Executive Team
Our people: Our strength
At Black Elk Energy we believe in our talented group of highly-experienced professionals. People, and community, are the core of our business value. Our seasoned team possesses proven track records of achievement and is able to offer innovative solutions. The Black Elk Energy work environment is highly-collaborative and people-oriented which drives superior business performance. Every employee is respected for their unique ability, experience, skills, and competencies as individuals and professionals. Biographies of our growing team follow:
John Hoffman - President and CEOJohn Hoffman serves as President and CEO of Black Elk Energy. Mr. Hoffman is a Registered Professional Engineer with over thirty years of Industry experience. Internationally, he is a well traveled, seasoned veteran, with a wide network. Mr. Hoffman has extensive experience in field development and operations, onshore and offshore. Prior to starting and building Black Elk Energy, Mr. Hoffman held various leadership positions in Amoco, Gulf of Suez Petroleum, BP Americas and Stone Energy. His new field development experience spans internationally in the Egyptian Western Desert and Gulf of Suez. In the United States, his developments include major projects in deepwater Gulf of Mexico as well as on the Shelf margins. Mr. Hoffman has extensive exploitation experience and knowledge with a unique demonstrated track record of increasing reserves and production while lowering costs. Mr. Hoffman has numerous publications in journals for his work on sand control, subsea wells and innovative coiled tubing pipelines. In late 2007, Mr. Hoffman initiated a new oil & gas company, Black Elk Energy. Black Elk is well known as a good corporate citizen with their activities and fund raisers to support communities and multiple charitable organizations. Black Elk recently raised $150m in bonds to fund the operations strategy. Mr. Hoffman’s superior abilities have been recognized by his peers several times throughout the years of his dedication to the industry. During his time with Gulf Suez Petroleum, Mr. Hoffman was awarded the Chairman’s Award for Operational Excellence. Mr. Hoffman received this prestigious Chairman’s Award once more during his tenure with Amoco while working the Amoco Deepwater Strategy. Further distinguishing his superior business skills, Mr. Hoffman was recently honored as a winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Gulf Coast Area Award. |
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James Hagemeier - Chief Financial OfficerJames Hagemeier serves as CFO of Black Elk Energy. He is a licensed Texas CPA with more than 20 years of experience in various treasury, accounting and management roles with emphasis in M&A and raising and restructuring Debt and Equity. Previously, Mr. Hagemeier served as the Chief Financial Officer for Optical Entertainment Network, Inc. (OEN) where he was responsible for managing the company's financial operations. Prior to joining OEN, Mr. Hagemeier was the Chief Financial Officer for Perfect Commerce where he raised roughly $50m in debt and equity to fund the company's operations and acquisition strategy. During his term at Perfect Commerce, the company used proceeds from the capital raises to purchase three entities which resulted in over 400% in net profit increases. Mr. Hagemeier has served in leadership positions with several startup companies where he was instrumental in establishing the financial controls and accounting processes. At Black Elk, he recently raised $150m in bonds to fund the operations strategy. |
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Doug Fehr - Vice President, FacilitiesDoug Fehr serves as Vice President of Facilities for Black Elk Energy. He brings over thirty years experience with specialties in facilities engineering, construction, project management, compliance, operations and safety. Mr. Fehr recently retired from BP Americas as Technical Director responsible for all aspects of operating a major pipeline system and marine terminal in Turkey. Previous to this he was the Director for the Sangachal Terminal, the largest BP asset in Azerbaijan, through a period of tremendous growth. Mr. Fehr has also managed the field development of the deepwater NaKika semi-submersible, the King & Kings Peak subsea field development. He was Project General Manager for the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company in Cairo, Egypt and Facilities Manager for the Gulf of Mexico. In addition he has managed a special environmental compliance project for BP as they enhanced their ISO14001 certification process. |
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Arthur "Art" Garza - Chief Technical OfficerArt Garza serves as Chief Technical Officer of Black Elk Energy. Mr. Garza has over 21 years of industry experience focused on exploitation of oil & gas fields. Prior to joining Black Elk Energy, Mr. Garza held leadership positions at Hilcorp Energy Company as GOM/Terrebonne Bay Senior Reservoir Engineer & Rockies Asset Team Manager. Mr. Garza’s extensive GOM experience while at Devon, Texaco, Mobil span inland Louisiana, thru shelf/flextrend(Green Canyon), and deepwater (Shasta, Nansen/Boomvang, Zia, Merganser). Mr. Garza’s career at Texaco included executive rotations thru Strategic Planning, Power & Gasification, and Project Finance. Mr. Garza participated in Texaco Reservoir Management Training Program and was a Qualified Reserves Estimator. Art has extensive waterflood and polymer flood experience. Mr. Garza successfully sanctioned/executed skid-mounted polymer flood units in Wyoming that will be deployed at several mature oil fields. Mr. Garza holds a B.S./M.E. Petroleum Engineering - Texas A&M University and M.B.A.- University of Oklahoma. |
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Carl Hammond - Chief Well OfficerCarl Hammond serves as Chief Well Officer for Black Elk Energy. He is a current and active member of American Association of Drilling Engineers and Society of Petroleum engineers and serves on committees for both professional organizations. Prior to joining Black Elk, Mr. Hammond has consulted as a well-work specialist with over thirty years of experience and comprehensive knowledge of varied aspects of the petroleum industry. It is Mr. Hammond’s ability to direct and oversee all operations and applications in production and drilling which has been a real asset to Black Elk’s growth and operational efficiency. Mr. Hammond’s expertise extends to drilling, slickline, e-line, coil tubing, snubbing, well testing, fracture and acid stimulation, surface production equipment and pipeline installation. Mr. Hammond has held command over petroleum operations both on land and offshore, within State and Federal waters. Having worked as a consultant for many years, Mr. Hammond understands all aspects of the industry, strategically planning efficient and proficient operational procedures, wellwork operations, and ensuring the proper personnel is on-hand for the respective projects. Mr. Hammond has supervised operations from the prospect phase through to well abandonment and understands the full lifeline of an oil and gas field. It is his knowledge of the business and his network of capable partners in the industry that have promoted Black Elk to its current level of excellence. |
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Michelle Brown - Chief of StaffMichelle Brown serves as Chief of Staff of Black Elk Energy. Ms. Brown is a Chemical Engineer with over twelve years of Industry experience. Ms. Brown is a deep-thinker, creator, and integrator of people, process, technology, and value drivers. Ms. Brown’s experience in field development, operations, and management onshore and offshore helps her connect the people, tools & processes within our company. Prior to joining Black Elk Energy, Ms. Brown held various leadership & engineering positions within BP America. Her broad range of leadership, engineering, operations, planning, performance & finance experiences are focused within North America and the Gulf of Mexico. Her field operations experience in South Texas, Gulf of Mexico Shelf, and San Juan Basin ground her business planning and understanding of value generation. As Production Team Leader, Ms. Brown doubled the pace and rate delivery of offshore wellwork opportunities. Again as Performance Lead in Wyoming, Ms. Brown led a team to triple the pace of plunger installations, double the rate delivery, and cut costs by 25%. Hurricanes Katrina & Rita caused over $300m in damages to offshore platforms, Ms. Brown developed the business recovery plan to repair & put 52 platforms back on production. She is known for being the catalyst for change in her relentless pursuit of improving performance. Her unique perspective brings creativity into solving business and engineering problems. As Resource Manager in the San Juan Basin, she led business transformation projects delivering over $135million in cash & value creation. Ms. Brown is involved within the local community providing leadership including local school, church, and volunteer organizations. Ms. Brown holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. |
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J.D. "Joe" Matthews - Vice President of LandJoe Matthews is Vice President of Land for Black Elk Energy. Prior to joining Black Elk, Mr. Matthews was Manager-Business Development for Callon Petroleum Company in Houston. He was responsible accessing and screening outside joint venture opportunities and partnering Callon generated prospect. Mr. Matthews land duties were focused in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore South Louisiana. Prior to joining the Callon in October 2000, Mr. Matthews was Director - Offshore Land for Vastar Resources, Inc. (ARCO Oil and Gas). He joined ARCO in 1984 and was responsible for land duties in many different oil and gas trends in the "lower 48" before assuming offshore duties that included OCS lease sales and other offshore joint ventures. He participated as a member of Vastar's Deepwater Impact Study Team in 1995, which helped initiate Vastar's successful deepwater exploration program. He also helped draft the AAPL Model Form Deepwater Operating Agreement as a member of the OCS sub-committee of the American Association of Professional Landmen. Mr. Matthews received his B.B.A. degree in Petroleum Land Management from Texas Tech University in 1983. Mr. Matthews is a Certified Professional Landman and a member of AAPL and HAPL. |
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David Cantu - Vice President of Information TechnologyDavid Cantu is the Vice President of Information Technology for Black Elk Energy. Mr. Cantu is a technology industry veteran with over 15 years experience in both military and civilian applications. With 2 technology start-ups under his belt, Mr. Cantu brings a wide variety of skills to bear on challenges in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Cantu co-founded Ondata Corporation and Up and Running Solutions which service the full gamut of IT needs from industries as diverse as Construction and Medical Care. After a successful merger with his last company, Mr. Cantu joins the Black Elk team with the same focus and vision that led to success in previous ventures. Mr. Cantu’s expertise in converged networks provides the Black Elk team with both a robust communications infrastructure and the critical field data that enables the most efficient production and lowest lifting costs. Mr. Cantu attended both the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Houston and studied both Systems Engineering and Computer Engineering. |
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Tad LeBlanc – Vice President of Health, Safety, Environmental & Compliance (HSE&C)Tad LeBlanc serves as Vice President of Health, Safety, Environmental & Compliance (HSE&C). With over 25 years of oilfield related experience, Mr. LeBlanc has held various management positions in Production Operations and Maintenance and HSE&C throughout his career. Mr. LeBlanc is a Certified Occupational Safety Specialist. Most recently, Mr. LeBlanc served as Vice President of Health Safety Environmental and Compliance for Baker Energy. While in that role, Baker Energy received two National SAFE awards and eight District SAFE Awards from the Mineral Management Service. Mr. LeBlanc was also recognized with a Corporate Leadership Award (CORLA) by the Minerals Management Service in 2006. Also at Baker Energy, Mr. LeBlanc structured and managed the company’s first OPCO project for Mobil Oil’s Main Pass 72 Field. The scope of this project consisted of a total operations package encompassing marine/air transportation, materials procurement, and maintenance of all 25,000 Horsepower rotating equipment. In the first year of this project, a 30% reduction in operating costs was realized for the client. Mr. LeBlanc also managed the Power Plant Operations for Nantucket Electric while the underwater cable was being installed. While in that role, his team developed and implemented a preventive/predictive maintenance program for the diesel powered generation equipment resulting in a significant reduction in operating maintenance costs. Prior to Baker Energy, Mr. LeBlanc was Operations Coordinator for Freeport McMoran in New Orleans, LA. Mr. LeBlanc attended Nichols State University and graduated with degrees in Petroleum Safety and Petroleum Technology. Mr. LeBlanc also received a Technology Degree in Industrial Engines at Sowela Technical Institute. |