William W. McMullen
Chairman of the Board
Mr. McMullen has served as Founder and Managing Partner of BCE since 2015, leading the firm’s investment strategy and capital allocation decisions. Prior to founding BCE in 2015, Mr. McMullen worked at White Deer Energy from 2012 to 2014. Previously, Mr. McMullen worked at Denham Capital Management from 2010 to 2012 and UBS Investment Bank’s Global Energy Group from 2008 to 2010. Mr. McMullen earned his AB in Economics, with Honors, from Harvard University. We believe that Mr. McMullen’s industry experience, his previous leadership positions and finance-related roles, as well as his deep knowledge of our business, make him well suited to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Tom L. Ward
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Ward has served as our Chief Executive Officer since our founding in 2017. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tapstone Energy from 2013 to 2017 and Sandridge Energy (NYSE: SD) from 2006 to 2013. Prior to joining SandRidge Energy, he served as President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) from the time he co-founded the company in 1989 until February 2006. Mr. Ward graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Petroleum Land Management. We believe that Mr. Ward’s extensive industry background, his previous experience as a director and executive of public companies, and deep knowledge of our business as founder make him well suited to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Edgar R. Giesinger
Director Nominee
Mr. Giesinger retired as a managing partner from KPMG LLP in 2015. Since November 2015, Mr. Giesinger has served on the board of directors of Geospace Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: GEOS), a publicly traded company primarily involved in the design and manufacture of instruments and equipment utilized in oil and gas industries. Mr. Giesinger has served on the board of directors of Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure, Inc. (NYSE: SOI), a public company involved in providing proppant management systems for oil and gas well sites, since May 2017. Mr. Giesinger served on the board of directors of Newfield Exploration Company, a publicly traded crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company, from August 2017 until February 2019 when it was sold to Encana Corporation. He has 35 years of accounting and finance experience working mainly with publicly traded corporations. Over the years, he has advised a number of clients in accounting and financial matters, capital raising, international expansions and in dealings with the SEC. While working with companies in a variety of industries, his primary focus has been energy and manufacturing clients. Mr. Giesinger is a certified public accountant in the State of Texas and former chairman of the Texas TriCities 152 Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. He has lectured and led seminars on various topics dealing with financial risks, controls and financial reporting. Mr. Giesinger graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.
Stephen Perich
Director Nominee
Mr. Perich has served as the Head of Energy Investment Banking for the Americas at UBS Investment Bank since August 2018. As head of UBS’ energy investment banking practice, he has been a manager of a team of professionals focused on capital markets execution and mergers and acquisitions advisory services. He maintains regular strategic dialogue with management teams and boards of directors of energy companies, assisting them with capital raising and strategic growth initiatives. Mr. Perich graduated from Georgetown University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006.
Francis A. Keating II
Director Nominee
Governor Keating is the former Governor of the State of Oklahoma, a position in which he served from 1995 to 2003. More recently, he has served on The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents since 2017, elected to serve as Chairman in 2022. Mr. Keating has served on the board of directors of Citizens Inc. (NYSE: CIA) since 2017 and on the board of directors of BancFirst Corporation (Nasdaq: BANFP) since 2016. Previously, he was a partner at the law firm of Holland & Knight from February 2016 to December 2018. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Bankers Association from 2011 to 2016, and President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Council of Life Insurers, the trade association for the life insurance and retirement security industry, from 2003 to 2011. Mr. Keating has held significant leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, which make him a valuable addition to our Board. In addition to serving as the Governor of Oklahoma, his impressive career included serving as assistant secretary of the Treasury and associate attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. He was later general counsel and acting deputy secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) under President George H.W. Bush. During his tenure at the Treasury Department and HUD, he worked on significant issues affecting insurance, banking, and the financial services industries. In addition to his current public board, Gov. Keating formerly served on the board of Stewart Title Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp., a publicly held title insurance and real estate services company, from 2006 to January 2017, where he chaired the Nominations and Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Keating graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and received his Juris Doctorate from University of Oklahoma School of Law.