People in the industry
Subsequent to his nomination for U.S. Secretary of State, Rex W. Tillerson has retired as Exxon Mobil’s chairman and CEO. He served the company for more than 41 years. Darren W. Woods has been elected as the new chairman and CEO. Woods has been an employee of Exxon Mobil since 1992. In 2014, he was elected senior V.P. and became a member of the company’s management committee.
Cary Bounds has been appointed CEO and a board member of VAALCO Energy, Inc. Prior to his appointment, Bounds had been acting as interim CEO for approximately five months. He had served as COO at the company for more than a year. Prior to joining VAALCO, Bounds acted as Noble Energy’s business unit manager, Equatorial Guinea assets, and country manager, North Sea. Overall, Bounds brings more than 25 years of industry experience to his new role.
Francois Florence has joined InterAct as senior reservoir engineer. He has 10 years of industry experience, working for an independent operator in the LA basin. At InterAct, Florence will provide expertise in waterflood management, field development and reservoir simulation. As a production engineer, he has extensive knowledge of well maintenance, production and injection processes. Most recently, Florence worked in various engineering roles for California Resources Corp., formerly Occidental Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell has hired Jessica Uhl to succeed Simon Henry as CFO, effective March 9. She will be responsible for the company’s strategy, information technology and finances. She has held various positions within the company since joining in 2004. Prior to joining Shell, Uhl worked for Enron in Houston and Panama. As an executive director and a member of Shell’s executive committee, Uhl will be based in The Netherlands.
Steven C. Dixon has been named the new CEO of Tapstone Energy. He succeeds the company’s founder, Tom L. Ward, who will continue to maintain a large ownership stake. Ward is also the founder of SandRidge Energy, as well as a co-founder of Chesapeake Energy. Dixon brings more than 36 years of industry experience to his new position. Most recently, he served as executive V.P. of operations and geosciences, and COO at Chesapeake Energy.
Steve Gray, CEO and co-founder of RSP Permian, Inc., has been honored with the 2016 Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the energy, cleantech and natural resources category. A panel of independent judges selected Gray as one of 11 category winners, from more than 1,700 applicants worldwide. According to EY, the award commends entrepreneurs who demonstrate ingenuity, innovation and discipline, and have driven the success of their company forward.
The Petroleum Equipment & Services Association (PESA) has welcomed Jean Gould as senior director of public policy. With more than 25 years of government and public affairs experience, Gould will serve as liaison to the PESA policy, government affairs, legal and international trade committees. After beginning her career with Exxon Corp., Gould served the company for 18 years. Most recently, she worked for the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) as V.P. of external affairs and communications. Prior to that, she was director of corporate and government affairs for Coyne PR.
In accordance with its reorganization plan, C&J Energy Services has selected a new board of directors. The newly elected board members include Patrick Murray, chairman; Stuart Brightman; John Kennedy; Steven Mueller; Michael Roemer; Michael Zawadzki; and Don Gawick, president and CEO.
ValvTechnologies, Inc., has appointed David Garcia as director of manufacturing. With more than 20 years of manufacturing experience, Garcia will manage production, quality, safety and customer satisfaction through leadership of the company’s manufacturing groups. Prior to joining the company, he served as director of operations at Merla Wellhead Solutions. Additionally, he held a variety of positions at Halliburton Energy Services, Lincoln Manufacturing and Tenaris.
Several senior management appointments have been made at MicroSeismic, Inc. Carl Neuhaus has been named V.P. of engineering. He will manage technical quality and innovation of engineering services. William B. Barker has been named V.P. of analysis. Barker has been with the company for 11 years, and previously served as manager of analysis. MicroSeismic also has appointed Eric Bourdages as V.P. of operations. An employee since 2010, Bourdages will now oversee data acquisition field operations worldwide. He brings more than 30 years of seismic experience to his new role.
Aaron Gaydosik, CFO of Gulfport Energy Corp., has resigned. Accordingly, the company’s board of directors has named Keri Crowell as the new CFO. Crowell joined the company in 2005, and has served as chief accounting officer since September 2015. She will continue to serve as the company’s principal accounting officer, in addition to her new role as CFO. Crowell has held previous leadership positions within the company, including V.P. and controller.
Vallourec USA has appointed William Gamisans to assume the role of managing director of Tube-Alloy and Non-OCTG sales and marketing, in addition to his current responsibilities. He brings extensive knowledge of the company’s overseas mills and product lines to his new role. This is expected to support Vallourec’s North American non-OCTG sales.
Weatherford International has named Christoph Bausch as executive V.P. and CFO. Previously, Bausch worked as executive V.P. and CFO at Archer Limited. Prior to that, he served as global finance director at Transocean. Additionally, he had maintained a 20-year career with Schlumberger. In addition, Weatherford has promoted Frederico Justus to president of regional operations. Justus has more than 19 years of oilfield experience, and has been with the company since 2010. He most recently served as V.P. of the Middle East and Africa region.
Dan Young has been named CFO of Jadestone Energy Inc. He brings more than 20 years of investment banking, advisory and consulting experience in the energy sector to his new position. Most recently, Young served as senior V.P. at Wood Mackenzie, as well as head of APAC Consulting. Prior to that, he spent 13 years in JP Morgan’s global energy investment banking and M&A groups.
James Smith has joined the board of directors at Wavefront Technology Solutions, Inc. Most recently, Smith worked as COO and board member at Great Plains Operating. Prior to that, he served as V.P. of operations, as well as an equity partner, at Grayhawk Energy. He has held various positions with Cortez Oil and Gas, ARCO, and Burlington Resources/Meridian Oil, as well. Overall, Smith brings more than 35 years of industry experience to his new role.
