Management Team

The management team of Intrepid Drilling consists of professionals that have been involved for many years in the petroleum industry. The principals of Intrepid Drilling, LLC have considerable experience in the fields of geology, geophysics, lease acquisitions, production, drilling and completing of oil and gas wells, and company management.

Management will oversee field operations on a daily basis, including the drilling and completion of new wells and production of the properties. In addition, they will continue to research and generate new projects which will be included in future development.

Management Team Members

William E. (Bill) Simmons - Manager

Mr. Simmons has over 35 years of executive level experience within the oil and gas industry. Over the years he has functioned as Managing Member of other oil companies, as an investor, operator, lease broker, primarily operating in the Gulf States Region and selected international markets.

Mr. Simmons, together with geologist Hugh Horn and operating as U.S. Gas Systems, developed a Selma Chalk prospect in Baxterville Field (Lamar and Marion Counties, Mississippi) with Penn Virginia Oil and Gas Inc. To date over 200 successful Selma Chalk wells have been drilled on this prospect. More recently he is responsible for causing a major field extension to the southeast flank of the Little Cedar Creek Field, Conecuh County, Alabama.

Mr. Simmons has also actively leased, drilled, and participated as an investor in numerous oil and gas prospects. He also worked many years in his family’s oil field construction company (Simmons Construction Company, Columbia, Mississippi) building locations, laying pipeline, and making pipeline connections to tanks, pumps, and wells.

As Manager of Intrepid Drilling, LLC, Mr. Simmons brings a wealth of business management skills, industry contacts and key relationships to the process of prospect acquisitions and ongoing development. His most recent significant discovery is a western extension of the prolific Cut Off Field in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, where the company just commenced production of the Alvin J. Pierce No.1 well.  The well was completed in the Textularia W9 sand at 13,268 feet and tested 3.3 million cubic feet of gas per day and 500 barrels of condensate per day, with two additional productive zones behind pipe. The company plans to drill two additional wells in the field.

Major H. Patterson

Major H. Patterson is Intrepid’s Drilling and Completion Engineer. Mr. Patterson has over 47 years of experience in the oil field, beginning in 1963. Soon after leaving Mississippi State University without his Petroleum Engineering degree, Mr. Patterson began his career in the oil field as a mechanic and equipment operator for Simmons Construction. In 1965 Mr. Patterson was employed by Humble Oil and Refining Company and was soon promoted to First Mechanic and then Maintenance Supervisor. Mr. Patterson has spanned a career that has included work as a roustabout, pumper, tool pusher, field superintendent, drilling and completion engineer, inventor, and investigator for Lloyds of London on most offshore accidents in the Gulf of Mexico. Before finishing his 38 years with Humble Oil and Refining Company, which later became Exxon, Mr. Patterson won distinguished awards such as Engineer of the Year for Exxon (he was selected from all engineers working for Exxon in the United States both degreed and non-degreed) in 1989 as well as the Outstanding Instructor Award. In 1987, Mr. Patterson was one of the founders of Exxon’s Basic Drilling and Workover School, where he taught well head technology, safety, and completion technology. In 1991, Mr. Patterson won the President’s Award for Outstanding Safety Achievement in All Offshore Drilling Operations. From 1992 through 1998, Mr. Patterson was in charge of completions for Exxon for both on-shore and barge rigs in all of South Louisiana. Mr. Patterson is credited along with Mr. Jess Melancon for developing the balanced by-passed squeeze job. This is a technique that prevents formation damage by not having to cement over existing perforations; thus preventing having to re-perforate when doing a squeeze job for the invasion of water coming from below existing perforations. He patented the Patterson ratchet wrench which is widely used by the U.S. Military on all their M1A1 Abrams tanks. Mr. Patterson and Mr. Mark Unland worked on a special project for Exxon dealing with emission problems on diesel engines that Exxon had running in California, and were responsible for co-developing, along with Caterpillar, the electronic fuel injection system that is used today on almost all diesel engines. Today, Mr. Patterson in addition to his work with Lloyds of London, is in charge of all drilling and completions for Intrepid Drilling.

Richard N. Thomas

Richard N. Thomas, Operations Manager for Intrepid Drilling, grew up in his family’s construction business, R.N. Thomas and Sons Construction, which was involved in pipeline construction, earth moving, water and sewer treatment plants, road and bridge construction, oilfield drilling, gas pipeline construction, and he learned all aspects of construction from a young age. He then went to Alaska and worked for Aoki Construction where he specialized in laying pipeline, heavy construction, and earth moving. While at Aoki Construction, he decommissioned and dismantled Cold War era Nike missile sites. He was also the head of Heavy Equipment Retrieval in the winter, driving trucks on the ice roads of Alaska. He owned and managed a profitable resort for fifteen years before going into the sawmill business in Honduras. Richard also speaks fluent Spanish. He has worked with the managing member of Intrepid Drilling since 2008 building and completing locations, working with the drilling and completion engineer to budget monies for drilling projects, monitoring drilling operations, and managing day to day operations of producing wells. To date, Richard has supervised the drilling and completion of many successful wells. 

Max E. Maxwell

Max Maxwell, Petroleum Engineer for Intrepid Drilling, is a professional engineer registered in Louisiana and Texas with 38 years experience in oil and gas drilling, production, reservoir engineering and property transactions. He holds a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Louisiana State University and graduated cum laude with a Master of Business Administration from University of New Orleans.

Mr. Maxwell has served as technical leader in the divestiture of over $500 million in assets for numerous oil and gas companies. He has extensive experience in performing reserve and economic evaluations of onshore and offshore areas of the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Canada and Columbia. He served as consultant for Capital One Energy Department, and created a Gulf Lease Analysis System (GLAS) that was utilized to acquire interests in over 50 producing properties in the Gulf of Mexico. He has served as president and CEO of several private oil companies.

His professional affiliations include the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers, Society of Professional Well Log Analysts, Louisiana Engineering Society, and Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Vernon L. "Leon" Hux

Leon Hux, Drilling Supervisor for Intrepid Drilling, previously worked as an independent drilling supervisor for Creek Energy Management in Houston, Texas for over ten years. He has worked in South Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Florida, South and West Texas, setting up drilling operations for over eight different companies in these areas.  Leon has set up onshore and offshore wellsite drilling operations, and has been a completion supervisor in the Gulf Coast region, as well as being a wellsite supervisor on a platform development project in Ecuador. He also supervised a wellsite on a semi-submersible rig in offshore Ireland.  Some other projects Leon has supervised include jack-ups, inland barges, and semi-submersibles, supervising the drilling of short radius and horizontal wells.  Other projects include deep, high pressure gas wells in Mississippi, East Texas and Alabama.  Leon was employed at Exxon as a drilling supervisor for both offfshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as onshore in the Gulf Coast region.  His professional training includes drilling engineering school, abnormal pressure detection, MMS well control, industrial and oilfield firefighting school, has measurement pollution control and safety devices, drill string design, rig design, directional drilling completions and cementing procedures, rig instrumentation, and HS safety procedures.  He attended Pearl River Junior College in Poplarville, Mississippi where he earned an Associates Degree in 1968.

Aharon Berkovich

Aharon Berkovich, Joint Interest and Cost Manager for Intrepid Drilling, graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology from the Tel Aviv University.  Additionally, Aharon also possesses a Software Engineering Diploma from the Ashrot College, Jerusalem, and a Business Management Diploma from the College of Management Academic Studies in Haifa. 

Aharon's initial experience in the oil industry began as a Regional Manager in the Jerusalem District for Paz Oil Company, LLC in late 1993. Until 1999, he was in charge of gas stations, retail agents and oil storage facilities.  He gained his first major experience with long and short term budgets, goals, expenses, cash flow and general financial activity.  After leaving Paz in late 1999, Aharon sought experience in the High-Tech industry using his Software Engineering Degree in various positions.  Aharon has learned large data management, computerizing workflows, processes, and large scale cost accounting.  In 2004, he worked as Asset Manager at Dorot Rishonim, LLC, a real-estate company, where he evaluated potential assets, developed existing assets and was in charge of the revenue stream generated.  During that time, he also owned a successful private preschool business, managing mostly the strategic development and financial aspect of the business.  In 2009 he moved to the United States and began working with Bill Simmons in the oil industry.

William E. (Bill) Hathorn

Mr. William E. Hathorn, General Legal Counsel and Land Manager for Intrepid Drilling, graduated from the University of Mississippi in December of 1970 with a BBA in Accounting, then attended law school at the University of Mississippi, graduating in May of 1973 with a juris doctorate. He was a partner in Dale & Hathorn from May of 1973 to May of 1982 in a general law practice. He then was a sole proprietor of a practice from June of 1982 to December of 1997 with an emphasis on Oil and Gas banking in Prentiss, Mississippi. He held the title of Chief Executive Officer of Walthall Citizens Bank from January 1998 to June of 2000. Bill went on to be the Vice-President and Trust Officer of Citizens Bank in Columbia, Mississippi, then moved to Chief Executive Officer there from July of 2001 to July of 2002. He owned and ran Hathorn Resources, LLC from August of 2002 until December of 2010 doing contract land and legal services. He has over 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry, including land title research, lease procurement, drilling and royalty division order opinion preparation, joint operating agreement preparation, joint interest accounting, and other industry related contractual issues.

Tim Killgore

Thomas "Tim" Killgore, Jr. is an indepedent consultant in charge of purchasing leases for Intrepid Drilling.  He has 40 years of experience buying and selling oil and gas leases and prospects.  Mr. Killgore gained his Bachelor's Degree from Loyola University in New Orleans and is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Landmen.  He has purchased leases in areas including South Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama.  Mr. Killgore purchased all leases on the West Cut-Off prospect that Intrepid Drilling recently drilled and completed.  Additionally, Mr. Killgore purchased all leases on the South Lake Charles prospect that Intrepid Drilling plans to drill this year.

Jillian DeShazer

Jillian DeShazer has worked with Intrepid Drilling for the past five years in many different capacities, including website design, special projects, permits, as well as Investor Relations. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma where she earned a degree in Journalism with a special focus on Radio, Television and Film Production.  She worked for the Barry Switzer Show in a production capacity at the local NBC affiliate. She worked at an Oklahoma City radio station as their morning show producer, as well as performing voice-over talent for radio commercials, and then moved into television production at the local CBS affiliate as a commercial writer/producer and the Director of Public Service, where she also performed as voice and on-screen talent for various commercial clients.  Jillian then moved to St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City as a medical marketing/sales representative and traveled statewide, speaking to large groups to educate physicians and employees of large companies on hospital services including Occupational Medicine, Drug Testing and Mental Health Services.  Jillian went on to own a music talent agency in Oklahoma City, booking local bands and singing.  She continues to make contacts locally and nationwide to educate investors on drilling projects that Intrepid Drilling has to offer. 

Brenda Ingram

While new to the oil and gas industry, Ms. Brenda Ingram is not new to administrative duties. She was first introduced to office work at her family’s car dealership, Laird Motor Company, by helping with daily operations such as receiving payments, paying vendors, and posting cash receipts. After graduating from high school, she continued her education at William Carey University (formerly William Carey College) and Jackson Commercial Business College. Ms. Ingram's previous career spanned over twenty-six years of Federal Government service with twenty-two years with the Department of Treasury. In the New Orleans District she compiled and reconciled office supplies, forms, and resource materials for the branch, as well as maintaining a running account of funds available. Ms. Ingram reviewed, analyzed and compiled data from the field offices for the division’s monthly and quarterly reports for management distribution, and assisted the division’s staff assistant by compiling staff hour computations and inputting Personnel Actions for the mass realignment. In 1999 she moved to Washington, D.C. where she evaluated, reconciled, developed and maintained a tracking spreadsheet relating to travel labor and invoice vouchers. She performed various accounting functions, including account reconciliations, as well as performing routine budget analysis tasks for various phases of budgeting and finance in the National Office. When she retired from the federal government in 2004, Brenda became actively involved in a small home contracting business as the Owner and Office Manager where she verified and posted details of business transactions, received and disbursed funds. She also performed technical accounting and bookkeeping functions as they pertained to the processing of accounts receivable and payable. In January of 2011, Ms. Ingram was hired to bring her organizational and administrative skills to Intrepid Drilling, LLC as the Office Manager.

Garland Hilton

Garland Hilton, Instrument Engineer for Intrepid Drilling, has worked with many instrument control systems over the years, beginning at Lane Wells, a well logging company, where he was a gamma ray tech, along with the responsibility of repairing and calibrating of electronic well logging tools.  He designed several electronic well surveying components while employed there.  He then worked at Kaiser Aluminum where he was an instrument technician, working with pneumatic controls, electronic controls, wireless crane controls and chart recorders.  Garland then moved on to work at Hills Brothers Coffee, programming packaging equipment, and working on vacuum systems, roasters, screw conveyors, pneumatics, alarm systems and lighting.  Then, he went to Amax Metals and worked with control instruments, power distribution systems, starters, centrifuges, compressors, boilers and autoclaves.  He more recently worked at Gaylord Chemical and worked on the instrument control systems for Honeywell Computers, H2S alarms, motors, starters and reactors.  He attended Pearl River Junior College in Poplarville, Mississippi, where he studied engineering and mechanical studies and earned an Associates Degree in Electronics from Delgado Technical Institute in New Orleans.

Consulting Geologists and Geophysicists

Andrew Hampf 

Andrew Hampf, Consulting Geologist for Intrepid Drilling, has over 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. His experience has been generating, developing, evaluating and marketing economically viable oil and gas prospects in the onshore and offshore Gulf Coast region, as well as being involved in several significant field discoveries in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. He received his B.S. in Geology from the University of Oklahoma in 1970 and an M.S. in Economic Geology from the University of Arizona in 1972. He then started his career with Union Oil Company and has since worked for many other independent oil and gas exploration companies including Sun Oil, Williams Exploration and States Petroleum, where he was Vice President of Exploration. Since 1987, Mr. Hampf has been a Geological Consultant for several small to moderate-sized exploration companies including Panaco, Wiser Oil Company, Maralo, Inc., St. Paul Oil and Gas, Inc., and Goldking Production Company. He was with Masters Resources from 2000 through 2008, then with Hilliard/PetroSource, and on to Elliptical Production. Andy has success with recommending many exploration and development geological operations within producing fields, industry submittal drilling prospects, and producing properties acquisitions. He is a Certified Professional Geologist in A.I.P.G., A.A.P.G., S.I.P.E.S., a Certified Member of the Texas Board of Professional Geosciences, and a Certified Member of the Mississippi State Board of Registered Professional Geologists.

Don Frazier

Don Frazier, Consulting Geophysicist for Intrepid Drilling, started his career in May of 1961 after graduating with a B.S. in Geology from the University of Texas, then working as a Geophysicist in the offices of Humble Oil. He then went back to Graduate school at TCU in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1960 and after graduation went to work at Texaco where he began supervising non-technical employees in preparing base maps, structure maps and seismic data for computer input. Don transferred to the Corpus Christi District office in May of 1969, where he served as explorationist in south Texas onshore combining geology and geophysics on a regional scale until April of 1971, when he went to Union Oil Company of California. Mr. Frazier then worked for Signal Oil Company as geophysicist for offshore Federal Sales, where he mapped projects, initiating the first “hydrocarbon indicator” studies for groups at a time when knowledge of what industry was doing was very slim. In September of 1972, he was promoted to Senior staff geophysicist in the International Department at the headquarters office and was responsible for the North Sea area. He moved to the Cockrell Corporation in 1973 as Chief Geophysicist for the Canadian Rocky Mountain, West Texas and Gulf Coast on and offshore. In 1976, Mr. Frazier worked with C&K Petroleum, and was responsible for all geophysical evaluations worldwide. Since June of 1979, he has consulted many companies in the field and made many major discoveries working over a thousand square miles of 3-D seismic. He has also made extensive evaluations of Frio formations in Texas and Louisiana, along with supervising and interpreting 3-D shoots in Kazakhstan and reprocessing over the field, after which many successful wells were drilled. Mr. Frazier has developed major production in Vicksburg, Mississippi and Galveston Bay, Texas and Miocene discoveries in Louisiana. He has also made numerous discoveries in the Wilcox trend, Austin chalk trend, expanded Yegua formation in Hardin County, Texas, as well as Oklahoma and Anadarko Basin, and Pacific coast. He also has experience in Northwest Australia, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as North Peru and Russia.

Glenn B. Maxwell

Mr. Maxwell, Geophysicist on the West Cut Off Prospect, has an extensive geological background, having worked both clastic and carbonate environments from the Gulf Coast & Mid Continent United States to South America. He is a proven oil and gas finder with vast operational experience. He is responsible for the drilling of over 50 wells with a success ratio near 75%. Glenn holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology and a Master of Science in Geosciences from Northeast Louisiana University.

Glenn joined Mid-America Resources in early 2009 and became involved with the West Cut Off Prospect as the lead geophysicist. This Mid Miocene prospect should be drilled by the end of 1st Quarter, 2011.

In 2003, Glenn joined ORX Resources where he served as Lead Geologist for multiple exploration discoveries including White Castle Dome and Little Lake. The White Castle discovery is a deeper pool wildcat producing over 3.4 MMCFD and 1000 BOD since 11/07. Little Lake is a dually completed, exploration step-out play. Previously, Glenn worked for Energy Partners in New Orleans as Senior Asset Geologist and was responsible for multiple discoveries in the Bay Marchand area.

From 1985 to 2000, Glenn worked for Mobil Exploration & Production in Lafayette, Houston and New Orleans and has been responsible for exploration and development projects ranging from South Louisiana to Mississippi, Texas, Western Venezuela, Columbia, and Oklahoma. He has been responsible for multiple discoveries in the deepwater GB 386, and was Lead Geologist for Mobil’s Chinook Discovery (MP 283/VK 734) offshore Louisiana in 1998. Prior to joining Mobil, Glenn was with Superior Oil in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Glenn is a member of various professional societies and is an AAPG Certified Geologist. He has published several professional papers.

Max Jacobs

Max Jacobs, Petroleum Geologist on the West Cut Off Prospect, has as extensive background in field development. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in Lexington with a B.S. in Geology in 1960 and achieved his M.S. in 1961. He went to work for Ferguson & Bosworth Oil Exploration Company and was responsible for regional sub-surface mapping and sample and ore descriptions. From 1961 to 1969 he was with Chevron Oil Company where he worked as a review geophysicist and was assigned to Chevron’s Geophysical Division as a client representative. He was then promoted to review and interpret every prospect shot by Chevron in the southwestern division. In 1969 he worked for Champlin Petroleum Company in New Orleans, generating prospects and screening submittals, and was promoted to Regional Exploration Manager for the New Orleans district where he conducted exploration and development efforts in South Louisiana and Florida. Then, in 1972, Mr. Jacobs went to work for Kenmore Oil Company in New Orleans, Louisiana as an independent geologist in retainer to screen submittals and conduct leasing and drilling of these prospects. From 1974 to 1978, he joined Frank C. Crawford as an independent geologist associated with Robert Mosbacher Interests. Crawford-Jacobs became associated with Roy M. Huffington in the Gulf Coast Region. They drilled eleven successful wells. He then formed Jacobs-Hayes Petroleum Geologists in 1978 and drilled three successful wells. In 1980, they became associated with Seneca Resources exploring South Louisiana and nine successful wells were drilled. From 1986 to 1990 he formed Wildcat Exploration and put together three prospects, all of which were successful during a very slow period in Oil and Gas. Two of these wells were in Cut Off Field. Mr. Jacobs formed Right Energy in 1991 and generated eleven prospects, drilling nine successful wells thus far, and the next two wells drilled will be West Cut Off Prospect and Clovelly Field.

Jack McCunn

Jack McCunn, Intrepid Drilling Consulting Geologist, has over 50 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry. His education includes a B.S. in Geological Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. His graduate work was completed in 1954, and he continued to study tectonic modeling and sedimentation on the origin of dolomite and its association with oil generation. He is well versed in structural and sedimentary geology in oil and gas exploration. Mr. McCunn started out as an Exploration Geologist, working since 1954 in Midland, Texas, Jackson, Mississippi, Shreveport, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas. He helped set up new trends by doing regional work which included correlating subsurface rocks of the basins to the surface exposures in the mountains on the west and southwest, with a special emphasis on facies. He continued his facies work on the Mississippi Salt Basin and surrounding areas in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and offshore shelf areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. He was responsible for compiling all company and published geological reports into regional history of the Gulf of Mexico for Mobil’s Conslope Project. This report was done to ascertain Mobil’s future operations based on basin evaluation. He also did a special study of Utah Basins to determine exploration potential of area, and the San Andres using computer encoded data. He then put Pennzoil into Big Escambia Creek Field. He has been active in the Smackover play in Mississippi and Alabama, Hosston deep play in central and southwest Mississippi, as well as the Tuscaloosa trend of South Mississippi and Florida Parishes of Louisiana, and the reef trend of South Texas. Mr. McCunn currently operates a small exploration company with interest in nine producing properties.