Gerald is a chemical engineer with a career in the petroleum industry with extensive engineering, management, and senior executive assignments with over 50 years of experience in all aspects of industry both upstream and downstream, with particular Middle East skills, along with US onshore and offshore,  LNG and GTL. He is a former President of Exxon, Arabian Gulf, and has served on multiple executive boards.

Mrs. Melkaia has a career spanning international leadership roles in the travel sector with a focus on the travel agency and airline business. In 1998 she moved to Oslo working for Air & Sea Transport AS to organize crew changes for shipping companies and helping to establish this company as a major international player. In 2002, Mrs. Melkaia received her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Vlerick Business School, Belgium.