Apollo Hires Veteran Energy Executive Who Worked Under Obama

Apollo Global Management Inc. has hired former U.S. Department of Energy associate deputy secretary and chief risk officer John MacWilliams.

MacWilliams — who was featured in author Michael Lewis’s book ‘The Fifth Risk’ and worked at the Department of Energy during President Barack Obama’s tenure — will advise the firm’s portfolio companies on environmental, social and governance issues and other matters, Apollo said in an emailed statement. He will be an operating partner, focusing on infrastructure and natural resources efforts.

“Joining Apollo’s infrastructure team comes at a pivotal time when countries across the globe recognize the urgent need to build, repair and enhance the world’s infrastructure,” MacWilliams said in the statement.

Apollo has also appointed former Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners LLC executive Jeff Hunter and former Ports America Inc. and APM Terminals executive Peter Ford as senior advisers to its infrastructure team.

The appointments come as Apollo seeks to bolster its focus on infrastructure, an asset class that has caught increasing attention from pension funds and other institutional investors. The Leon Black-led firm sees compelling opportunities to build and improve infrastructure in sectors such as renewable energy and communications, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

“Many fundamentally strong infrastructure assets face liquidity issues from the current crisis, including demand-driven transport assets such as airports and toll roads,” said Dylan Foo, co-lead of Apollo’s infrastructure team alongside Geoffrey Strong. “We believe the value-focused, disciplined approach of investing at Apollo will position us well to execute on these infrastructure opportunities.”

Since the firm’s inception in 1990, Apollo managed-funds have invested more than $20 billion in infrastructure-related opportunities. The firm’s first dedicated vehicle, Apollo Infrastructure Opportunities Fund I, raised about $1 billion and has invested in 14 assets to date, half of which are in renewables. Its investments include a wind farm project known as Tullahennel in Ireland as well as a solar power project near Arlington Valley, Arizona.

Prior to working at the Department of Energy, MacWilliams was a partner at Tremont Energy Partners LLC and held senior roles at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Earlier this month he resigned from the board of Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company affiliated with Apollo that has said in filings it intends “to capitalize on the Apollo platform” to identify, acquire and operate a business in the energy industry.

Source: Bloomberg

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