
Gifford Briggs
Gifford Briggs joined LOGA in 2007 working
closely with the Louisiana Legislature. After
nearly a decade serving as LOGA’s Vice-
President, Gifford was named President in
2018. Briggs rst joined LOGA (formerly
LIOGA) in 1994 while attending college at
LSU. He served as the Membership Coordinator and helped
organize many rsts for LOGA, including the rst annual
meeting, Gulf Coast Prospect & Shale Expo, and board
meetings. He later moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in
restaurant management. He returned to LOGA in 2007.
Mark A. Stansberry
Mark A. Stansberry, Chairman of The
GTD Group, is an award-winning: author,
columnist, lm and music producer, radio
talk show host and 2009 Western Oklahoma
Hall of Fame inductee. Stansberry has written
ve energy-related books. He has been
active in the oil and gas industry for over 41 years having
served as CEO/President of Moore-Stansberry, Inc., and
The Oklahoma Royalty Company. He is currently serving
as Chairman of the Board of Regents of the Regional
University System of Oklahoma, Chairman Emeritus of the
Gaylord-(Boone) Pickens Museum/Oklahoma Hall of Fame
Board of Directors, Lifetime Trustee of Oklahoma Christian
University, and Board Emeritus of the Oklahoma Governor’s
International Team. He has served on several private and
public boards. He is currently Advisory Board Chairman of
IngenuitE, Inc. and Advisor of Skyline Ink.
Thomas G. Ciarlone, Jr.
Tom is a litigation partner in the Houston
ofce of Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC,
where he serves as the head of the rm’s
energy practice group. Tom is also the host of
a weekly podcast on legal news and develop-
ments in the oil-and-gas industry, available at
www.energylawroundup.com, and a video series on effective
legal writing, available at www.theartofthebrief.com.
Jason Spiess
Jason Spiess is an award winning journalist, talk
show host, publisher and executive producer.
Spiess has worked in both the radio and print
industry for over 20 years. All but three years of
his professional experience, Spiess was involved
in the overall operations of the business as a
principal partner. Spiess is a North Dakota native, Fargo North
Alumni and graduate of North Dakota State University. Spiess
moved to the oil patch in 2012 living and operating a food truck
in the parking lot of Macís Hardware. In addition to running a
food truck, Spiess hosted a daily energy lifestyle radio show from
the Rolling Stove food truck. The show was one-of-a-kind in the
Bakken oil elds with diverse guest ranging from U.S. Senator
Mike Enzi (WY) to the traveling roadside merchant selling ags
to the local high school football coach talking about this week’s
big game.
Joshua Robbins
Josh Robbins is currently the Chief Executive
Ofcer of Beachwood Marketing. He has
consulted and provided solutions for several
industries, however the majority of his consulting
solutions have been in manufacturing, energy
and oil and gas. Mr. Robbins has over 15 years
of excellent project leadership in business development and
is experienced in all aspects of oil and gas acquisitions and
divestitures. He has extensive business relationships with a
demonstrated ability to conduct executive level negotiations. He
has developed sustainable solutions, successfully marketing oil
and natural gas properties cost effectively and efciently.
Steve Burnett
Steve Burnett has been working in the oil
industry since the age of 16. He started out
working construction on a pipeline crew and
after retirement, nishes his career as a Pipeline
Safety Compliance Inspector. He has a degree in
art and watched oil and art collide in his career
to form the “Crude Oil Calendars.” He also taught in the same
two elds and believes that while technology has advanced, the
valuable people at the core of the industry and the attributes they
encompass, remain the same.
As we get closer to the end of the year and look back at the activity during the past
several months, it’s easy to say that the industry can be termed as the bounce back
year. Some may say it has been a steady year, with not much to discuss, and yet a few
in the industry felt the pain of further cut backs.
On the nancial side, the price per barrel has remained in a range comfortable for
most producers to earn a prot. This in turn fuels a healthy market for companies
to buy equipment, hire personnel and invest in expansion. Proof of this is clearly
shown in the Permian and Eagle Ford Basin. Operators are doing so well there, they
are producing record amounts of oil and gas, but getting it to the market has been painful. The pipeline
bottleneck and shortage of truckers has slowed down ow for export to the Gulf of Mexico. However, it
has been reported over the past year that several new pipelines will open in 2019 and in turn will improve
the ow to export terminals.
Product and service technology in the oil and gas market is growing and improving at every turn.
The industry now has a taste for machine learning and what IoT can do and there is no turning back.
Blockchain still in its infancy in the crude market, but it will be just as common in years to come.
Innovation and technology are key to improving business efciency so that employees and processes
perform better. If the correct technology is in place and employees are performing well with its use, the
results in many companies are often improved market share and a business that is thriving.
In this issue of OILMAN our feature article is about oil and gas training and continuing education. As
I mentioned, deploying the best technology that is the right t for each employee’s role is key, but not
training or hiring qualied employees ultimately weakens a company’s capital investment in the new
technology. Knowledge transfer is crucial as well. When older employees are set to retire it’s in a company’s
best interest to transfer long held knowledge to younger employees entering the eld. Recent graduates
or entry level employees often come with fresh ideas. Companies benet the most when they merge time-
tested knowledge from seasoned personnel with new processes from recent recruits, when that’s coupled
with emerging technology, the end result is improvement in productivity.
MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER — DECEMBER 2018
PUBLISHER
Emmanuel Sullivan
MANAGING EDITOR
Sarah Skinner
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Tonae’ Hamilton
FEATURES EDITOR
Eric Eissler
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Kim Fischer
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Gifford Briggs
Steve Burnett
Thomas Ciarlone, Jr.
Joshua Robbins
Jason Spiess
Mark Stansberry
SALES
Eric Freer
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LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
CONTRIBUTORS — Biographies
Oilman Magazine / November-December 2018 / OilmanMagazine.com
2
Emmanuel Sullivan, Publisher, OILMAN Magazine