Independence Contract Drilling has appointed Ed Jacob III as executive vice president and COO. Both contract drilling and manufacturing operations will report directly to Mr Jacob.
Mr Jacob most recently served as the president and CEO of Keen Energy, until its sale in late 2012 to Latshaw Drilling. Prior to Keen, Mr Jacob had a career at Grey Wolf Inc, a contract drilling company, serving as senior vice president of operations, responsible for the safe operation of 124 drilling rigs with over 3,000 employees. Grey Wolf reported close to US $1 billion in revenue during 2008 with record setting safety, utilization, day rates and profitability. He left Grey Wolf when Precision Drilling Company acquired it in December 2008 for $1.6 billion.
Prior, Mr Jacob was executive vice president of Bayard Drilling Technologies Inc, operating 88 land rigs in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. And before Bayard, Mr Jacob served in various sales, marketing and operations management positions with Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Co.
“I have known and worked with Ed for years and cannot think of another leader so uniquely qualified to add immediate value to our team,” Byron Dunn, president and CEO of Independence, said.
“The Independence Board joins me in welcoming Ed to our team,” Tom Bates, chairman of the board of Independence, said. “Ed’s extraordinarily successful contract drilling career, his insights, leadership and managerial skills will provide valuable guidance as we continue to aggressively grow Independence and move forward in our plans to become a publicly traded company.”
Mr Jacob attended Southeastern Louisiana University and Nichols State University and is a 2007 graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He is a member of IADC, SPE, AADE and API. He is a director of the IADC and is serving his second term on the IADC’s Executive Committee. Mr Jacob has also received IADC’s Distinguished Service Award and served on the API Executive Committee for Drilling and Production Operations.
