About Us

David Duncanis the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OOSKAnews. David founded the company in August 2006, after 14 years in publishing, mostly in business-to-business news. Under his leadership, OOSKAnews has recruited and deployed more than 150 freelance contributors in more than 40 countries to bring unparalleled news coverage to all aspects of the water sector across the globe, with particular emphasis on the emerging markets of the Middle East; Africa; Central, Southern and Eastern Asia; Eastern Europe; the Former Soviet Union States; Latin America, and the Caribbean.

 

Since 2006, OOSKAnews has launched seven weekly email newsletters geared to the information needs of senior strategic decision-makers in all the disparate “constituencies” in the world of water. OOSKAnews"Weekly Water Reports" deliver market-leading, timely, reliable news coverage of the finance and funding of water projects; water supply issues; government and policy developments; environment and waste questions.

 

In April 2008, Mr. Duncan led OOSKAnews into a partnership agreement with Stamford, Connecticut-based private investment firm Dubilier & Co. with a view to enabling acceleration of business expansion plans in water sector publishing, and related product areas.

 

Before founding OOSKAnews, he was Chief Executive Officer of NewsBase Ltd, in Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) and Warrenton (Virginia, USA). NewsBase is a publisher of international business news and analysis, with primary focus on the oil, gas and power generation sectors.  Mr. Duncan previously held other senior management positions in news and other publishing organizations in Europe and
the United States.

 

David Duncan holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

 

"OOSKA" is a phonetic spelling of the Scottish Gaelic word "uisge," which
means "water."

 

Kathleen Morris brings to OOSKAnews a wide-range of experience in general corporate banking for small and medium sized companies, financial analysis and credit control for large corporations and private equity firms, including highly complex mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions.  Her banking experience concluded in the project finance arena managing a loan portfolio of very large construction projects originated by independent power producers.  This skill and experience was transferred to the equity perspective where she was responsible for contract compliance, structuring and negotiating necessary adjustments and communications with the owners and the lenders for the UK
operations of a global independent power producer.

 

Most recently, Ms Morris was the CFO of a UK-based independent power company engaged in early stage development of a project designed to produce power from offshore gas reserves and an adjacent offshore wind farm. Having received full consent to construct, the company was faced with unprecedented disruption in the financial markets and successfully sold the assets to a major European utility.

 

James Wu joined Dubilier & Co. in 2002, where he assists early-stage and middle-market companies by securing investment, managing operations and introducing operating partners at the Board or management level. He is also currently President of ODC Nimbus, a high-tech operating company in the Dubilier portfolio. Prior to joining Dubilier & Co., Mr. Wu co-founded Lab Econometrics, a Harvard-University-based fixed-income hedge fund, where he was the managing partner. Mr. Wu led the fund raising, development and eventual sale of a minority interest in Lab Econometrics to Atlantic Asset Management, where the fund has been trading since 2003. Prior to founding Lab Econometrics, Mr. Wu was the president and founder of Clairvergent Technology Group formerly Revbox, which provided Internet-based technology solutions to the insurance industry. From 1992 to 1999, Mr. Wu was active in the direct investment business for McCown De Leeuw, a private equity fund. Prior to this, Mr. Wu was an associate at a strategy consulting firm, L.E.K. and also a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley.

 

Mr. Wu is currently on the Board of Directors of Covario, LAB Econometrics, and ODC Nimbus. He previously served on the Board of Directors of DIMAC Corporation, a $400-million-in-revenue leader in direct marketing, and on the Board of Nimbus CD International which was publicly traded on the NASDAQ.

 

Mr. Wu is a Guest Lecturer at the Harvard Department of Economics. He earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1991, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. During his senior year, Mr. Wu received the Danforth Prize for Excellence in Teaching. In 1997, Mr. Wu earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

 

Michael Dubilier in 1994, formed Dubilier & Co., which has successfully invested in and overseen more than 30 different investments. Prior to starting Dubilier & Co., Mr. Dubilier was a partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, where, from 1989 through 1994, he was active in its direct investment business and took part in or initiated numerous acquisitions, recapitalizations, and dispositions of CD&R portfolio companies. Mr. Dubilier entered the investment field in 1983, with Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he specialized in utilities, energy and telecommunications and became a partner in the Corporate Finance Department in 1988. Prior to his investment banking experience, Mr. Dubilier was an operations manager for a Houston-based oil service company.

 

Mr. Dubilier has served on the corporate Boards of numerous companies—including Phoenix Packaging Company, Magnetic Data Technologies, HEM Pharmaceuticals, APS, and Old London Foods—and is currently on the Boards of Berlin Industries, Inc., Systech Solutions, DC Safety Sales Company and Valor Equity Partners.

 

Mr. Dubilier was educated at Connecticut College and Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, where he received his M.B.A. in 1982. He also completed a post-graduate program in finance at New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. He is a frequent lecturer on private equity and alternative investing at Harvard College and the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a member of the endowment investment committees of Connecticut College and the Loomis Chaffee School.