Curtis Launer

CURTis LAUNER is a Managing Director in the Equity Research Department
of Credit Suisse First Boston. He leads the firm’s Natural Gas and
Utility Research Group and has specific coverage in the Natural Gas and
Power sector. He joined Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1987 and was
there until the merger with CSFB in October 2000. Mr. Launer was named
the number one ranked analyst in the natural gas group in the
Institutional Investor, Greenwich and Reuters research polls for the
year 2001. He has been among the top three natural gas analysts in all
the major polls in each of the past 15 years and was ranked number one
in the II poll from 1990-1995 and from 1997-2001. His clearly defined
valuation techniques, accounting knowledge, stock picking and macro-
fundamental analysis have been recognized in numerous publications and
presentations to industry groups. Mr. Launer previously worked at L.F.
Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, where he spent three years as a natural
gas research analyst. Before working on Wall Street, Mr. Launer was
operations manager for Gruss Petroleum Management in New York and
Midland, Texas. Mr. Launer began his career as an accountant working at
Arthur Young & Company and Mobil Oil Corporation. He received a BS in
Accounting from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977.