Omar Leeman

Omar has held senior management positions in technology, telecommunications, and software development companies, both public and privately held. Omar’s forte is in sales, marketing, operations, growing new product lines, and turnaround business situations. His most recent experience was in the public safety sector serving in executive management roles. From February 1983 to January 2001, Omar worked at MCI Telecommunications, Inc. where he held several management positions, including President, MCI Business Markets. After MCI, he was President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Talk2 Technology, Inc. He also served as a Regional Vice President at NEC America Inc., and held management positions at OC Tanner Company and Xerox Corporation. Omar received a B.S. degree, Business Administration from the University of Hawaii. He has served on both private and public company Board of Directors, including Telegea, Inc., AccessData, Inc. and the SCO Group (SCOX). He also served on the Board of Visitors, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Rotary Club of Houston Lombardi Trophy Committee, Houston Convention Fund, Kick Drugs Out of America Foundation, and Vice Chairman, Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort, The Woodlands, Texas.

Andy Sykes

Born and raised in England, Andy has over 30 years experience in the IT industry. He graduated with Honors in Electronics from the University of London in 1976 and spent 5 years as a programmer in the defense industry before moving into Unix System Administration and then IP network design and administration. Highlights of his career include three stints with British Telecom designing their first public Internet Service, the Intranet infrastructure for the UK National Health Service and at BT’s Martlesham Heath R&D Laboratory developing an MPLS backbone; five years with the European Space Agency developing communication, command and control software for two research satellites – a time when he could call himself a real “Rocket Scientist”; five years with Xerox building out their wide area network (WAN) covering Easter Europe, Russia, India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa (this became the largest of Xerox’s network infrastructures covering 8 time zones; various WAN Europe-wide design jobs for companies such as Daimler-Benz and Racal Electronics (now part of the Thales Group); and eleven years with Computer Sciences Corporation as a senior member of their Network Architecture group working on network design and implementation not only for CSC but also for their fortune-500 customers. During his time at CSC, Andy also pioneered their deployment of, and strategy for, the emerging Voice over IP technologies. Andy moved to the permanently to the USA in 2000 and became a US Citizen in 2010.

Mike O’Shea

Mike retired as a partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in 2007, after over 39 years of service. His clients have included Atlantic Richfield Company, Burlington Resources, Plains Exploration & Production, Lyondell Chemical Company, Unocal, TOSCO, Sun Oil, Global Marine and Vista Chemical. Previously, his duties included serving as a SEC Review Partner and the Energy and Mining Risk Management Partner for the West Region of PwC. Prior to the PricewaterhouseCoopers merger, Mike was Co-chairman of the Coopers & Lybrand Energy Practice and also was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Oil and Gas Committee. After retirement from PwC, Mike spent two years working for Richard Breeden & Company as part of the team monitoring KPMG pursuant to their Deferred Adjudication Agreement.

As a senior partner, Mike was not only involved in auditing financial statements, but he became a trusted business advisor dealing various business issues including deal structuring, business divestitures and acquisitions, system development and regulatory compliance. During Mike’s 39 years with PwC, he has worked in the Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles and Houston offices. Mike has served on the Board of Trustees for the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Organization and the Advisory Board of the Southwest Legal Foundation. He previously was Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants and a Lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas

Mike graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Economics. He is a CPA, licensed in Texas and Colorado and is a member of AICPA.

Jared Kearney

Previously, Jared was group vice president of sales for Verizon Enterprise Solutions with responsibility for the central US, Canada and Latin America. In this role, he was charged with growing and maintaining the group’s extensive customer base. He was responsible for over $4.3B in revenue and executing marketing plans to increase penetration. His team’s primary focus was to acquire new customers who wanted to extend their reach and enter new markets by connecting to a global IP network. The team sold the full Verizon Enterprise Solutions portfolio including network services, managed services, data center, IP, security, professional services and outsourcing solutions, and focuses on enterprise markets. Previously, he worked as regional vice president and general manager for the Corporate West Division of MCI. In this position, he had responsibility for 300 sales and service professionals and over $2.1B in annual revenue across a nine-state territory. Kearney was responsible for maintaining and growing the company’s National Account program.

Jared has previously served on the board of directors for the Houston Symphony, and “Spectrum of Hope”, a non-profit pre-school program for autistic children. He has also served on multiple committees with the Houston Chapter of the Special Olympics. He co-chaired the 2009 fundraiser for the Houston Children’s Museum and is involved in multiple other community activities. He sits on the advisory board of the Houston Children’s Museum. Jared holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Mansfield University in Pennsylvania.

Mike graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Economics. He is a CPA, licensed in Texas and Colorado and is a member of AICPA.

Mike Smith

Mike is a founding principal of Gulf Capital. His professional background includes many years of operating and engineering experience which provides a strong commercial perspective combined with his extensive experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street. Mr. Smith received his degree in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970. He commenced his career with Atlantic Richfield Company where he spent eight years in a variety of engineering assignments. In 1976, Mr. Smith received his Masters Degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He joined Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Group in 1978, where he financed a number of U.S. independent oil and gas companies through public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities. In 1985, he joined J. Henry Schroder Corporation as a Managing Director with responsibility for corporate finance in oil and gas exploration and production, oil field services and pipelines. He also provided restructuring advice for public companies and rendered fairness opinions for the acquisition and disposition of oil and gas properties. In 1986, Mr. Smith joined Citicorp Investment Bank as a Managing Director in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department. He was responsible for assignments in the oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing and both specialty and commodity chemicals sectors in the oil and gas industry. He also advised in takeover negotiations of public companies and conducted negotiations on crude oil supply arrangements for OPEC producers with refiners. In 1990, he opened the Houston office of The London Manhattan Company to provide financial advisory services to their clients in the Southwestern Region of the U.S.

David Burns

David has been for forty years a practicing attorney. He was a partner first at the law firm of Baker Botts LLP and then at Dewey Ballantine LLP. As such he has represented financial institutions, oil and gas companies, energy companies, cable television and other business entities in financings, mergers and acquisitions, business start-ups, real estate transactions, work-outs and corporate reorganizations. Mr. Burns was graduated from Harvard Law School in 1971 and is a fellow in the American College of Investment Counsel.

Kirby Atwood

Kirby is a founding principal of Gulf Capital. His professional background includes many years of commercial lending, plus experience as Chief Executive Officer in the cable television and oil and gas industries. He has specific expertise in oil and gas acquisitions and mergers of technology companies. Mr. Atwood graduated from the University of Texas in 1969, with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Finance and Statistics, and upon graduation joined the U.S. Navy. He served on active duty in the Navy for three years attaining the rank of Lieutenant, working in Naval Intelligence. He continued to serve in the Naval Intelligence Reserve, and currently holds the rank of Commander. Upon his release from active duty, he returned to the University of Texas where he received a Masters in Business Administration, with a concentration in Finance, in 1974. Upon receiving his MBA Degree, Mr. Atwood joined Texas Commerce Bank in Houston, where he worked as a Vice President and commercial lending officer specializing in large, Houston based companies, primarily in the oil service, distribution, fabricating and heavy manufacturing business. He left Texas Commerce Bank in 1979 to join Gulf Coast Cable Television, Ltd., which owned and built the original cable television system in Southwest Houston. When Gulf Coast was sold to Warner in 1981, he left the Company and formed ATX Energy, Inc., an independent oil and gas exploration and production company located in Houston. Mr. Atwood has been associated, as an owner and principal in several cable television companies and is currently associated with a Houston based company in the business of acquiring and operating domestic oil and gas reserves. He was also a senior executive and principal with an oil and gas exploration and production company which had properties located in Arkansas and Oklahoma. He has specialized experience in corporate finance related to direct investment, mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications, electronics, manufacturing, banking and petroleum industries.