Mr. Smith has served as one of our directors since our initial public offering in October 2016. He founded Triple Double Advisors, LLC, an investment advisory firm focusing on the energy industry, in 2007 and is its President and Managing Member, a position he has held since August 2007. Mr. Smith was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of John S. Herold, Inc., an independent energy research firm, from 1984 until the firm was merged into IHS, Inc. in 2007.
Prior to that, Mr. Smith was an energy equity analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (1982-1984), The First Boston Corp. (1979-1982) and Argus Research Corp. (1976-1979). Since September 2015, Mr. Smith has served on the board of independent crude storage operator, Fairway Energy. Mr. Smith served on the board of directors of Plains All American GP LLC, the general partner of Plains All America Pipeline, L.P., from 1999 until 2010.
Mr. Smith is also a former director of PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P. from April 2010 until December 2013 and Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners, L.P. from May 2008 until December 2013. Mr. Smith is a former director of Pioneer Natural Resources (1993-1998), Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (1996-2000) and Evergreen Resources, Inc. (2000- 2004), and was a past appointee to the National Petroleum Council.
Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Administration from Duke University and a Masters of Business Administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business. In addition, he holds the Certified Financial Analyst designation. Mr. Smith is a Fellow and active in the National Association of Corporate Directors.