John Ray

John Ray writes on machinery and equipment replacement values for insurance coverage as part of insurance company valuation for IRMI.com Expert Commentary.

As senior vice president, he is responsible for leading BVA Group's tangible asset valuation practice. With almost 30 years of experience, Mr. Ray specializes in the appraisal of personal property for financial and tax reporting, ad valorem tax, litigation support, and insurable value purposes. He has experience in diverse industries, including oil and gas extraction and processing, mineral extraction and processing, petrochemicals, and construction, as well as the electronics, transportation, agricultural, automotive, banking, consumer products, food and beverage, plastics and resins, primary metals, and pulp and paper industries. Mr. Ray has worked in 37 countries on 6 continents.

He has extensive experience valuing equipment used in the mineral, oil and gas, and chemical industries. Mr. Ray has also valued mining assets in the precious metals, industrial, and mineral fuels sectors. His work in the oil and gas industry includes the entire supply chain (i.e., production, midstream, and downstream), and he has valued hundreds of mineral extraction companies, oil and gas facilities, and chemical processing plants.

Mr. Ray has worked closely with companies such as Spectra Energy, Tesoro Logistics, Westmoreland Coal, Arch Coal, Hilcorp Energy Company, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell, Koch Industries, Ford Motor Company, PepsiCo, Holly Energy Partners, and the Vanderbilt University Endowment to provide personal property valuation services. He has valued personal property assets throughout North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa.

Regarding ad valorem tax issues, Mr. Ray's expert analysis and testimony have been an integral component of successful property tax appeals for numerous clients. He has also testified at the local and state levels and assisted at the state level in setting ad valorem policy and rules. In addition, Mr. Ray works with companies to provide insurable values related to complex properties. For example, he provided Hilcorp Energy Company with a comprehensive insurable replacement valuation related to their $1.5 billion acquisition of British Petroleum's Kenai Peninsula and North Slope assets in Alaska.

Mr. Ray has also been involved in matters of dispute resolution and advising creditors on personal property valuation issues. For instance, he performed the primary analysis of personal property at Mineral Park, one of the largest copper and molybdenum mines in North America, and has also testified on numerous occasions in local, state, and federal jurisdictions.

He is a frequent guest speaker on a variety of valuation topics, such as depreciation and functional and economic obsolescence of personal property. Prior to joining BVA, Mr. Ray was a director with American Appraisal Associates and Duff & Phelps Corporation.

Mr. Ray obtained his Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA), Machinery and Technical Specialties, designation through the American Society of Appraisers in 2008 and received a bachelor of arts from Georgia State University. He is also a member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration; a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers; and a member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation.