Board & Governance

Stampede Rig 1-5189

Governance & Regulatory

Stampede Drilling is led by our management team and governed by our board of directors. We believe in adhering to the highest standards of ethical decision-making and adopting policies that strengthen our focus on corporate governance. By implementing key values in all levels of the company, we strive to gain shareholder trust and thereby increase shareholder value.

To ensure we adhere to the highest standard of corporate governance our Governance Committee is comprised of independent directors. Their mandate amongst other duties and responsibilities include:

Board of Directors

The Stampede Drilling Inc. Board of Directors is led by energy industry executives committed to overseeing the strategic direction of the company and its governance. Their mandate includes:

  • approving and monitoring of the strategic business and financial plans of the company
  • supervising performance and succession planning of senior officers
  • assessing of principal risk factors relating to the business
  • monitoring and oversee the integrity of financial reporting and disclosure.

Lyle Whitmarsh

President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Mr. Whitmarsh has over 35 years of energy industry experience. Mr. Whitmarsh previously held the position of President with Trinidad Drilling from 2002 to 2008, and then Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors until March 2017. Mr. Whitmarsh has extensive practical hands-on experience, starting as a Floorhand on the drilling rigs in the early 1980s and evolving through various operational positions, advancing into executive roles that included manufacturing, well servicing and international operations. Mr. Whitmarsh served as an intermediary board member in the Total Energy and Savanna Energy Services merger, then acted as President of Savanna Energy Services until July 2017. Mr. Whitmarsh has served in various capacities with the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC) during 2005 to 2017 and holds his ICD.D designation for Corporate Directors.

Thane Russell

Lead Director

Mr. Russell has almost 37 years of engineering experience in the petroleum industry, primarily in production operations, drilling and completions, and well optimization. Mr. Russell has a particular interest in the innovation and commercialization of completion tools. Mr. Russell was one of the founders of Stellarton Energy Limited in 1994, which was sold to Tom Brown Resources of Denver in 2000 with its wholly owned subsidiary, Secure Oil Tools, being sold to Schlumberger in 1999. In 2000, Mr. Russell founded Absolute Energy Limited – “AEL” – and is currently the Chairman and President. AEL’s successful operating subsidiary Absolute Completion Technologies Ltd., worked in 45 countries between 2002 and 2017, at which time it was sold to Schlumberger. Mr. Russell also has field experience with a number of E&P companies including Texaco, Imperial Oil and Canadian Hunter. Mr. Russell received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, has his designation as a Professional Engineer, and is a Life Member of APEGA.

Diane Brickner

Director

Ms. Brickner has her Chartered Insurance Professional designation from the Insurance Institute and her ICD.D from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Ms. Brickner is currently a corporate director at Peace Hills Insurance (since 1990), The Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association (since 2016), and the Alberta Treasury Branch from 2019 to June 2022. Ms. Brickner has served on several publicly traded companies including CanElson Drilling Inc. in 2014, as well as various privately owned and not for profit boards. Mrs. Brickner joined Peace Hills Insurance in 1981 and became the CEO in 1990, growing the company from three employees to over 200. Over the course of her career, she successfully oversaw the expansion of Peace Hills Insurance to all provinces and territories west of Ontario. Ms. Brickner has been recognized by several organizations including the Senate (150th Anniversary medal), the Edmonton YWCA (Women of Distinction in Business) and the Alberta Venture (Person of the Year 2013).

Terrance J. Owen

Director

Mr. Owen has been the Chairman of Hammerstone Infrastructure Materials Ltd., a private aggregate materials supply company that is part of the Brookfield group of companies, since the inception of Hammerstone in 2009. Prior to August 2020, Mr. Owen was also Chief Executive Officer of Hammerstone and prior to August 2019 Mr. Owen was also President and Chief Executive Officer of Hammerstone. From June 1994 to January 2008, Mr. Owen held various executive positions with the Trimac group of companies, including serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Trimac Transportation Services L.P. from February 2005 to January 2008. Mr. Owen was a partner with the law firm Macleod Dixon LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP), practicing in the corporate/securities law area from July 1985 to May 1994. Past public company directorships of Mr. Owen include: Trimac Transportation Services, Boom Capital Corporation, Ranchero Resources Ltd.  and lntermap Technologies Corporation. Mr. Owen also acted as counsel to Macleod Dixon LLP and was a member of the Strategic Advisory Committee of that firm prior to its merger with Norton Rose in 2011. 

Murray Hinz

Director

Mr. Hinz is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of experience as a senior executive and providing business financial advisory services. Mr. Hinz is currently the Senior Vice President Finance & Administration of Parvus Therapeutics Inc. Before joining Parvus, Mr. Hinz was CanElson Drilling Inc’s first Chief Financial Officer prior to becoming an Advisor to their Senior Executive team, providing finance, business development, risk management and corporate governance support. Mr. Hinz helped grow CanElson organically and through acquisitions from one to over 1,000 employees providing contract drilling rig services to customers in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Mr. Hinz’s career also includes diverse industry financial advisory experience working with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada and Deloitte in the Cayman Islands providing a wide variety of services including valuation, litigation support, forensic, restructuring and liquidation in Canada, the U.S., South America, Caribbean and the United Kingdom. In addition, he worked as a consultant providing financial management, business leadership and corporate strategy services to both private and public companies from the startup phase to larger organizations.

Tim A. Beatty P.Eng.,ICD.D

Director

Mr. Beatty holds a BSc in Petroleum Engineering from Montana Tech University and is a Professional Engineer member with APEGA. Mr. Beatty has over 30 years of oil and gas experience in both the E&P and service sectors and more than 20 years directly related to the drilling industry. Mr. Beatty has obtained his ICD.D designation and is President & CEO/Board of Director at Aral Resources Ltd. Mr. Beatty gained strong banking/financing knowledge when he sat on the Board of Bow Valley Credit Union and has been responsible for annual drilling budgets of $1 billion. Mr. Beatty has successfully created several unique partnerships within the Indigenous communities where his organizations have conducted operations.

Kerri Beuk

Director

Mrs. Beuk is an executive business leader with 30 years of experience in the energy services industry. Mrs. Beuk is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Eleven Street Ventures, a Canadian-based business management firm focused on assisting startups/scale-ups in achieving growth and development through the provision of personalized financial solutions, business development strategies and other bespoke corporate services. Previously, Mrs. Beuk worked at PTW Energy Services Ltd. as Chief Operating Officer, where she was responsible for North American operations totalling a half billion in revenue and over 1,800 employees. Prior thereto, Mrs. Beuk held various positions throughout a decades-long career with AECOM (formerly Flint Energy Services Ltd./URS Corp.) progressively advancing to her final role of VP of Operations where she led the division’s largest region that served more than 30 high-value clients throughout Western Canada. Mrs. Beuk earned her Haskayne Executive MBA degree in 2011 from the University of Calgary.

Drew Ross

Director

Mr. Ross has over 27 years of investment banking experience primarily focused in the Canadian and international energy sector. He was a Managing Director of Scotiabank Global Markets, the investment banking division of Scotiabank, from 2007 to 2021, and prior thereto worked at Genuity Capital Markets (2005-2007), Merrill Lynch Canada (2000-2005) and RBC Capital Markets (1994-2000). Before working in investment banking, Mr. Ross was a professional Geophysicist with Chevron Canada Resources from 1987-1992. Mr. Ross holds a Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Geophysics) from Queen’s University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of British Columbia.

Policies

*Stampede Drilling Inc. Financial Statements, Management’s Discussion & Analysis, and Governance documents are filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

The purpose of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the "Code") is to provide written conduct guidelines designed to promote integrity and deter wrongdoing, protect the Corporation's business and reputation, protect the Corporation from financial loss and legal liability.

Whistleblower and Complaints Policy

This policy addresses the commitment of the company and the Board of Directors to integrity and ethical behaviour by helping to foster and maintain an environment where employees and other individuals can act appropriately, without fear of retaliation.

Scroll to Top