Management Profiles
212’s management team includes a combination of veterans from both the energy industry and the water treatment industry. The entire management team at 212 believes in the critical importance of sustainable energy exploration and production.
Stephen E. Hester currently serves as 212’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Steve spent the first 30 years of his career in the energy service and equipment business. Prior to joining 212 in May of 2010 Mr. Hester served as Director, Technology Portfolio Solutions for Baker Hughes Inc., of Houston, TX. In this capacity Mr. Hester was responsible for leading development of corporate level technology (cross product line) solutions for market applications including Shale Gas, Water Management, HPHT, Deep Water, Geothermal and other strategic interests.
A 30-year veteran of the energy services and equipment industry Mr. Hester has led several businesses including the formation of Production Quest Intelligent Production Systems within Baker Hughes. His combination of skills and experiences in growing oil services business, his strong commercial and financial skills, his understanding the water management and shale gas issues, and his experience in managing a technology start-up in the oilfield (Luna Energy) provide a solid foundation to build our business.
Operationally, Steve has led a new technology business unit within a major service company delivering over 30% in profits. He also led a $120M service business delivering over 20% in profits. He has entrepreneurial experience and skills that support new product development and commercialization and has driven P&Ls and balance sheets with a focus on CAPEX, OP EX and EBITDA growth. Mr. Hester also serves on the Board of Directors for 212 Resources.
Michael J. Vitek, CPA, serves as Chief Financial Officer for 212 Resources. His responsibilities as CFO of both public and private companies have included financial analysis, management of the Finance, Tax, HR, IT, and Legal departments; risk management; credit facility oversight; and commodities purchasing, consolidation and financial reporting for U.S.-owned companies in manufacturing, oilfield services, hotel, real estate and insurance. Recently, Mr. Vitek served as Advisor to the Board - One Industries Corp and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer - Igloo Products Corp. Mr. Vitek began his career as a senior manager in audit with the international accounting firm KPMG.
A Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas, Mr. Vitek has also served as Director (and past president) of the Houston Chapter of Financial Executives International.
Michael Zumwalt is 212’s Executive Vice-President of Business Development. In this capacity,
Mr. Zumwalt has closed sales with revenues in excess of $150 million. Additionally, Mr. Zumwalt arranged debt and equity of greater than $70 million. Prior to joining 212, Mr. Zumwalt served as CFO of Envirocare and served as a Vice-President of Operations for Perma-Fix. Mr. Zumwalt also served as CEO of Residual Technologies, Inc. Under his leadership, RTI’s facility became one of only a handful of hazardous waste facilities nationally to have gone six years without an environmental violation.
Jim Schleiffarth, Chief Technology Officer – As the founder of 212 Resources Jim continues his service to the company in this strategic position. Jim has been involved with the commercialization of separation technologies for industrial water emulsions and wastewaters for over 40 years. His previous endeavors include the development of Tracker Services, Inc. as a mobile filtration service company to recover oil and reduce waste volumes from emulsions generated in oil production fields, refineries, and petrochemical plants. In April 1988, Waste Management, Inc. acquired Tracker retaining Jim as an executive. At WMI he managed the commercialization of new technologies and became the Vice President of its waste-to-fuel program. He left WMI to become Executive Vice President for Allwaste, Inc., with responsibilities for waste treatment facilities throughout the USA. Upon leaving Allwaste, Jim joined VACOM and became its major stockholder and President in 1995. While with VACOM he secured the first patent for the vapor compression, turbulent flow, flash evaporation technology used at the heart of the 212 Resources POD.
Jim McKirahan is Director of Finance at 212 Resources. Mr. McKirahan, a CPA, began his career with Deloitte & Touche in Houston, Texas before moving into a career supporting the accounting and finance needs of operating entities. He brings over twenty years of accounting and financial management experience to 212 Resources, mostly in the energy services industry. Most recently, Mr. McKirahan served as Controller for LeTourneau Technologies Drilling Systems and has also worked in several different management positions during a long tenure with Baker Hughes. Besides a solid accounting foundation, Mr. McKirahan has experience in internal controls, risk management, process improvement, and budgeting, reporting & analysis.
Dan Owen is 212’s Vice President of Operations. Mr. Owen has operating responsibility for 212’s Water Processing and Oil Recovery Divisions. Prior to joining 212, Mr. Owen served as Director of Operations for SK Hart International and was responsible for the permitting of their Beijing, China waste management facilities. Mr. Owen’s background includes serving as Site Manager for Envirocare of Utah’s low level radioactive waste landfill and managing remediation operations at DOE and DOD facilities. Mr. Owen proudly served in the US Navy Nuclear Power Program.
Les Merrill is 212’s Vice President of Project Development. Mr. Merrill participated in the development of key processes and technology associated with 212’s water treatment unit and is one of the individuals named as a co-inventor in 212’s intellectual property. Mr. Merrill played a crucial role in 212’s early recognition of the water management challenges facing the oil and gas sector. Prior to joining 212 Resources Mr. Merrill served as Vice President of Strategic Accounts for Econova Inc., as Vice President of Business Development for a 120 employee consulting engineering group, and as a Senior International Project Manager for Baker Hughes Process Systems - with a focus on worldwide manufacturing and deployment of oil field produced water processing equipment.
Shanam McGaughy is 212’s Director, Oil Recycling and he has played a key role in the successful growth of the Andrews Recycling business. Shanam was recruited into 212’s Management Training Program in July 2008. He worked with distinction during his training assignments, first in Pinedale, Wyoming at our Water Treatment Facility, and, second, at the Andrews Facility. He also worked with the Corporate Sales Staff, prior to being named Manager of the Andrews Plant. Revenue and earnings at the Andrews site have grown significantly under his leadership and the Andrews H2Oil operation now plays a significant role in our market sector within the Permian Basin. He has developed a team of employees dedicated to customer service, resulting in a loyal and rapidly expanding clientele in West Texas.
Roger Fincher, Technical Advisor to 212 Resources - BS Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. Throughout his 32 year career, Mr. Fincher has held a variety of technical and managerial positions within the Baker Hughes Companies. These positions cross all aspects of our industry and include Engineering, Marketing and Operations and he is currently a member of the Enterprise Technology Portfolio Management Team. During his career, Mr. Fincher has been directly involved in engineering, field deployment and operational support for medium and short radius horizontal drilling systems, downhole vibration monitoring tools, steerable products and a wide variety of other multi-discipline products, services and tools. Mr. Fincher has also worked through the years with several Baker Hughes joint ventures associated with downhole tool development and deepwater subsea pumping systems, as well as NASA on the Mars Drilling Program and Tool Development project.
Mr. Fincher earned a Civil Engineering Degree, Structures specialty with additional study in Mechanical Engineering, Heat Engine specialty from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In addition Mr. Fincher has attended many industry short courses. Mr. Fincher is the author of several articles and papers, holds 38 US Patents with international counterparts as well as an additional 12 pending applications. Mr. Fincher has conducted short courses on Horizontal and Short Radius Drilling, Motor Drilling Mechanics and other energy industry related topics.
Christopher Lloyd, Ph.D. (Chemistry) currently serves as our consultant for water quality. Chris has conducted significant research in waters typically used and produced by Oil and Gas operations and is a major contributor to the success of our operations. Chris has served in numerous management roles including Director of Research and Development for a state of the art microbial detection technology and as a Test Director for the US Army Dugway Proving Grounds (UT). His awards, honors and memberships in Honorary Societies include the Outstanding Teaching Fellow, Golden Key, Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi. He has published numerous articles on the detection and identification of various constituents and technologies and holds numerous U.S. Patents. We have combined efforts and have recently filed additional Intellectual Property regarding waters processed by 212 Resources. Dr. Lloyd has expertise in real-time monitoring of waterborne and aerosolized constituents and he has developed several custom treatment-site water quality tests for 212 Resources. Chris has also developed numerous forensic technologies and methods. Dr. Lloyd obtained his undergraduate and post graduates degrees from the University of Utah.
