ConocoPhillips donates $25K to Energy Institute

October 28, 2008

At an Oct. 27 reception in Goldring/Woldenberg Hall II, ConocoPhillips presented a gift of $25,000 to the Tulane Energy Institute. The gift, one of the first in ConocoPhillips' Faculty Sponsorship Program, will support Joe LeBlanc, who teaches the Freeman School's energy trading courses.

image file — Left to right, James McFarland, executive director of the Tulane Energy Institute; Geoff Parker, director of the institute; Angelo DeNisi, dean of the Freeman School; Frank Dodaro, manager of pricing processes at ConocoPhillips; Sherri B. Thomas, director of campus recruiting at ConocoPhillips; David Velasquez (BSM '09), who was recently hired for the ConocoPhillips training program; Joe LeBlanc, clinical professor of business; and Peggy Babin, associate dean.

ConocoPhillips targeted the Tulane Energy Institute as part of its effort to build strategic relationships with schools whose programs meet the recruiting needs of its commodity trading business.

"ConocoPhillips is pleased to have as one of its first recipients in the Faculty Sponsorship Program Prof. Joe LeBlanc and the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University," said Sherri B. Thomas, director of campus recruiting at ConocoPhillips. "We are actively building strategic relationships with professors and universities that have courses and programs that support the recruiting needs of our Commodity Trading business, and we believe building a solid relationship with the program at Tulane will have a positive impact on our recruiting efforts and our business success."

LeBlanc has taught Energy Fundamentals and Trading at the Freeman School since 2007, and he has been instrumental in enhancing the course with industry-leading simulation, trading and financial software from Advantage Futures, FEA, Oracle, Reuters and Trading Technologies.