- Push-out Score determined
- After almost eight years in the position
- Praise, thanks and good wishes for Chisholm
- John Gibson taking over
(exechange) — Houston, Texas, December 23, 2019 — John Chisholm, chief executive of Flotek, leaves. As announced by Flotek Industries Inc. in a news release on Monday, December 23, 2019, John W. Chisholm leaves his post as Chief Executive Officer at the maker of downhole equipment and specialty chemicals after almost eight years in the role.
Among the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the U.S. based on market capitalization, the average tenure of the CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 7.6 years, according to data compiled by exechange.
The exact date of John Chisholm’s departure from his post was not explicitly specified in the announcement.
John Chisholm’s duties as CEO will be taken over by John W. Gibson, most recently Chairman of Energy Technology of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company.
The fact that John Chisholm’s successor is brought in from outside suggests that the board may seek to stimulate change with fresh ideas and new initiatives.
In general, an outsider does not have the constraints of an insider when it comes to leading painful changes or making unpopular decisions.
No reason given
In the announcement, Flotek did not explicitly explain the reason for John Chisholm’s move.
Precise information regarding John Chisholm’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Step down”
Flotek said: “David Nierenberg, Flotek’s Chairman of the Board of Directors (“Board”), will remain an independent director of the Company’s Board, and John Chisholm, Flotek’s current Chief Executive Officer, will step down from the Board.”
Share price decline
The announcement follows a decline in Flotek Industries Inc.’s share price of 94% since June 2014.
Chaired by David Nierenberg
Flotek Industries Inc. is chaired by David Nierenberg.
David Nierenberg was appointed as Flotek’s Chairman of the Board on March 20, 2019, effective as of the 2019 Annual Meeting.
In the position of CEO since 2012
John Chisholm became CEO of the Company in 2012.
Chisholm was appointed Chief Executive Officer in March 2012 and has served as Flotek’s President since August 2010, and previously served as Flotek’s Interim President from August 2009 through August 2010.
Chisholm has been a Director of the Company since November 1999, and has acted as Chairman of the Board since July 2010.
Chisholm founded Wellogix, Inc., a software development firm for the oil and gas industry that streamlines workflow, improves collaboration, expedites the inter-company exchange of enterprise data, and communicates complex engineered services.
Chisholm also co-founded and served as President of ProTechnics, a service company dedicated to providing state-of-the-art completion diagnostic services to the energy industry, from 1985 until its sale to Core Laboratories in December of 1996.
After leaving Core Laboratories as Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing in 1998, he started Chisholm Energy Partners, a now inactive investment fund that, while it operated, targeted mid-size energy service companies.
Chisholm has served on the board of directors of NGSG, Inc. (NYSE:NGS), a company specializing in compression technology for the oil and gas industry, since December 2006.
He serves on both the Compensation and Governance Committees of NGSG, Inc.
In November 2016, Chisholm was appointed as a non-executive director of Anton Oilfield Services Group (HKEx stock code: 3337), a leading independent integrated oilfield services provider in China. Chisholm holds a Business Administration degree from Fort Lewis College.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Flotek and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 52.2019 ($).