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George McCormick |Founder & Managing Partner
Mr. McCormick is a Founder and Managing Partner of Outfitter. Prior to co-founding Outfitter in late 2016, Mr. McCormick served as a founding member and the Managing Partner of TPH Partners, the legacy private equity business of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., and was a member of the investment committee. Before helping to start TPH Partners in early 2008, Mr. McCormick was head of M&A for BHP Billiton's global oil and gas business, responsible for corporate and asset acquisition and divestiture activities. Prior to BHP Billiton, Mr. McCormick was Managing Director of the Enron estate's Corporate Development group and a member of the post-bankruptcy management committee. Mr. McCormick led the formation and sale of the two most valuable surviving business platforms of the estate, CrossCountry Energy Corp. and Prisma Energy International Inc. Mr. McCormick has over 22 years of energy investment experience across equity, mezzanine and debt strategies, and has led over $700 million of direct energy investments. Mr. McCormick currently serves on the boards of directors of Antioch Energy, LLC, Laurel Mountain Energy, LLC, and Principle Petroleum Partners LLC. Mr. McCormick holds a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University and was a Sord Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his MBA with a concentration in Finance and Investments.
Curt Schaefer |Founder & Managing Partner
Mr. Schaefer is a Founder and Managing Partner of Outfitter. Prior to co-founding Outfitter in late 2016, Mr. Schaefer served as a founding member and Managing Director of TPH Partners, the legacy private equity business of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Mr. Schaefer joined TPH in mid-2007 to help form the firm’s private equity arm, where he was responsible for almost $400 million of direct energy investments. Before joining TPH, Mr. Schaefer was a Vice President with Goldman Sachs in its Natural Resources Investment Banking Group. At Goldman Sachs, he focused on mergers and acquisitions, anti-raid advisory and debt and equity financings for companies in the upstream, midstream and oilfield services sectors. Prior to his experience at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Schaefer was a Captain in the United States Army, serving in the 82nd Airborne Division and 8th Army stationed in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Schaefer currently serves on the boards of directors of Antioch Energy, LLC, Laurel Mountain Energy, LLC and Principle Petroleum Partners LLC. Mr. Schaefer graduated with honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, and received an MBA - Finance Concentration, with honors, from Columbia University.
Andrew Kelly|Associate
Mr. Kelly is an Associate of Outfitter. Prior to joining Outfitter in late 2022, Mr. Kelly served as an analyst in the Energy & Power group at Wells Fargo. Mr. Kelly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas A&M University with a B.B.A. in Finance and a certificate from the Petroleum Ventures Program.
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Whitney Weathersby|Office Administrator
Ms. Weathersby is the Office Administrator of Outfitter. Prior to joining Outfitter in late 2022, Ms. Weathersby served as both the Office Administrator and Staff Accountant for a public CPA Firm which served over 450 small business clients. Ms. Weathersby worked directly with clients to ensure timely execution, process conformance and IRS compliance. In support of improving Firm performance, Ms. Weathersby helped implement a project management approach to complete the work scope for complex clients and help successfully grow the Firm's client base.
Senior Advisors
Claiborne Deming
Mr. Deming serves as a Senior Advisor to Outfitter and TPH Partners and sits on the board of Laurel Mountain Energy, LLC. Additionally, Mr. Deming is the Chairman of the Board of Murphy Oil Corporation and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, from October 1, 1994 to December 31, 2008. Prior to assuming that position, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He joined Murphy in 1979 as staff attorney. Mr. Deming also serves on the Board of Directors of Murphy Oil, USA, which was spun off from Murphy Oil Corporation in 2013 and is a retailer of petroleum products in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. He is also a board member of Sorcero, a Washington D.C.-based company that provides artificial intelligence software solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Deming served on the Board of Directors of the Entergy Corporation from 2002 to 2006 and was a member of the Arkansas State Board of Education from September 1999 to June 2002. Mr. Deming is the past President of the 25 Year Club of the Oil and Gas Industry, past Chairman of the National Petroleum Council, and past Treasurer of the American Petroleum Institute. He was awarded the American Petroleum Institute’s 2011 Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Achievement. In addition, Mr. Deming is a former member of both the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and the Board of Directors of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation of the University of Virginia. Mr. Deming graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned his juris doctorate from Tulane University.
Richard "Dick" Lewis
Mr. Lewis serves as a Senior Advisor to Outfitter and TPH Partners and is the Chairman of TPH Partners II. Mr. Lewis currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Principle Petroleum Partners LLC and has been self-employed in the investment and management of personal financial holdings since 2004. In 1980, Mr. Lewis founded Prima Energy Corporation (“Prima”), and served as its Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President until the sale of the company in 2004. Prima was involved in oil and natural gas exploration and development, natural gas gathering and marketing, and oilfield service activities in the Rocky Mountain region. Over a twenty-four year period, Prima delivered a 25% compounded annual return to its shareholders. In 2001, Mr. Lewis was selected as a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and in 2004 was an inaugural inductee into the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame. He is a past president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association. His philanthropic activities include serving as the Chairman of the Development Board of Colorado UpLIFT and serving on the Board of Trustees of the Alliance for Choice in Education. Mr. Lewis received a B.S. degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Colorado and is a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) (inactive).
Steve Shapiro
Mr. Shapiro serves as a Senior Advisor to Outfitter and TPH Partners. Mr. Shapiro served as Chairman of Centennial Resource Development, Inc. from April 2020 and as a director from October 2019 until the company's merger with Colgate Energy Partners II, LLC in September 2022. Mr. Shapiro has more than 40 years of experience in the energy and mining business, and he has been a business consultant since 2006. From October 2000 to April 2006, Mr. Shapiro served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Burlington Resources Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company. During his five-year tenure at Burlington Resources, Mr. Shapiro served as a member of the Board of Directors and the Office of the Chairman and was responsible for the company’s strategy development and execution, as well as its financial performance. Prior to that role, Mr. Shapiro served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Director at Vastar Resources, Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company. Mr. Shapiro spent 16 years with Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), beginning as a planning analyst and later holding a variety of positions in ARCO’s coal and minerals businesses. In 1985, he was appointed Vice President of Finance for ARCO Coal, then served as Assistant Treasurer and Vice President for Corporate Planning for ARCO, and in 1991 was named President for ARCO Coal Australia. Mr. Shapiro has also previously served on the Board of Directors of El Paso Corporation, Barrick Gold Corporation and Asia Resource Minerals PLC. Mr. Shapiro holds an undergraduate degree from Union College and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University.