ProPetro Holding Corp. named a new CEO on March 16 after the resignation of Dale Redman, ProPetro’s former top exec and a founder of the Midland, Texas-based oilfield services firm.
Current Executive Chairman Phillip A. Gobe has been named chairman and CEO, succeeding Redman, the company said in a press release on March 16 announcing a number of internal promotions and changes to its executive leadership team.
Redman co-founded ProPetro in 2005 alongside former CFO Jeffrey Smith and has served as its CEO since 2008. His resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter related to its operations, policies or practices, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
However, the company did disclose Redman had violated its insider trading policies over shares pledged for personal loans, which led ProPetro to submit false statements to the SEC.
“The company discovered that its former chief executive officer entered into a pledge agreement covering all of the company’s common stock owned by him at that time as collateral for a personal loan in January 2017, in violation of the shareholders agreement then in place, and the company believes the pledge agreement remains in effect. ... The company also believes that, in 2018 in connection with another personal loan, its former chief executive officer executed a share pledge that was subsequently replaced with a negative pledge with respect to all of the company’s common stock owned by him at that time or acquired thereafter and engaged in other inappropriate conduct in connection with these personal loans,” ProPetro said in the SEC filing.
Former CFO Jeffrey Smith also stepped down as chief administrative officer and will now serve as a special adviser to the CEO, the company added in the March 16 release. The move was Smith’s second demotion since an internal audit of the company was disclosed last August.
Reuters last year first disclosed the SEC was investigating ProPetro over its financial and public disclosures. An independent accounting firm continues to examine the board’s findings, according to the company release.
ProPetro provides pressure pumping and other complementary services to upstream oil and gas companies across unconventional oil and natural gas plays in North America.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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