David C. Lawler, 40, Chief Operating Officer, President
David Lawler joined Quest on May 3, 2007 as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Lawler has worked in the oil and gas industry for more than 16 years in various management and engineering positions including production, drilling, project management and facilities. Prior to joining Quest, Mr. Lawler was employed by Shell Exploration & Production Company and in his most recent assignment, served as Engineering and Operations Manager for multiple assets along the U.S. Gulf Coast. These assets included Shell’s prolific gas producing assets located in South Texas as well as offshore sour gas production facilities near Mobile Bay, Alabama, and, the Yellowhammer Sulfur Recovery Plant located in Coden, Alabama. Prior to his role as Operations Manager, Mr. Lawler progressed through technical and leadership assignments in Shell, including deepwater drilling engineering and corporate business planning. Prior to joining Shell in 1997, Mr. Lawler was employed by Conoco, Inc. and Burlington Resources in various domestic engineering and operations positions. Mr. Lawler graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1990 with a bachelor's of science degree in petroleum engineering and earned his Masters in Business Administrations from Tulane University in 2003.
James B. Kite, Jr., 56, Director
Mr. Kite is the Chief Executive Officer of Boothbay Royalty Company, based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Boothbay Royalty Company was founded in 1977 as an independent investment company with its primary concentration in the field of oil & gas exploration and production. Mr. Kite spent several years in the commercial banking industry with an emphasis in credit and loan review prior to his involvement in the oil & gas industry. Mr. Kite presently is a director of The All Souls’ Anglican Foundation and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science. Mr. Kite earned a bachelor’s of business administration in finance from the University of Oklahoma.
John C. Garrison, 56, Director.
Mr. Garrison brings to the Company expertise in public company activities and issues. Mr. Garrison served as the Company’s Treasurer from 1998 to September 2001. Mr. Garrison has been a Certified Public Accountant in public practice providing financial management and accounting services to a variety of businesses for over twenty years. Mr. Garrison presently is also a director of Empire Energy Corporation. Mr. Garrison holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Kansas State University.
Jon H. Rateau, 52, Director.
Mr. Rateau is the Vice President of Business Development and Energy Management & Services of Alcoa Primary Metals, Energy Division and has been at Alcoa Primary Metals since 1996. Before that, Mr. Rateau held a number of managerial positions with National Steel Corporation from 1981 to 1996. He brings expertise in business acquisitions and divestitures, capital budgets and project management, and applied research of complex technology and processes. Mr. Rateau holds an M.B.A. from Michigan State University and received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University.
William H. Damon III, 55, Director.
Mr. Damon has over 30 years of professional experience specializing in engineering design and development of electric generation and cogeneration systems. He currently is the Chief Executive Officer of Cummins & Barnard, Inc. (“C&B”), which is a privately held engineering-consulting firm focused on power generation development and engineering projects for electric utilities, independent power producers, large industrial and institutional clients throughout the United States. Mr. Damon has been a principal and co-owner of C&B since 1990, leading the project development and strategic consulting business for coal, natural gas and renewable fired power projects. He previously worked for Consumers Power Company, Gilbert-Commonwealth, Inc. and Alternative Energy Ventures before joining C&B. He also held board seats on a minerals and wind turbine company, MKBY, and a start-up construction company that was recently sold to Aker Kvaerner Songer in which he was also a founding member. Mr. Damon graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and continued graduate studies at both Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.