John Harris
Managing Director
Industry Sectors
Principle Areas of Practice
- Energy Trading & Risk Management
- CTRM/ETRM Implementation
- Software Selection & Implementation
- Enterprise Resource Planning
- Enterprise Application Integration
- IT, Business & Digital Transformation Strategy Development & Implementation
- Operational Process Design, Improvement & Automation
- Oil, Gas, Power & NGL Trading & Marketing
- Organizational Design & Change Management
Professional Experience
John is a Managing Director in Opportune LLP’s Process & Technology practice based in Denver. With over 20 years of experience in the energy industry, he brings extensive knowledge of available ETRM/CTRM products and the associated implementation methodologies. John’s background includes providing skilled and practical guidance in strategic planning, program management, asset optimization, resource allocation, human resource development, and team building, with deep knowledge in energy commodity trading and risk management. In his former roles as Vice President of Services and Chief Operating Officer, John managed teams of 60+ consultants in executing implementation strategies to deliver solutions across a diverse breadth of energy customers. With a focus on projects in North America, he has also led global initiatives and teams of consultants on multiple international and market entry projects in Mumbai, New Delhi, Singapore, London, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines. John has managed the complete system development lifecycle process, including requirement definition, custom development, QA and testing efforts, user acceptance testing, infrastructure design, product training, gap identification, and issue resolution. Additionally, John is a respected industry leader in managing third-party contractor evaluation and selection. John holds a B.S. in Economics from Texas A&M University.
Representative Projects
- As project manager for governance review, directed a large Canadian utility in assessing current governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) and business process management (BPM) policies. Reviewed policies and procedures related to commodity trading and risk management of the retail, wholesale, and generation business units. Evaluated all wholesale trading activities managed in the ETRM system, as well as the contracts and purchase agreements maintained by generation and retail.
- Served as program manager of organizational change, leading a team in the design and delivery of a complete in-house marketing function, a project critical to the client for continued growth and profitability. Worked with the client to develop a multi-staged process to address near and long-term requirements in systems, processes, people, infrastructure, governance, and support. All three stages of the program were implemented with a pragmatic and efficient approach that resulted in an on-time, on/under budget delivery.
- Served as lead subject matter expert for system selection for a Gulf Coast LNG exporter. Researched, prepared, and delivered a successful LNG system selection project. The effort included evaluating and updating third-party deliverables, contract review, scenario studies, scoring, and selection protocols. The client, based on positive executive feedback from the initial deliverables, requested further support in contract assessment, negotiations, and project implementation strategy.
- Provided project oversight for a marketing and trading major in their system and process upgrade. Implemented an accelerated system upgrade and process redefinition, focusing on high-priority and high-impact deliverables. Provided an integrated resource plan that involved both client and vendor stakeholder, to reduce customizations and improve the overall supportability and usability of selected systems. The result of the program was a successful upgrade, reduced client support cost, and improved efficiency, reliability, and accuracy of transactional data.