Introducing The Botsford Group

AWS has hosted ARCO Alumni for over a decade.  Our website and eNewsletters share stories about members, companies and opportunities we hope you agree are interesting and valuable to you personally and professionally. An ARCO Alumnus in Dallas introduced us to The Botsford Group and we share with you some investing and lifestyle options in the following story.

Retirement scenario #1, planning misstep: You retired or planned to retire but your portfolio was devastated by an economic meltdown. Now you don’t know if you can ever retire.

Retirement scenario #2, unforeseen misfortune: Everything you have worked for disappears in an instant. The trigger is a car wreck—involving you or your spouse or your children. Grief-stricken survivors sue. Your unprotected portfolio is drained overnight

Undesirable investment scenarios are a dime a dozen these days. However, according to financial expert Erin Botsford, you can secure and maintain your chosen lifestyle regardless of frivolous lawsuits or market ups and downs. The secret, says the adviser who heads The Botsford Group, is adherence to a guiding philosophy that protects wealth by blending risk management with lifestyle-driven investing.

Botsford asserts, “Protecting wealth remains the most important consideration. At Botsford Group we tell our clients:   ‘Assume the other shoe will drop and make sure you are positioned correctly.’ That’s why, despite the economic meltdown, not one Botsford Group client has had to alter their lifestyle, nor hopefully will any of them have to.”

Botsford’s credentials include being ranked 19 out of 100 in Barron’s list of top advisers. Her expert opinions are sought by investor news outlets such as Fortune magazine, Wall Street Journal, Investment News and CNBC.

The 52-year old financial professional is Founder and CEO of The Botsford Group, an independent firm headquartered in Frisco, a suburb of Dallas, and recognized by Barron’s for attracting and retaining its clients. Barron’s writes that this ability is “indicative of strong investment results”.

ARCO Alumnus Syed Bokhari is ready for a new challenge.  With his wealth of experience, Syed is hoping to get a position that utilizes his knowledge either in a general or technical management role. He has worked in many disciplines in the upstream business, lending him the unique advantage of understanding most aspects of the business-a must for a senior manager. Currently living in Pakistan, Syed is flexible regarding location.

Syed thoroughly enjoyed working for ARCO from 1985 to 1997. He tells us “ARCO was a great place to work and make wonderful friends. Even though it was quite large, it gave you the feel of a small company-the camaraderie was great. ARCO was very technically driven and I enjoyed the opportunity to work in so many exciting places across the US and the globe”.

In the oil and gas industry, a love of travelling is an almost mandatory requirement as your career will inevitably take you around the globe. Syed’s career was no different and he loved and enjoyed exploring the world and its people when his career took him away from home.

Originally from Pakistan, Syed settled in the US for 30 years. The lure of starting a new company from scratch however was the impetus for Syed’s return to Pakistan in 2006 after he was approached by investors interested in forming a Pakistani company based on international standards.

“I was fortunate to attract very capable professionals with multinational experience and together we setup a high quality organization.” The company’s success continued and it won two large exploration blocks, brought in multinational partners, acquired seismic, performed several studies and identified 5 high quality prospects in which they plan to drill later this year.  All of this was accomplished in a very short time considering the recent challenging environment (the deep reaching recession and Pakistan's security issues). New Horizon E&P Limited continues to thrive.

ARCO Alumnus Jeanette Crumpler was an ARCO employee on the 41st floor of the ARCO Tower from 1984 through 1992. An Executive Receptionist, she tells us it was a wonderful job.

We often hear about the wonderful ARCO staff that contributed so much to the company, and Jeanette’s recollection is no different, she tells us “The people were so nice to me and made me feel a part of the ARCO "family" each day. I enjoyed talking to and seeing people not only from the ARCO Tower but from all of the many other ARCO locations. The diversity of people from everywhere and their experiences were so interesting to me. My fondest memories of working at ARCO were the people, their professional attitudes and the many kindnesses they extended.”

Jeanette took early retirement to care for her terminally ill son; after he tragically passed away she began her writing career. Having majored in Journalism while attending college she became the first female sports writer at SMU. With reference to writing Jeanette’s impressive credentials include a column in “Gals in Sports”, covering numerous events, completing eight books, over 150 articles, 650 interviews and many features and articles for various publications.

ARCO Alumnus John Gillespie is seeking consultants to staff a large, multi-year international redevelopment project. Drilling and Completion/Intervention Supt positions are available to manage five or more rigs each. 28/28 schedule.

Drilling and Well testing Engineering jobs are also open. Please advise your interest to John Gillespie for more information.

ARCO Alumnus John Dabbar is currently employed by ConocoPhillips in Kazakhstan; a move he completed recently after relocating to Moscow from the US fourteen years ago. In the fall of 1996 John was working with ARCO Pipeline Company at Cherry Avenue in Long Beach. At the time, ARCO was setting up the Lukarco joint venture with Lukoil. Part of Lukoil was to take an interest in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, a newly-formed venture to build the first private pipeline in the Former Soviet Union.

“I received a call and was asked if they could write my name in the organization chart” John tells us. “When I got home that night I told my wife I had a chance to get an international assignment. “Great” she said “Where?” I answered her “Probably Moscow” to which she answered “No, seriously, where?” An unusual location, the chance to take part in this joint venture proved too tempting to resist and John and his family made the move.

“I had a chance to work with many life-long Soviet “oil men” as they called themselves and learned a lot about the history of the oil and gas industry in the Former Soviet Union first hand from the people that built it”, says John. Eight years after the move, John, his wife and children were living happily in Moscow where his children enjoyed attending Russian school and the family had successfully integrated into the local Russian community.