The management team of Columbia consists of professionals that have been involved for many years in the petroleum industry. The principals of Columbia have considerable experience in the fields of geology, geophysics, lease acquisitions, production, drilling 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. Simmons, III – Managing Member
Mr. Simmons has over 30 years of executive level experience within the oil and gas industry. Over the years he has functioned 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 US 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.
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 Co.) building locations, laying pipeline, and making pipeline connections to tanks, pumps, and wells.
As Managing Member of Columbia Petroleum LLC, Mr. Simmons brings a wealth of business management skills, industry contacts and key relationships to the process of prospect acquisitions and ongoing development.
Chester F. English, III – Investor Relations
Mr. English has many years experience involving sophisticated international projects and business development. He provided bundled communication services including; satellite television, high speed internet service, and voice over internet protocol telephone. His organizations also distributed product and services to the multiple dwelling unit marketplace in South Florida. Organizations he led experienced growth rates in excess of 200% per annum.
Another Media firm Mr. English led is now one of the top 5 media rights syndication firms in Europe. It is now known as Infront Italy (owned by the Dreyfus Group) Media Partners was sold to the Dreyfus Group for a significant amount.
While based in New York City, Mr. English developed the first independent distributor of live event pay-per-view television with rights to cable television networks in the United States. The company generated impressive pay-per-view, television subscription revenues during this period.
Prior to that time period, Mr. English worked as a real estate investment broker in Boston, Massachusetts and also produced major televised concert events for Harvard University and The Boston Centennial.
Mr. English is a partner and a seed capital investor in the formation of Columbia Petroleum, LLC.
Advisors
Carl W. Swan
Mr. Swan has over 50 years experience in the energy and related natural resources business. He has been an industry partner with numerous independent producers and major oil companies, both public and private. He has also served as consultant to a host of the world’s top geologists, drillers, operators and related energy concerns that would read as the who’s who in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Swan’s background and contacts within the industry are vast and key industry leaders people regularly seek him out for his guidance and valued opinion.
Mr. Swan’s formal education is from the University of New Mexico where he holds B.S. degree. Combined with years of hands on experience in the oilfield, Mr. Swan has become a well known figure. Over the years, Mr. Swan enjoyed significant political influence at the White House and with Presidents. He was a personal friend of Ronald Reagan.