Skip to content

Elevating Our Vision

Leadership Team
  1. Home
  2. About
  3. Leadership Team
Robert Drummond - NexTier

Robert Drummond

President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Drummond serves as a Director and as President and Chief Executive Officer. He joined Keane Group, Inc. (now known as NexTier Oilfield Solutions Inc.) in August 2018 as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, and, was elected as President in October 2019. Prior to joining Keane, Mr. Drummond served as the President & Chief Executive Officer of Key Energy Services, Inc. from 2016 to 2018.  Mr. Drummond joined Schlumberger Limited in 1984 and spent more than 30 years in multiple engineering, marketing, operations and leadership positions, culminating with President, North America from 2011 to 2015.  Mr. Drummond has been a Supervisory Director at Frank’s International N.V. since May 2017, and, sits on the board of directors of the Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association and the advisory board for the University of Alabama College of Engineering. He has previously served on the board of directors of the National Ocean Industries Association, the Houston Offshore Energy Center, the Greater Houston Partnership, the API Upstream Committee, and as an Advisory Board Member of the University of Houston Global Energy Management Institute.  Mr. Drummond received his Bachelors in Science in Mineral/Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alabama.

Kenneth Pucheu - NexTier

Kenneth Pucheu

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Pucheu serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since December 2019. In addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Pucheu is also responsible for all Digital and Information Technology operations of NexTier.  Mr. Pucheu most recently served in role of VP Finance upon the merger of Keane/C&J; a role he initially accepted to join Keane Group Inc. in 2016.  Mr. Pucheu has 20 years of experience in corporate and operational finance across the energy industry, as well deep experience in digital technologies and business systems. Prior to joining Keane, Mr. Pucheu worked  at Schlumberger Limited for 15 years in progressing roles of responsibility and leadership including District Accountant in Southern Louisiana; Internal Auditor for Europe/Russia/Africa; Controller Central/Eastern Europe; Director of Finance for North America Offshore; and finally culminating with the role of Head of Finance for Drilling and Measurements.  Mr. Pucheu received a Bachelors in Science in Accounting from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
bio_mcdonald

Kevin McDonald

Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel

Mr. McDonald serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. He joined Keane Group, Inc. as Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary in November 2016. Mr. McDonald has more than 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Prior to joining NexTier, He served in leadership roles at Marathon Oil Corporation from 2012 to 2016, including as Deputy General Counsel of Corporate Legal Services and Government Relations and Deputy General Counsel of Governance, Compliance & Corporate Services. Mr. McDonald also practiced as a partner at the international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright LLP), served as the general counsel and chief compliance officer for an S&P 500 company, Cooper Industries (now Eaton) and held leadership positions at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Valero Energy Corporation. Mr. McDonald is involved in charitable and community organizations. He is a member of the Texas A&M 12th Man Foundation Board of Trustees on which he serves as Chair of the Legal & Governance Committee. He also serves on the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Corporate Development Committee and the Board of Directors for Arms of Hope. Mr. McDonald received a Bachelors in Science from Texas A&M University in Agricultural Economics and Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law.

Kelley School of Business at Indiana University

Matthew Gillard

Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Gillard serves as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer since joining NexTier in August 2021. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, working primarily for Schlumberger in progressing roles of responsibility including Sales and Commercial Director, Vice President Completions, President OneStim and Vice President Vertical Integration & Strategy North America. Most recently, Mr. Gillard held the role of Principal and Owner of Intex Consulting. He received a Bachelor of Science in Marine & Offshore Civil Engineering from University of Plymouth, UK and a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering in Reservoir and Petroleum Engineering from Institute Du Francais Petrole.

Alamo Pressure pumping - Alamo Pressure Pumping, LLC

Joe McKie

President & Chief Executive Officer - Alamo Pressure Pumping

Mr. McKie serves as President & CEO of Alamo Pressure Pumping, joining NexTier via acquisition in August 2021. A co-founder of Alamo Pressure Pumping, Mr. McKie spent nearly a decade working in frac sand and logistics where he oversaw the startup of two businesses that each realized greater than 100% CAGR over the period. Prior to entering his career in oilfield services, Mr. McKie was with the private equity firm Insight Equity, a generalist private equity investment firm in Dallas. He started his career as a management consultant for McKinsey and Co. working across a variety of industries. Mr. McKie received a Bachelors in Science degree with Honors in Finance from the University of Texas. The Leadership team of Alamo Pressure Pumping is found here.

Phung Ngo - NexTier

Phung Ngo-Burns

Chief Accounting Officer & Treasurer
Ms. Ngo-Burns serves as Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer.  Ms. Ngo-Burns previously served as Vice President—Integration during the Keane/C&J merger from October 2019 to March 2020, and prior to that as Chief Accounting Officer for Keane upon joining the company in February 2017.  Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Ngo-Burns was a Senior Director with Alvarez and Marsal from 2012 to 2017.  From 2002 to 2012, Ms. Ngo-Burns served as Chief Financial Officer of Ability Holdings, Inc. and held several executive roles in the finance department of ExpressJet Holdings, Inc., including as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.  Ms. Ngo-Burns brings nearly 30 years of accounting experience to the Company.  Ms. Ngo-Burns is a Certified Public Account and received a Bachelors in Science in Business and Accounting from Oklahoma State University and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Houston.
Ian Henkes - NexTier

Ian Henkes

Senior Vice President – Operations
Mr. Henkes serves as Senior Vice President – Operations.  Mr. Henkes joined Keane in February 2016 as Vice President Human Resources, moving to the role Vice Present – South Region in September 2017.  At the time Keane merged with C&J, Mr. Henkes held the role of Vice President – Region Operations.   Prior to joining Keane, Mr. Henkes worked in a variety of field, operations, sales, management and HR positions in wireline, logging while drilling, and directional drilling operations in North America, Latin America, and northern Europe for Schlumberger from 1994 to 2016.  Over his career, Mr. Henkes held leadership roles as Human Resources Manager for Schlumberger’s Drilling & Measurements global businesses from August 2014 to February 2016, as Vice President for North America at Pathfinder Energy Services from January 2013 to September 2014, and as Personnel Manager at Pathfinder Energy Services from September 2012 to December 2012.   Mr. Henkes received a Bachelors in Science in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State.
steve-hall

Steve Hall

Vice President Region – North

Mr. Hall serves as Vice President of the North Region covering Marcellus, Utica, Bakken and DJ basins.  Mr. Hall originally joined the organization through Keane as Region Vice President, North East in March 2017.  Mr. Hall brings a solid 34 years of experience in Oilfield Services, beginning in Schlumberger in 1984 as a Field Engineer in Wireline progressing through roles of increasing responsibility and scope such as Marketing Manager for North and South America, Country Manager in Qatar, Lean Implementation manager for the corporation out of SLB HQ in Paris and several Region VP roles in the US for SLB NAM.  Mr. Hall received a Bachelors in Science   in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Masters in Business Administration from Tulane University. 

ida-ashley

Ida Ashley

Senior Vice President – Human Resources

Ms. Ashley serves as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources since joining NexTier in February 2020.  Prior to joining NexTier from 2015 – 2019, she served as Vice President, Human Resources at Newpark Resources, reporting directly to the CEO.  In August 2010 she joined Schlumberger as a result of the Smith International, Inc merger, first in capacity of HR Integration Project Manager leading category integration activities from 2010 – 2012, then as Vice President, HR, NAM from 2013-2015.  Ms. Ashley has over 20 years of professional HR experience working in upstream Oilfield Services.  In addition to SHRM-CP and CCP certifications she received a Bachelors in Arts in Modern Languages from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Science for Human Resources from Houston Baptist University.

Brian Bidigare - Nextier

Brian Bidigare

Senior Vice President – Operations Support

Mr. Bidigare serves as the Senior Vice President – Operations Support since joining NexTier in May 2017.  Mr. Bidigare brings to this role over 29 years of deep expertise in global supply chain and procurement operations from his extensive tenure with large cap companies in the oilfield services sector.  Mr. Bidigare excels at critical thinking and problem-solving. His focus on continuous improvement is evident in his commitment to the redesign of business processes and systems. Mr. Bidigare’s work history has traversed several well-known companies in the energy sector including Solomon Edwards, FSTI, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. He received a Bachelors in Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

tommy-balez

Tommy Balez

Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing

Mr. Balez serves as Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing. He originally joined C&J in 2012, as Senior Account Manager. Mr. Balez most recently held the role of VP – Operations Planning & Transformation and upon close of the Keane/C&J merger was named Vice President – Central Region. Prior to the merger Mr. Balez served as Senior Vice President – Wireline & Pumpdown and held a variety of roles in Operations, Sales, and Marketing over his tenure at C&J. Mr. Balez started his career in oilfield services as a Field Engineer with Schlumberger in 2002 and broadened his technical experience in upstream operations during his tenure at ThruBit and Spectraseis. He received a Bachelors in Science in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Aaron Hilber - Nextier

Aaron Hilber

Vice President – Power Solutions
Mr. Hilber serves as Vice President Power Solutions since joining NexTier in August 2020.  Prior to NexTier, from 2017 – 2020 Mr. Hilber worked for Certarus where his last role was Vice President Engineering.  Before Certarus, Mr. Hilber worked at Oscomp Holdings from 2012 – 2016, in progressing roles of responsibility, the last of which was CEO.  Mr. Hilber began his career with GE Oil & Gas from2007 – 2012 where he developed a strong technical foundation in Engineering. Mr. Hilber has spent his career developing deep expertise in compressed natural gas (CNG) virtual pipeline and ancillary technologies as well as turbo-machinery design, manufacturing and service.  Mr. Hilber received a Bachelors in Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College and a Master in Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.