Hunter Shively

Hunter Shively served as Vice President of Midwest Gas Trading at Enron North America, managing the Central desk’s natural gas trading operations focused on Chicago and surrounding Midwest markets. Operating under John Lavorato’s Financial Trading division, Shively oversaw a portfolio of long-term commitments including the Peoples Gas agreement extending through October 2004, the Sithe power plant fuel supply deal running to December 2014, and Northern Border transport capacity through December 2008. His desk managed complex basis and index risks across major pipelines including Northern Border, ANR, PEPL, and Trunkline, positioning Enron as a dominant player in Chicago citygate and Midwest natural gas markets.

Shively’s email archive in the Enron corpus contains 3,160 messages spanning June 2000 to November 2002, documenting his work across the Central desk’s trading operations, technology integration efforts, and the company’s transition through bankruptcy to its successor trading entity.

Career at Enron

Organizational Position

Shively led the Central desk within Enron North America’s gas trading division, also referred to as Enron Capital and Trade Resources (ECT). His position placed him among the core gas trading leadership team alongside Phillip Allen (West Gas), Scott Neal, and Thomas Martin. In communications from John Lavorato dating to July 2000, Shively was grouped with other senior trading desk heads including Jeff Shankman, John Arnold, and Kevin Presto.

An interview schedule from February 2002 formally listed him as “Hunter Shively, VP - Midwest Gas Trading,” while correspondence from Heath Schiesser in August 2001 similarly identified him as “VP, Mid-West Gas Trading.”

Geographic and Market Focus

The Central desk concentrated on natural gas markets in the central United States with Chicago as the primary market. Shively’s operation managed positions across a network of key pipelines including Northern Border Pipeline, ANR Pipeline (both Southeast and Southwest segments), PEPL (Panhandle Eastern), Midwestern Gas Transmission, Trunkline, NGPL Mid-continent, and Peoples Gas Light & Coke (PGL&C).

His email signatures from August 2000 documented the desk’s major positions and risk exposures in detail, revealing the scope of commitments under his management.

Team Management

Shively led a team of gas traders that included Geoff Storey as senior trader, along with Andy Lewis, Martin Cuilla, Jason Williams, Jim Simpson, and Kevin Ruscitti. His assistant Airam Arteaga, referenced extensively throughout his correspondence, coordinated administrative functions and scheduling. The frequency of task-related communications and operational coordination emails suggests a hands-on management style focused on execution and accountability.

Major Trading Positions

Peoples Gas Agreement

The Peoples Gas position, expiring October 2004, represented one of the Central desk’s signature deals. This agreement carried index risk in Chicago along with basis risk across Chicago, NGPL Mid-continent, Trunkline, and Ventura. The multi-year duration and geographic spread of basis exposures required ongoing management of hedging strategies and market positioning.

Sithe Power Plant Deal

The Sithe agreement, extending to December 2014, demonstrated the long-term nature of Central desk commitments. This fuel supply arrangement carried index risk and basis exposure across ANR-Southeast, ANR-Southwest, and PEPL. The fifteen-year term meant the position survived Enron itself, requiring careful transition planning during the bankruptcy process.

Northern Border Transport

The Northern Border transport position, running from Monchy and Ventura to Chicago through December 2008, focused on basis spread risk between Ventura and Chicago. This capacity commitment allowed the desk to capture value from geographic price differentials along the Northern Border Pipeline corridor.

Technology and Systems

Shively maintained heavy involvement in trading technology initiatives as electronic trading became integral to Enron’s operations.

EnronOnline Integration

The Central desk utilized EnronOnline for market data feeds and trade execution. Shively coordinated EOL implementation for Midwest gas products, working to ensure the platform captured accurate pricing information for Chicago citygate and related market points.

Trading System Development

Shively participated in database design for trading operations and Stack Manager trading platform implementation. His team worked on integration between the trading platform and enovate, Enron’s internal profit and loss tracking system. Correspondence shows him coordinating with IT resources on web scraping for market intelligence and flow analysis automation.

Operational Systems

When the Peoples Gas Light & Coke relationship encountered late nomination issues, Shively worked to resolve scheduling problems and standardize Central desk reporting procedures. His operational focus extended to IT resource allocation decisions affecting trading infrastructure.

Leadership Recognition

In March 2001, Shively was mentioned in connection with leadership committees being formed by Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling “to broaden the participation of Enron’s next generation of leadership.” This inclusion suggested he was viewed as part of the company’s emerging executive leadership, positioned for potential advancement had Enron survived.

Pipeline and Regulatory Analysis

Shively regularly analyzed pipeline tariff filings and regulatory developments affecting the Central desk’s positions. His work included monitoring FERC filings for negotiated rate deals, evaluating new pipeline services such as Trunkline’s LNG lending service, and assessing Enron’s competitive positioning relative to Enbridge and other gas marketers in Midwest markets.

Key Correspondents

Shively’s email patterns reveal his operational relationships across gas trading, operations, and corporate functions.

The high volume of correspondence with fellow gas trading VPs Scott Neal, Phillip Allen, and Thomas Martin reflects coordination across Enron’s regional gas desks. His regular communication with Laura Luce in pipeline operations and Patrice Mims in retail coordination demonstrates the Central desk’s integration with logistics and scheduling functions. Richard Tomaski in the Chicago office appears frequently in connection with Midwest deal execution.

Cross-Functional Coordination

Shively’s role required coordination across multiple Enron functions. Daily Central Desk meetings brought together traders and support staff. Regular interaction with Laura Luce covered pipeline operations, while Bob Superty provided logistics support. Patrice Mims coordinated retail deals through Enron Midwest (EMW). Risk management and analytics teams provided position analysis and hedging recommendations.

His correspondence with Tim Belden in West Power trading and Christopher Calger in asset management indicates cross-commodity coordination between gas and power operations.

Enron’s Collapse

Reorganization Period

As Enron’s financial situation deteriorated in late 2001, Shively participated in logistics team reorganization. In November 2001, logistics teams were restructured to report into the commercial organization, with Shively involved in defining the new reporting relationships.

In January 2002, Shively participated in competitive analysis projects alongside Lavorato, Presto, and Belden, assessing the trading landscape as Enron sought buyers for its trading operations.

Post-Bankruptcy Transition

After Enron’s bankruptcy filing in December 2001, Shively continued in a leadership role with the successor trading entity. His correspondence references discussions about the “New Company” and coordination with UBS as the Swiss bank acquired Enron’s trading operations.

Shively participated in trader selection decisions and system access assignments during the transition period. He coordinated with Stephen Bennett from the Meteorology team and was listed on Stack Manager access with execute privileges for all gas products.

In February 2002, Shively was interviewing candidates for weather and meteorology positions and managing the transition of the meteorology team with David Oxley, showing his involvement in staffing the successor organization.

Email Activity

Shively’s correspondence spans the peak of Enron’s trading operations through the bankruptcy transition.

Legal Status

No public records indicate that Hunter Shively faced criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action related to his work at Enron. His Midwest gas trading operations did not generate the legal scrutiny that affected certain West Coast power trading practices. The absence of Department of Justice or Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions against Shively suggests the Central desk’s trading practices were not subject to the same regulatory concerns as some other Enron operations.

His continued involvement in the UBS successor organization and trader transition activities indicates he remained in good standing within the energy trading industry following Enron’s collapse.

See Also

• John Lavorato - Executive Vice President supervising Financial Trading
• Louise Kitchen - President of Enron Americas
• Phillip Allen - VP, West Gas Trading and peer desk head
• John Arnold - Gas and power trader, frequent correspondent
• Kevin Presto - VP, East Power Trading and peer desk head

References

This article is based on 3,160 emails from Hunter Shively’s archive in the Enron email corpus, spanning June 2000 to November 2002. Email queries were executed against the DuckDB database containing the complete Enron PST archive with 1.23 million messages.