RBN Consulting Team

Mr. Smead specializes primarily in energy transportation and logistics, offering expert policy analysis and advice, litigation support, and strategic advice with respect to pipelines, gas/product quality, potential supplies, and market initiatives. His background includes over nine years as a Director with Navigant Consulting, Inc., and over three decades in the energy industry. That experience included over 20 years as the chief regulatory officer for major interstate pipeline systems, with multiple experiences advising non-U.S. governments in the creation of a regulatory structure. His consulting practice has spanned the LNG industry, both project developers for large national oil companies, and the U.S. shale gas boom and its interaction with LNG, the pipeline industry, power generation, and other markets. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland and a law degree from George Washington University. 

Robert is a 10+ year veteran of the petroleum refining industry.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering  from the University of Texas at Austin and is an active CFA Charter Holder.  Robert started his career as a Process Engineer at the Western (now Marathon) refinery in El Paso, TX, where he spent four years in various roles.  He transitioned into a position as Senior Consultant at Turner, Mason & Co., which he held from 2017 – 2022.  Robert was the lead consultant in multiple valuations of refinery, terminal and renewable diesel assets across North America.  He also was the co-author and chief analyst for TM&C’s industry forecast publications and participated in a wide variety of other consulting engagements.  In May of 2022, Robert co-founded Refined Fuels Analytics and serves as the Manager and Chief Analyst.  He has designed a new refinery model to support both macro global analysis and forecasts of crude oil, refined products and renewable fuel markets and assess the economics of individual refineries and renewable facilities.

Kristen Holmquist is the Managing Director of Analytics at RBN. She has a diverse background across the energy chain. She has more than 20 years of experience modeling economics and supply/demand for petrochemicals (C2/C3/C4 olefins), domestic US ethane/NGLs, international LPG markets and US/international NGL markets. As part of this diverse background, Kristen has acquired the skills to understand a wide variety of markets from both an economic and practical point of view and can apply this understanding to markets across commodities. Kristen has developed models for production and demand, pricing, pipeline and shipping flows, economics, and ship tracking. Her experience includes work at Chemical Market Associates Inc (now part of Dow Jones), Bentek, Poten & Partners and Tellurian. This includes three years running the LPG analytics business at Poten & Partners, developing short-term metrics and supply/demand modeling.  At Bentek, Kristen led a team delivering a key report to the clients on the availability of ethane during the first wave of new steam cracker construction in the US.  Her experience at Bentek and Ponderosa Advisors (now Enverus) includes running the domestic US NGL businesses. To deliver the results of these studies, Kristen has become adept at communicating the intricacies of the market to clients in a simple and understandable way. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

During his 45+ year career in the petroleum industry, Mr. Auers has performed a wide range of activities with a focus on the   downstream segment.  He started his career with Exxon Corporation in 1980, where he held various positions at its Baytown, TX refinery.  In 1987, Auers joined Turner, Mason & Company (TM&C), an international downstream petroleum consulting group based in Dallas, TX.  He spent 35 years at TM&C, serving the final 25 years as Executive Vice President.  At TM&C, Mr. Auers developed and managed their subscription industry forecast  publications, including The Crude and Refined Products Outlook, The World Refinery Construction Outlook, The World Crude Outlook, The North American Crude and Condensate Outlook and a variety of other regular and special industry publications and reports.  He also served as the chief economist for the firm and led assignments in a wide range of areas, including refining economics and planning, LP modeling, merger & acquisition advisory services, downstream asset valuation, refined product market analysis, crude oil valuation, capital investment review, strategic planning, government policy impact assessment and litigation support.  Upon retirement from TM&C in July 2022, Mr. Auers formed Refined Fuels Analytics as a subsidiary group within RBN Energy, where he continues to carry out similar assignments and has started a new comprehensive long-term industry market report, The Future of Fuels.  Mr. Auers speaks regularly at various national and international industry conferences and workshops, has testified in both Houses of Congress and in other governmental and academic forums on energy policy issues.  He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska, an MBA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake City and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Texas and Nebraska.

Martin King (“Marty”) has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics from the University of Calgary. His work experience spans being an Economist at the Bank of Canada in Ottawa from 1990 to 1993, and at the National Energy Board in Calgary from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 2018 he was with FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary, now GMP FirstEnergy, where he eventually served as Director of Institutional Research and was responsible for the analysis, modeling and price forecasts of the crude oil and natural gas markets.

Lindsay Schneider is RBN's Principal Consultant and Analyst with more than 10 years’ experience in North American gas, LNG and power markets. She was previously a Sr. Manager at Wood Mackenzie covering gas markets with a focus on natural gas pipelines and regional pricing/market dynamics. Prior to Wood Mackenzie, Lindsay was a fuels analyst for Exelon Generation. She has a BS in mathematics and a BA in economics from the Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Potter brings over thirty years of experience in the oil & gas industry, including crude oil and natural gas trading, as well as providing consulting services on a wide array of North American and international projects. Mr. Potter began his career in the early 1980’s, working for UPG, Inc. (Northern Natural Gas’ crude oil and condensate subsidiary).   From there, he co-founded Aquila Energy, which developed into one of the industry’s leading marketers of natural gas.  His experience includes both natural gas trading and leadership of large gas trading organizations. In the mid – 1990’s. Mr. Potter joined Mr. Braziel as Texaco’s Vice President of Natural Gas Trading. Mr. Potter also spent time working with Mr. Braziel at Altra Energy, leading a team responsible for delivering Altra software to international clients, including Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company. Mr. Potter holds a BBA in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Copeland has decades of experience in the energy space, he joined the RBN team in 2014 to lead RBN’s geospatial initiative and leverage the power of "where" to increase the value of RBN Energy's internal analytic processes and customer facing visuals. Before joining RBN, Mr. Copeland was Manager, GIS Energy Solutions for Platts, now S&P Global. Prior to Platts, Mr. Copeland built and managed the GIS and mapping team at Bentek Energy.

 In addition to his role as President and CEO of RBN, David Braziel also works as a principal consultant and manages RBN’s published blog and report content. With nearly 20 years of industry experience, Mr. Braziel brings extensive expertise in energy markets to RBN Energy. He initially joined RBN in 2013 as Director of Finance and Fundamental Analysis. Prior to his tenure at RBN, David spent several years at Direct Energy as a Senior Analyst, specializing in data analysis and quality. He launched his career at Bentek Energy and subsequently moved to Apache Corporation, where he spent five years in various roles, including revenue, valuation, and gas marketing accounting. David holds a BBA in Finance from Baylor University and an MBA from the University of Houston, where he earned certificates in Energy Investment Analysis, Economics of the Energy Value Chain, Energy Accounting and Finance, and Energy Risk Management. 

With an extensive background in energy marketing, trading, and data services, Mr. Braziel is one of the most respected authorities in the field of energy information and markets.   He is the author of The Domino Effect, bestseller book about understanding energy markets.    Mr. Braziel spent 20 years with Texaco (now Chevron), serving as Senior Vice President of Natural Gas Marketing and Trading and Manager of NGL Supply.  Subsequently he was Vice President of Business Development for The Williams Companies, one of the largest U.S. natural gas pipeline and midstream companies.  In the 1990s Mr. Braziel founded and served as President and CEO of Altra Energy Technologies, a developer of energy transaction management software including the Chalkboard trading system (now Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE).  Later he was Vice President of Petrochemical and Gas Processing operations at Link Energy and was co-owner and senior executive at Bentek Energy, an energy consultancy purchased by Platts/S&P Global in 2011.  He was first appointed to the National Petroleum Council by the U.S. Secretary of Energy in 2018 and continues in that role. Mr. Braziel holds BBA and MBA degrees in Business and Finance from Stephen F. Austin University. 

Mr. Braziel brings decades of experience in the oil and gas industry, with expertise spanning crude oil, natural gas, NGLs, and refined products markets. He has held strategic roles in leading energy analytics firms, where he has provided insights and solutions to clients across North America. His background includes leadership in sales and business development, with a focus on market analysis, midstream project evaluation, and commercial negotiations supporting producers, refiners, and infrastructure developers. At RBN Energy, Mr. Braziel’s consulting work emphasizes helping clients access actionable market intelligence, strategic planning, and commercial support to navigate today’s rapidly evolving energy landscape. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the Bauer School of Business at the University of Houston.