Industry Innovators, Trusted Advisors

NeoFirma Board of Directors

Stephen Perkins, Chairman of the Board

Steve brings a wealth of corporate expertise to his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of NeoFirma. He was a founder of Sterling Commerce and served as President of the communications Software Group until its sale to SBC in 2000. Over the past 38 years, Mr. Perkins has held a variety of other management positions in the software industry. While at University Computing Company (UCC), he helped develop software products that have become critical to the infrastructure of virtually all Fortune 500 companies. In addition to software development, Mr. Perkins has founded companies, guided marketing, built customer service and led sales. He is also currently a part of BP Capital where he is an advisor to a number of entrepreneurial companies.

Bret Boteler

As the founder and president of EnerMax, Brett has a diverse background in oil and gas as well as other business activities. He began his career at General Dynamics as a purchaser of high performance electronics for the F-16 Fighter. From there, he worked for a local oil and gas firm and from 1996 to 1998, served as Vice President of Client Relations for TBX Resources, a publicly traded oil and gas company. In 1999, Bret founded Ghivit.com, Inc., and in 2001, he founded EnerMax, Inc. He is currently responsible in directing the company to form, fund and manage more than sixty-five oil and gas drilling ventures in Texas and Louisiana. Brett graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a B.B.A. in Management.

J.W. Brown

Since March 2003, J.W. has served as the General Partner of Premier Capital, Ltd., a private Dallas, Texas based energy focused investment banking firm. Mr. Brown founded the firm in 1991, but from June 2000 until March 2003 held positions with EnCap Investments, L.C. and Friedman, Billings, Ramsey. Prior to 1991, Mr. Brown was actively involved in energy investment banking activities and was in the oil and gas business as well as in the practice of law from 1973 until 1981. Mr. Brown earned a BA degree, a JD, and a Master of Law Degree from SMU.

Drew A. (Sandy) Campbell

Sandy Campbell serves as in-house counsel for BP Capital LP and its affiliated companies. He has over twenty-five years of legal experience, first as an energy finance partner with Thompson & Knight in Dallas, Texas, and later as founding partner of Stieber Campbell PC. He joined BP Capital in 2004 where his responsibilities include evaluating private investments, structuring transactions, assisting in due diligence and drafting and negotiating legal documents. He graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor’s degree in History and received his Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University School of Law.

Thomas Fagadau

Tom is President of Primexx Energy Partners LP, and President of Fagadau Energy Corporation, which is an active energy producer in North Central Texas, Mid-Continent, and Permian Basin areas. Tom is a 25-year industry veteran, principally in oil and gas property acquisition and corporate finance, and is a member of the Dallas Producers Club, Dallas Petroleum Club, Wildcatters, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Tom holds an MBA from the University of Texas and a BA from Tufts University in Boston.

Mark Smith

Mark founded NeoFirma in 2003 after a 15-year career with Intel Corporation in strategic marketing, business management and technical analysis. As business manager with the Intel Enterprise Server Group, Mark designed the Intel Electronic Mail Association interconnection project and led key technology companies including Microsoft, IBM, Novell, AT&T and MCI in working together to transparently interconnect email systems and data communications networks that provide the Email infrastructure in global use today.  Mark is also the founder of Seldon Energy, a solar energy producer, and co-founder of iCopyright.com, an intelligent copyright system for digital content.  Mark holds degrees in Mathematics and Languages from Southwestern University.

NeoFirma Advisory Board

Gil Marmol

Gil Marmol has served in leadership positions in the technology services industries for the past 16 years.  Most recently, he was member of the executive committee that led the successful turnaround of EDS - setting the stage for its sale to HP where he was responsible for planning and operations improvement.  Previously he was CEO of Luminant an Internet professional services firm which he took public in a 1999 IPO, and chaired the operating committee of Perot Systems through a period of three fold growth.  In these capacities Gil implemented outsourcing and off shoring strategies, including the acquisition of MphasyS by EDS in 2006.Gil was also a director at McKinsey and Co.  During an 18 month career he served several high performance organizations in the formulation and execution of growth strategies that resulted in far above peer group performance.  His work on organization design has been recognized in a variety of publications including the Wall Street Journal.  Gil is on the Board of Directors of Foot Locker and of the Center for a Free Cuba in Washington, DC.  He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Rick McKelvey

Rick is Vice President for Institutional Advancement for Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas where he leads a $150 million comprehensive fundraising campaign and integrated marketing initiative. Previously, he oversaw fund-raising for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as its Vice President for Development. Rick is a founding member and president of the National Committee on Planned Giving (now Partnership in Philanthropic Planning or PPP), as well as a founding partner in a consulting firm to the performing arts and a board advisor for an energy information management firm. He holds a Bachelors and Masters degree from New Mexico State University and completed the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University.