There appears to have been a minor shake-up at the Natural GasSupply Association (NGSA) last week. It came during Skip Horvath’sfirst week as president of the producer group that’s still reelingfrom the effects of an embezzlement scandal uncovered earlier inthe year.

Philip Budzik, vice president of regulatory affairs, and LindaSchoumacher Rozett, director of public relations, have departedNGSA. It could not be learned if they were fired or resigned fromthe trade association. “He’s pursuing other interests,” a sourcesaid of Budzik. Efforts to reach Budzik at home were unsuccessful.

“I have no comment as to what happened. All I can say is Skip’sgoing to be making some announcements on numerous fronts,” thesource told NGI. “There’s no juice here. It’s not like we found anyother embezzlement or anything like that. This is something thatSkip and the board [of directors] were working on.”

He said this was not a downsizing move, but rather that NGSAplanned to hire successors for both Budzik and Rozett. In fact, heindicated that someone had accepted one of the positions already.

Horvath, formerly with the Interstate Natural Gas Association ofAmerica, became president of NGSA on Aug. 1. He succeeded NicholasJ. Bush who pleaded guilty in early July to defrauding theassociation out of $2.8 million over a 16-year period. Bush, whowas charged with one count of mail fraud and one count of taxevasion, was remanded by a federal court judge to the Hope Villagehalfway house in southeastern Washington D.C., pending sentencingin late October.

Susan Parker

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