Nikki Kantelis, is the area coordinator and assistant professor of practice, for the area of Energy Commerce and Business Economics. She joined the Rawls Faculty in 2014. Nikki teaches Energy Markets, Energy Power Markets and Trading, Energy Acquisitions and Divestitures, Energy Analytics and Strategies, Energy Quantitative Methods, Applied Business Economics and Energy Senior Seminar (capstone).

Kantelis earned both a Bachelor and Master of Science in Economics from Colorado State University and an MBA in Quantitative Analysis from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota. She was recruited by BP, and upon graduation, joined its U.S. subsidiary as a planning analyst within the oil supply, trading and transportation organization. During her tenure at BP, Kantelis moved upward through the company, holding positions of increasing responsibility and scope across the downstream in the oil supply and trading, retail marketing and pipelines business units. In what was then a male dominated industry, Kantelis set a number of firsts for BP including being the first women manager of energy futures trading, the first American woman to hold a seat on the international oil trading desk in London and the first woman vice president of BP's pipeline company.

With a growing family and wanting a more accommodating work/life balance, she decided to leave BP and focus her attention on a number of different projects in the non-profit sector. She served on a number of boards and advisory councils, where she was able to bring her business acumen in support of causes in education, social services and conservation.

Nikki has led the creation of a new concentration within the Energy Commerce program which focuses primarily on commercial operations and strategic analysis within the midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.

Her uncommon blend of experiences in the academic, business and social arenas creates a rich mixture of theoretical and practical considerations in the classroom.