Our Management...
Dennis G. McLaughlin, III
Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mr. McLaughlin is a twenty-five year veteran of the energy industry, during which time he has served as CEO for several energy-related companies.
He has served as Chairman of Evolution Fuels since September of 2005 and as CEO from February of 2006.
He also serves as Chairman and CEO of Evolution Resources, Inc., a publicly traded company, since May 2009.
Mr. McLaughlin has served as CEO and Chairman of Apollo Resources International, Inc., a publicly traded company, beginning October of 2004. Apollo focused on the acquisition and development of upstream oil and natural gas production assets as well as the evaluation and development of existing and future alternative energy sources.
Known as an entrepreneur and a biofuels energy industry leader, Mr. McLaughlin has guided a number of mergers and acquisitions while teaming with seasoned managers and investors to create value in a rapidly developing business arena.
He successfully led the acquisition of a liquefied natural gas production and marketing business and its subsequent restructuring to a profitable entity. The business went from losing approximately $10 million annually to earning over $5 million per year on revenues of roughly $30 million. Mr. McLaughlin then led the spin-off of this entity into a public company, PNG Ventures, Inc. Further, he led a series of transactions that utilized a portion of the equity in the PNG Ventures to repay over $90 million of corporate debt.
Having worked in the oil and gas industry since the age of 20, McLaughlin gained experience at all levels of energy production and distribution. In 1993, with an initial investment of $77,000, he founded Aurora Natural Gas which was later celebrated as one of the "Hottest New Small Businesses in America" by Entrepreneur magazine. McLaughlin was able to negotiate the sale of a portion of Aurora for $26 million based on the application of a proprietary data tracking technology.
"Our No. 1 (1995) entrepreneur, Dennis G. McLaughlin III, (has) changed the way the natural gas industry thinks about start-ups and emerging technology. Aurora Natural Gas succeeded in part because of the founders' commitment to innovation," says author Laura Tiffany, in the article "Told YOU SO!" as found in Fastest Growing Entrepreneurial Businesses. She reports similarities in other successful entrepreneurs as characterized by McLaughlin. "The owners love their industries. Nonstop innovation. Staying one step ahead of both the competition and the times. Strong investments and gratitude for employees. And, of course, the refusal to never stop thinking about where the future might lead the company."
In 1994, McLaughlin founded Aurion Technologies, a technology company that researched and developed a low-cost telemetric meter. This technology helped revolutionize the natural gas field data collection industry by replacing manual field data charts with data collection over the internet. By 2001, the company had an outside independent valuation of approximately $55 million. McLaughlin resigned from Aurion in 2001.
He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Oklahoma in 1992. He was presented with the OU Regents Outstanding Alumni Award in 1999.
Christopher "Kit" Chambers
Executive Vice President, Director
Mr. Chambers has been Secretary and Executive Vice President of Evolution Fuels, Inc. since November 8, 2005. He has served as Director and Executive Vice President of Evolution Resources, Inc. since May 2009. He has been Director and Secretary of Apollo Resources International Inc. since October of 2004 and serves as its Vice President. Mr. Chambers served as interim CEO of Blue Wireless & Data Inc., from May 3, 2005 to September 27, 2005.
From January 1999 to December 2001, he was employed by Aurion Technologies LLC, as Vice President of Operations, then as Vice President of Sales Engineering. From March 1994 to December 1998, he served as Vice President, Software Development of Aurora Natural Gas LP. From 1990 through 1994, he worked as an independent consultant in the film/video industry in Dallas, TX.
Mr. Chambers received a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Oklahoma in 1989.
Randy Hepler
Senior Vice President
Mr. Hepler joined the Company as Vice President of Risk Assessment in June 2006 and was promoted to Senior Vice President February 2007. With proven organizational and negotiation skills, he is responsible for overall operations management and manages the day-to-day activities for the company.
Mr. Hepler has 25 years experience in the grain commodity business, including time working at Cargill as a personal marketing manager as well as a sales manager for Memphis, Tennessee Farm Service Group. During that time, Hepler managed sales teams that bought grain and implemented Cargill Risk Management Solutions to farmers.
From 1997 to 2004, Hepler was founder, President and CEO of OSA Crop Marketing Group, LLC, in Tennessee; he consulted farmers in 22 states with 336,000 acres to market their crops while developing relationships with agricultural lenders and national retail and chemical companies. With experience purchasing millions of bushels of grain annually and having established relations with Informa Economics, a world leader in broad-based agricultural and commodity market research, analysis and consulting, Hepler brings senior management expertise in risk assessment to the Company.
Hepler attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, and later presented to agriculture economic marketing seminars. He is a member of the National Futures Association and holds Series 3, Commodity Brokerage and Series 30, NFA Brokerage Manager Licenses.