Steven Hall
Operations
Open to COO, President, EVP Operations Brentwood, TN · Open to relocation
Steven A. Hall Chief Operating Officer

Through Chapter 11 in nine months. EBITDA doubled the year after.

Twenty five years of P&L ownership from $80M to $700M across steel mill services, oilfield services, and industrial field operations, running as many as 18 sites across 8 states with 800 employees. At my best in private equity backed businesses where operating performance has fallen behind what was promised to customers and lenders.

SectorIndustrial & energy services
Private equity backed
CredentialsMBA Finance, Tulane
BS Chemical Engineering, WPI
Steven A. Hall
Steven A. HallBrentwood, TN
$0M
Largest P&L owned
0
Sites across 8 states
0
Months to Chapter 11 exit
$0M
Finance verified savings
The Work

Operating performance falls behind what was promised to customers and lenders. Closing that gap is the whole job.

Contracts underwritten to a margin the sites cannot hit. Backlog past the point where the customer stops calling and starts charging. A cost structure sized for a footprint that no longer earns. The fix is never one lever, and it is never fast if the bench is wrong.

People · Process · Equipment · Training

Signature Turnaround

The Phoenix reset.

Private equity backed steel mill services. 18 sites across 8 states, 800 employees, a $40M annual capital budget, and a balance sheet that had run out of room. Entry state on the left, exit state on the right. Select any line for what moved it.

EBITDA
First year after emergence
Verified
$30M $64M
Sites held 13 of 18 Customers held 8 of 10
Mandate
Executive Vice President, Operations, North America. Recruited to the executive team, reporting to the Apollo board and lender group through restructuring, then leading SunCoke site diligence across the US and Brazil to the sale.
Select a line
Six measures, entry and exit

Every figure is an endpoint taken from the record, not a modeled path. Choose a row for the operating decision behind it.

Three Downturns

Different shocks. Same discipline.

Three recoveries across three employers, each measured against peers running the same market at the same time.

2015 · Price collapse
The deepest oilfield downturn in a generation
Schlumberger · $600M US Land region

Held margin while every other US Land region gave ground, then pivoted to commercial leadership in 2016, winning three new frac customers and generating $250M in incremental revenue.

8.4%
EBIT, highest of any US Land region, versus 6.1% next best
2020 · Demand shock
Completions demand falling off a cliff
NexTier Oilfield Solutions · $700M P&L

Four regions went into 2020. One came out of it earning, on internal reporting. Then re-entered the dormant Rocky Mountain basin, from under $2M in 2021 to a $50M monthly run rate in 2022.

1 of 4
Only region holding positive EBITDA through 2020
2022 · Balance sheet failure
A capital structure the operation could not carry
Phoenix Global · Steel mill services

Contracts underwritten below cost, penalties running at $5.4M a year, and a footprint too wide to fund. Filed, restructured, and emerged in nine months, then doubled earnings and carried the business to a completed sale.

2x
EBITDA in the first year after emergence
Operating Scope

What sits under the role.

The last role carried operations, commercial, safety, human resources, and training together, with no separate chief operating officer in the company.

01 · Multi-site
Plant and field operations
  • 18 sites at entry and 13 at exit, across 8 states
  • 800 employees and a $40M annual capital budget
  • Two collective bargaining agreements with Operating Engineers Local 150, covering 4 sites and 350 employees
  • 6 of 13 site general managers replaced, voluntary exits held to two in 3.5 years
02 · Commercial
Contracts and customers
  • 12 contracts on 7 to 12 year terms, each to a 32 percent EBITDA target
  • 8 of 10 customers retained through distress
  • Regional market share from 20 to 27 percent
  • Two product line launches at $10M and $4M in first year sales
03 · Safety
High risk environments
  • TRIR from 2.8 to 1.7 across 13 sites
  • Rolling twelve month OSHA recordable rate to zero in 2021, down from 0.70
  • Incident rate from 125 to 63 per 1,000 jobs in Qatar
  • TRIR from 1.3 to 0.58 in one year on US Land West
04 · Improvement
Lean at enterprise scale
  • $180M in finance verified savings against a $100M first year target
  • Approval, tracking, and in country verification system built from scratch
  • Deployed across more than 40 countries and six continents
  • The company's only enterprise wide operating program
Track Record

Twenty five years, one direction.

Field operations to regional P&L to head of North American operations, in businesses where the work is heavy, the risk is real, and the customer is a mill or a well site.

Feb 2022 · Dec 2025Radnor, PA

Executive Vice President, Operations, North America

Phoenix Global · Private equity backed steel mill services

Recruited to the executive team to turn around a failing sponsor owned business. Took it through Chapter 11 and out in nine months, doubled EBITDA after emergence, rewrote the contract book to underwriting margin, and carried the company to a completed sale.

$30M → $64M
EBITDA, year one after emergence
Sep 2017 · Feb 2022Canonsburg, PA

Vice President, Northeast Region then North Region

NexTier Oilfield Solutions · Formerly Keane Group

Owned a $700M P&L across 7 sites, 7 states, and 3 product lines. Grew the region from 7 to 11 frac fleets, lifting revenue 78 percent, and integrated 5 cementing sites and 75 people after the C&J merger.

78%
Revenue growth, roughly $200M
2015 · 2017Canonsburg, PA

Region Vice President, Northeast

Schlumberger · US Land

Ran a $600M US Land region through the 2015 price collapse and delivered the highest EBIT of any US Land region, then generated $250M in incremental revenue after moving to commercial leadership.

8.4%
EBIT versus 6.1% next best
2011 · 2015Bakersfield, CA

Region Vice President, California

Schlumberger · Multi product

Owned a $400M multi product P&L and raised rig share 22 percent by bundling 12 product lines into combined customer offers.

22%
Rig share increase
2010 · 2011Paris, France

Corporate Lean Implementation Manager

Schlumberger · Corporate headquarters

Chartered to build the company's only enterprise wide operating improvement program, and the approval, tracking, and in country verification system behind it, used across more than 40 countries and six continents.

$180M
Verified savings against a $100M target
2007 · 2009Paris, France

Quality Systems Manager, Wireline

Schlumberger · $5B global organization

Rebuilt the quality management system for a $5B global Wireline organization and wrote the first standardized facility requirements for deepwater rig operations.

$5B
Organization under the QMS rebuild
2005 · 2007Doha, Qatar

Country Manager, Wireline

Schlumberger · $100M P&L

Sent in to turn around a fast growing business facing severe service quality and safety problems, moving market share from 94 to 98 percent while customers were actively evaluating alternative suppliers. ExxonMobil Top Safety Performer and sole recipient of the Wireline President's Award.

125 → 63
Incident rate per 1,000 jobs
2001 · 2005Denver, CO

Marketing Manager, Americas, then Operations Manager, US Land West

Schlumberger · $80M operation

Ran an $80M operation across 7 sites in 6 states covering the Rockies and California, and led wireline marketing for the Americas.

0.58
TRIR, down from 1.3 in one year
Credentials

Engineering and finance.

Education
MBA, Finance
Tulane University, A.B. Freeman School of Business
BS, Chemical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Boards and affiliations
Board Member, National Slag Association
2022 to 2026
Advisory Board Member, Tulane Energy Institute
2017 to 2025
Next Role

Bring me in when the plan stopped working.

Open to Chief Operating Officer, President, Executive Vice President Operations, Senior Vice President Operations, and Chief Executive Officer mandates in private equity backed industrial and energy services. Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, open to relocation, and open to roles in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Base
Brentwood, TN
Titles
COO · President · EVP Ops
Sector
Industrial & energy services
P&L range
$80M to $700M