Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: BRS), a leading provider of helicopter services to the offshore energy industry, today announced that Jonathan E. Baliff has been appointed to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, commencing October 11th, 2010.

Jonathan will join the company from NRG Energy Inc., where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, Strategy. In that position, Jonathan led the development and implementation of NRG’s corporate strategy as well as NRG’s efforts to enhance shareholder value through acquisitions and business alliances. Before joining NRG in 2008, he spent 12 years with Credit Suisse in positions of increasing levels of responsibility, most recently as Managing Director for the Global Energy Group. In that role, Jonathan was responsible for the corporate finance and M&A execution for the global power and utility industry where he executed over $80 billion in strategic and finance transactions. Previously, he held financial positions at J.P. Morgan and Standard & Poor’s. Jonathan served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force for eight years from 1985 to 1993 in numerous assignments including Chief Pilot for Electronic Combat Operations in Spangdahlem, Germany, flying the F-4G Phantom from 1990 to 1993. During this time, Jonathan planned and led the first F-4G combat missions over Baghdad as part of “Desert Storm I”, and retired with the rank of Captain. He received a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Jonathan and his wife, Barbara, have three children.

William E. Chiles, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bristow Group, stated, “We are delighted that Jonathan has agreed to join the Bristow team. He brings a depth of capital markets experience and strategic expertise to Bristow, including his material exposure to Latin American, Asian and European markets. He has a proven background in origination and strategic development at NRG as well as when he was a senior energy investment banker. The board of directors and the management team look forward to his contributions and leadership.”

ABOUT BRISTOW GROUP INC.

Bristow Group Inc. is a leading provider of helicopter services to the worldwide offshore energy industry. Through its subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures, the Company has major transportation operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, and in most of the other major offshore oil and gas producing regions of the world, including Alaska, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway and Trinidad. For more information, visit the Company’s website at http://www.bristowgroup.com/.

HeliHub.com editor note:-

Interestingly, here is Mr Bailif’s profile from the website of his current company, NRG Energy, where he joined on 1st May 2008

Mr. Baliff joined NRG as Executive Vice President, Strategy in May 2008. Prior to joining NRG, Mr. Baliff served as Managing Director of Credit Suisse’s Global Energy Group, where he advised electric utility and independent power companies on more than $70 billion of mergers and acquisition assignments and $30 billion in project and corporate financings since 1996. He also headed up the Credit Suisse Global Business Development Council–an internal group of executives focused on new product development. Mr. Baliff started his business career in JP Morgan’s Natural Resources Group. Prior to this, Mr. Baliff was an officer in the US Air Force for 8 years flying F-4G fighter-bomber aircraft in the Philippines, Germany and the Gulf region. Mr. Baliff earned a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and graduated with a Masters in Foreign Service (majoring in International Finance) from Georgetown University.