cc : rick buy / hou / ect @ ect , john sherriff / lon / ect @ ect , ted murphy / hou / ect @ ect ,
sally beck / hou / ect @ ect
subject : trading support operations - london
rick ,
not wishing to delay the comprehensive review of our trading support
function , particularly as it relates to our global products business , we
already have barry pearce taking a lead in this area .
the issue of concern is whether this should be an interim measure or a more
permanent solution . well - nothing is permanent in enron and i think barry
understands this as well as anybody . if we had a more suitable candidate , we
would give him / her the job .
i have seen barry develop and mature over the last 12 months along with the
team that we have built around him . i ' m convinced that he can add significant
value by drawing the global products support functions ' in to the fold ' .
however , he clearly has a credibility issue with ted in particular and ,
whilst i do not share ted ' s views , i do not hold barry out as a saint and i
can see recurring problems if such a key relationship is not well grounded .
i suggest that we continue to search for a candidate - known and trusted
within houston , who can instill confidence there . steve young ( head of rac in
london ) may be an interesting option , although i ' m sure he would not be easy
to replace . in the meantime we need barry to take things forward and i will
be monitoring the situation very closely .
regards
fernley .