There appears to have been a minor shake-up at the Natural GasSupply Association (NGSA) this week. It comes during Skip Horvath’sfirst week as president of the producer group that’s stillrecovering from an embezzlement scandal uncovered earlier in theyear.

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 group. “He’s pursuing other interests,” a source said ofBudzik. 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 noted. “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.

He indicated that NGSA would hire successors for both Budzik andRozett. In fact, he said someone has accepted one of the positionsalready.

Horvath, formerly with the Interstate Natural Gas Association ofAmerica, became president of NGSA on Aug. 1. He succeeded NicholasJ. Bush who pleaded guilty last month to defrauding the associationout of $2.8 million over a 16-year period. Bush has been remandedto the Hope Village halfway house in southeastern Washington D.C.,pending sentencing in late October.

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