Committed to safety and being environmentally responsible

  • Matt Schatzman

    Matt Schatzman has served as Chief Executive Officer of NextDecade Corporation since 2018, and he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2019. He joined the company as President and a member of the Board of Directors in 2017. Under his leadership, NextDecade developed, financed and is constructing Rio Grande LNG, an approximately 30-million tonnes per annum LNG export facility in Brownsville, Texas. Matt has more than three decades of experience in the energy industry, including as Executive Vice President Global Energy Marketing and Shipping and member of the Group Executive Committee at BG Group, where he was responsible for the company’s global marketing, trading and shipping activities for LNG, crude oil and natural gas. During his tenure at BG Group, he played a pivotal role in the success and growth of BG Group’s LNG business, transforming it into a global leader in flexible LNG supply and trading. Matt also held senior executive roles at Dynegy and started his career at Transco Pipeline, a subsidiary of Williams. In addition to managing an international portfolio of LNG, shipping and commodity trading positions, his expertise extends to financing, risk management and process improvement across a diverse portfolio of development and operating assets. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and is a member of the National Petroleum Council.

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  • Pamela Beall

    Committees: Audit; Finance (Chair); Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability

    Pamela Beall was appointed as a Director of NextDecade in July 2025. Ms. Beall is a seasoned executive in the energy industry with a record of strategic growth and increasing returns to shareholders. Since April 2021, she has served on the board of directors of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 financial services company, and since 2016, she has served on the board of directors of NNN REIT, Inc. In August 2024, Ms. Beall was appointed to the board of directors of Nationwide Trust Company. Other public company directorships she has held include Tesoro Logistics GP, LLC from 2018 to 2019. She is an emeritus member of the board of trustees of the University of Findlay. Ms. Beall retired in 2021 from Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and as a member of the board of directors of MPLX GP LLC, a subsidiary of MPC. MPLX GP LLC is the general partner of MPLX LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership, which owns and operates crude oil, refined products and natural gas logistics assets and processing operations. Ms. Beall received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Findlay and a Master of Business Administration from Bowling Green State University. She is a non-practicing Certified Public Accountant, and she has attended the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

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  • Matthew Bonanno

    Committees: Construction & Operations; Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability

    Matthew Bonanno was elected to the Board of Directors in June 2026. He has served as a Managing Director at General Atlantic since 2020, where he focuses on investments within General Atlantic Credit and serves on the firm’s Credit Investment Committee. He has been nominated to the Board pursuant to the Second Amended and Restated Board Designation and Observer Agreement, by and between the Company and APSC II HoldCo II, L.P., and previously served on the Board from July 2017 to April 2020. Prior to joining General Atlantic, Mr. Bonanno was a Partner at Iron Park Capital Partners and previously spent a decade at York Capital Management as a Partner, Co-Head of North American Credit, and a Portfolio Manager. Earlier in his career, he held roles at The Blackstone Group, News Corporation, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan. Mr. Bonanno received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

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  • General Charles Q. Brown, Jr.

    Committees: Audit; Construction & Operations; Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability

    General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. was elected to the Board of Directors in June 2026. He retired from the United States Air Force in April 2025 after over 40 years of service. He most recently was the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and principal military advisor to the President of the United States, from October 2023 to February 2025. Prior to that, he served as the 22nd Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from August 2020 to September 2023. General Brown also held senior leadership roles as Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command and as a two-time Air Component Commander at U.S. Air Forces Central Command and Pacific Air Forces. Commissioned in 1984, General Brown became a fighter pilot and logged more than 3,100 flight hours, including 130 combat hours. He currently sits on the board of Bessemer Trust and on the national security advisory boards of Shield Capital and RAND. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Air & Space Forces Association and the Board of Trustees of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. General Brown received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Texas Tech University and a Master of Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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  • Sir Frank Chapman

    Committees: Compensation; Construction & Operations (Chair); Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability (Chair)

    Sir Frank Chapman was appointed to NextDecade’s Board of Directors as a non-executive, independent director effective November 1, 2019. Sir Frank graduated with first class honors in Mechanical Engineering from Queen Mary College, London University. He has spent 40 years in the oil and gas industry, beginning his career with BP plc before moving to Royal Dutch Shell plc, where he worked for 18 years. He then moved to British Gas as Managing Director Exploration and Production in 1996. Sir Frank was appointed Chief Executive of BG Group plc (previously British Gas) in 2000 and was a member of its Board of Directors for over 16 years. He retired from BG Group plc in June 2013. Sir Frank was a Vice Chairman of the Charity Myeloma UK and Independent Non-Executive Director of Zap Energy Inc. He was also Chairman of Golar LNG Ltd from September 2014 to September 2015 and served on the Board of Directors of Rolls-Royce Holdings, plc from 2011 to 2021. He was named in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and knighted for services to the oil and gas industry.

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  • Avinash Kripalani

    Committees: Audit; Finance

    Avinash Kripalani has served as a Director of NextDecade since April 2016. Mr. Kripalani is a Partner of Bardin Hill Investment Partners, where he has worked since 2008. Prior to Bardin Hill, Mr. Kripalani was a Consultant at IBM. Mr. Kripalani earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, a Bachelor of Science in Systems and Information Engineering and Master of Science in Systems and Information Engineering from the University of Virginia.

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  • Arnaud Lenail-Chouteau

    Committees: Compensation; Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability

    Arnaud Lenail-Chouteau was appointed as a Director of NextDecade in October 2024. He has over 25 years of experience at TotalEnergies, a multi-energy company that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and electricity, across a wide range of disciplines, including oil and gas exploration, geoscience, business development, asset management and strategy, carbon capture and other decarbonization initiatives. Since July 2023, Mr. Lenail-Chouteau has served as Vice President, LNG Assets and Business Development, with various mandates as director or president of certain TotalEnergies affiliates. Prior to such role, he served as Vice President, Exploration Strategy from September 2021 to June 2023 and as Vice President, Business Gas and Planning with TotalEnergies’ affiliate in Abu Dhabi from September 2019 to September 2021. Mr. Lenail-Chouteau has received Master of Science degrees from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the French Petroleum Institute (IFP School) and a Master of Public Administration degree from Collège des Hautes Etudes de L’Institut Diplomatique (College of Advanced Studies of the Diplomatic Institute).

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  • Giovanni Oddo

    Committees: Construction & Operations; Finance

    Giovanni Oddo was appointed as a Director of NextDecade in May 2022. Mr. Oddo is the Head of Americas of Mubadala Investment Company’s Traditional Infrastructure business unit. At Mubadala Investment Company, he has previously been responsible for investments in the oil and gas sector and related services, including Mubadala Petroleum LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company. Mr. Oddo has over 20 years of experience in infrastructure and energy investments, having been a manager at General Electric International, Oil & Gas Division, responsible for internal investments and market development of Europe and North Africa prior to joining Mubadala Investment Company. Mr. Oddo’s prior experience also includes the Associates program at JPMorgan Natural Resources Investment Banking in London. Mr. Oddo holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florence (Italy) and an MBA from London Business School (UK).

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  • In Kyu Park

    Committees: Construction & Operations; Finance

    In Kyu Park was nominated by HGC NEXT INV LLC (HGC) to replace Timothy Wyatt as its designee on the Board pursuant to that certain Purchaser Rights Agreement in July 2025. Mr. Park has nearly 15 years of experience at portfolio companies of Hanwha Group, a multinational group with innovative businesses in the areas of aerospace and mechatronics, clean energy and ocean solutions, finance, and retail and services. Since January 2025, Mr. Park has served as the Chief Strategy Officer of 174 Power Global, a renewable energy development firm committed to building utility-scale solar, energy storage and integrated clean energy and green hydrogen infrastructure development across North America, and since November 2022, he has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Chariot Energy, a retail energy business in the Texas residential and commercial markets, focusing on both solar and conventional energy solutions. From 2011 to 2022, Mr. Park held planning, operations and talent acquisition positions at Hanwha QCells, a manufacturer of solar modules and other clean technology innovation. Mr. Park holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Environmental Policy and Energy Security from Columbia University.

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  • Diana Sands

    Committees: Audit (Chair); Compensation; Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability

    Diana Sands was appointed as a Director of NextDecade in July 2025. Ms. Sands has over 30 years of business experience across multiple industries and disciplines. She has served on the board of AngloGold Ashanti, a global gold mining company, since 2023, and on the board of Vmo Aircraft Leasing, a private company, since 2022. She previously served on the boards of SP Plus Corporation, a mobility solutions provider, and PDC Energy, Inc., an oil and gas producer. Ms. Sands spent nearly 20 years at Boeing Company where she held senior executive finance and governance positions, including Senior Vice President, Office of Internal Governance and Administration. She also held key finance roles, including corporate controller, head of investor relations, and head of financial planning and analysis. Ms. Sands holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan’s Ross Business School and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

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  • David Stover

    Committees: Compensation; Construction & Operations; Finance

    David Stover was elected to the Board of Directors in June 2026. He brings more than 40 years of leadership experience across global upstream oil and gas operations. Since 2022, Mr. Stover has served as a member of the Board of Directors of APA Corporation. Mr. Stover spent 18 years at Noble Energy, Inc., serving in increasingly senior leadership roles, including as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, which are roles he held until Noble Energy’s acquisition by Chevron Corporation in 2020, after which he retired. Prior to joining Noble Energy, he held various engineering, operations, business development and management positions with BP America, Inc., Vastar Resources, Inc., and Atlantic Richfield Company. Mr. Stover received a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

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  • William Vrattos

    Committees: Audit; Compensation (Chair); Nominating, Corporate Governance & Enterprise Sustainability

    William Vrattos was appointed Lead Independent Director effective April 29, 2020. He has served as a Director of NextDecade since July 2017. Mr. Vrattos joined York Capital Management in January 2002 and is the Co-Chief Investment Officer and a Managing Partner of York Capital Management. Mr. Vrattos is also a Co-Portfolio Manager of the York Credit Opportunities, York Distressed Asset, York Global Credit Income, York Insurance Dedicated, and York Tactical Energy Funds and a member of York’s Executive Committee. Prior to joining York Capital Management, he worked at Georgica Advisors LLC as a Portfolio Manager specializing in media and communications equities and distressed securities and at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. as an investment banker. Mr. Vrattos is currently a member of the Board of Directors or Advisory Board, as applicable and in his capacity as a York Capital Management employee, of (i) Saddle Butte Partners III, (ii) all entities incorporated pursuant to York Capital Management’s partnerships with Costamare, Inc. and (iii) India 2020, and (iv) Generate Advisors. In addition, he is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the City of New York, a member of the Board of Trustees of Groton School and a member of the Investment Committee of the Dartmouth College Endowment. Mr. Vrattos received a Bachelor’s of Arts in English from Dartmouth College and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

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