John Scelfo

John Scelfo

Chairman and Independent Director

Mr. Scelfo brings 40 years of experience in oil and gas management, finance and accounting to the Board. Mr. Scelfo currently serves as principal and owner of JJS Capital Group, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based investment company that he formed in April 2014. Prior to forming JJS Capital, Mr. Scelfo served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development (from February 2004 to March 2014), and Chief Financial Officer, Worldwide Exploration & Producing (from April 2003 to January 2004) of New York, New York-based Hess Corporation, a large integrated oil and gas company, where he served as one of eight members of the company’s Executive Committee and was responsible for the company’s corporate treasury, strategy and upstream commercial activities. Prior to joining Hess Corporation, Mr. Scelfo served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of publicly listed Sirius Satellite Radio (from April 2001 to March 2003), as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Asia Pacific & Japan for Dell Computer (November 1999 to March 2001), and in various roles of increasing responsibility with Mobil Corporation (from June 1980 to October 1999). Mr. Scelfo holds a Bachelor’s Degree and an M.B.A. from Cornell University. He was awarded Cornell ILR School’s Alpern Award given to those who “have been exceedingly generous in their support of the ILR School in general and in support of Off-Campus Credit Programs in particular”.


John Scelfo

Dr. Simon Kukes

CEO & Director

Dr. Simon Kukes, CEO and Director of PEDEVCO Corp., is a globally renowned international oil and gas executive and investor. Kukes has held various high-level executive positions over the years. From January 2005 to April 2013, Kukes was the CEO at Samara-Nafta, a Russian oil company that partnered with US-based international oil company, Hess Corporation. He was also the President and Chief Executive of Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) from 1998 until it combined with British Petroleum in 2003 to create TNK-BP. Following his time at TNK, Kukes joined Yukos Oil Company in Moscow presiding as the CEO and Chairman. From 1979 to 1987 he was the Technical Director of oil-refining and petro-chemistry for Phillips Petroleum and in 1987 became Vice-President over marketing and business development for Amoco. Kukes boasts several awards and achievements over his lifespan. In 1999, the Wall Street Journal voted Kukes as one of the Top 10 Central European Executives. He is also the recipient of the Medal of the Ministry for Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, as well as the American Society of Competition Development Award for Leadership. In 2003, he was named by The Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers as one of the 64 most respected business leaders in the world. Kukes attended several prestigious universities all over the globe, receiving his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University for Chemical Technology in Moscow, where he graduated with Honors. From there, he pursued his PhD in Physical Chemistry at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, where he would later be a Research Associate for Nuclear and Electronic Resonance. Kukes then attended Rice University in Houston, Texas where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Kukes has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Delaware and on the Editorial Board of Fuel Magazine. His commitment to the oil and gas industry has inspired Kukes to publish more than 60 scientific papers and two books on the oil and gas industry of Russia and the United States. Kukes is also the holder of more than 130 patents, primarily in Oil and Petrochemical Processing.


John Scelfo

Ivar Siems

Director

Mr. Siem has broad experience from both the upstream and the service segments of the oil and gas industry, has been the founder of several companies, and has been involved in several roll-ups and restructuring processes throughout his career. He currently serves as the Chairman of American Resources, Inc., and as a Managing Partner of its affiliated investment vehicle, Norexas, LLC, both privately held Houston, Texas-based companies active in oil and gas investment, acquisition and development, and has served in that capacity since 2013. Previously, Mr. Siem served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Resources, Inc. (from 2013 through July 2017) and Chairman of Blue Dolphin Energy Company (OTCQX: BDCO) after taking the company out of bankruptcy in 1990. Blue Dolphin was an offshore Gulf of Mexico operator until a merger in 2012 with an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Mr Siem’s role as CEO ended with the merger and he left the board in 2014. From January 2007 to present, Mr. Siem served as President of Drillmar Oil and Gas, Inc., a subsidiary of Drillmar Energy, Inc. In 1999, Mr. Siem acquired a small distressed public company, American Resources Offshore, Inc. and worked with creditors and existing management to achieve a voluntary reorganization. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Siem served as Chairman and interim CEO of DI Industries/Grey Wolf Drilling while restructuring the company financially and operationally. Through several mergers and acquisitions, the company emerged as one of the leading land drilling contractors in the US. The company was subsequently acquired by Precision Drilling in 2008. From 1996 to 1997 Mr. Siem served as the initial Chairman and CEO of Seateam Technology ASA when it was spun off from DSND ASA and listed on the Oslo exchange. Prior to Seateam, Mr. Siem held various executive roles at multiple E&P and oil field service companies. Mr. Siem started his career at Amoco working as an engineer in various segments of upstream operations. Mr. Siem is currently on the Board of Directors at Siem Industries, Inc., the Drillmar Energy Group of companies, and Petrolia Energy Corporation (OTCQB: BBLS), and has served on the board of several privately held and publicly traded companies including Frupor SA, Avenir ASA, and DSND ASA. Siem Industries is a holding company which invests in shipping and offshore oil and gas construction services. Frupor SA, is a Portuguese agricultural business, which Mr. Siem cofounded with his brother O. M. Siem in 1988. Mr. Siem holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Petroleum from the University of California, Berkeley and an Executive MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth University.


John Scelfo

H. Douglas Evans

Independent Director

Mr. Evans has 50 years of oil and gas industry experience, 40 years of which have been spent in various executive management positions with Gulf Interstate Engineering Company (“GIE”), a privately-held Houston, Texas-based firm specializing in the engineering of oil, gas and liquid pipeline systems, where he currently serves as Honorary Chairman since November 2017, and previously as President and Chief Executive Officer (July 2004-November 2017), President (February 2003-November 2017), Senior Vice President (September 1994-July 2004), and in various other roles since he joined the company in 1978. During Mr. Evans’ tenure as an executive at GIE, he has successfully overseen the company’s organic growth from $25 million in sales in 1996 to over $250 million in sales in recent years, with GIE involved in almost every major onshore oil and gas pipeline in the world over the last 20 years. Mr. Evans holds a B.S. Civil Engineering and Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario and Alberta, Canada. Mr. Evans currently serves as Honorary Chairman of GIE (since November 2017), and previously a member of the Board of Directors of Gulf Interstate Field Services, a GIE affiliate engaged in providing oil and gas pipeline construction inspection services, and a number of other GIE affiliated companies, the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Strategy Committee for the International Pipe Line and Offshore Contractors Association (IPLOCA) (through September 2019), a member of the Board of Houston, Texas-based Crossroads School, Inc. (since 2004), and a former member of the Board of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation – Texas Gulf Coast Chapter.