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

Operations that fell behind the promise, rebuilt to the number.

Twenty five years running multi-site industrial and energy services, with P&L ownership from $80M to $700M. At Phoenix Global, a private equity backed steel mill services business, the company filed and exited Chapter 11 in nine months and EBITDA doubled from $30M to $64M in the first year after emergence, carried through to a completed sale.

Email → LinkedIn
SectorIndustrial & energy services
Private equity backed
CredentialsMBA Finance, Tulane
BS Chemical Engineering, WPI
Reach8 states, 40+ countries
Based in France and Qatar
Phoenix Global
EBITDA, first year after emergence
Verified
$30M $64M
Filing to emergence 9 months Sites held 13 of 18
$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.

Every recovery on this page started the same way, with a business that had already told someone what it would deliver and could no longer deliver it. Contracts underwritten to a margin the sites could not hit. Backlog past the point where the customer stops calling and starts penalizing. 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.

A private equity backed steel mill services business, 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.

Mandate
Executive Vice President, Operations, North America. Recruited to the executive team, reporting to the Apollo board and lender group through restructuring.
Feb 2022 to Dec 2025 Radnor, PA
Select a line
Six measures, entry and exit

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

Three Downturns

Different shocks. Same discipline.

Three recoveries across three employers, each one 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 through a collapse in activity while every other US Land region gave ground. 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, moving from under $2M in 2021 to a $50M monthly run rate by early 2022, and drove the rolling twelve month OSHA recordable rate to zero, down from 0.70.

1 of 4
Only region holding positive EBITDA through 2020, on internal reporting
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.

Last role carried operations, commercial, safety, human resources, and training together, without a separate chief operating officer in the company.

01 · Multi-site
Plant and field operations
  • 18 sites at entry, 13 at exit, across 8 states
  • 800 employees, site general managers reporting in
  • $40M annual capital budget
  • Throughput, backlog recovery, and asset utilization
02 · Commercial
Contracts and customers
  • 12 contracts on 7 to 12 year terms, all to a 32 percent EBITDA target
  • Customer retention through distress, 8 of 10 held
  • Regional market share moved from 20 to 27 percent
  • Two product line launches, $10M and $4M in first year sales
03 · Labor
Union and workforce
  • Two collective bargaining agreements renegotiated
  • Operating Engineers Local 150, 4 sites and 350 employees
  • 6 of 13 site general managers replaced, voluntary exits held to two in 3.5 years
  • $4M removed from a $100M compensation base
04 · Safety
High risk environments
  • TRIR from 2.8 to 1.7 across 13 sites
  • Rolling twelve month OSHA recordable rate to zero in 2021
  • 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
05 · 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
06 · Governance
Sponsor and board
  • Reporting to the Apollo board and lender group through restructuring
  • SunCoke site diligence led across the US and Brazil
  • Board Member, National Slag Association
  • Advisory Board Member, Tulane Energy Institute
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, renegotiated the entire contract book to underwriting margin, and carried the company to a completed sale.

Chapter 11800 employees$40M capital budget115,000 ton backlog clearedApollo board reporting
$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, promoted from Northeast to North Region with the addition of the Rockies and North Dakota. 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.

$700M P&LShare 20% to 27%Rockies re-entryRecordable rate to zeroPost merger integration
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. Pivoted to commercial leadership in 2016, winning three new frac customers and generating $250M in incremental revenue.

$600M region8.4% EBIT$250M incremental revenue
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 across the California market. Raised rig share 22 percent by bundling 12 product lines into combined customer offers, and launched two new product lines, completion hardware at $10M and well testing at $4M in first year sales.

$400M P&L12 product linesTwo launches
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. Delivered $180M in finance verified savings against a $100M first year target, and built the project approval, tracking, and in country verification system used across more than 40 countries and six continents.

40+ countriesSix continentsVerification system
$180M
Verified savings against $100M target
2007 · 2009Paris, France

Quality Systems Manager, Wireline

Schlumberger · $5B global organization

Rebuilt the quality management system for a $5B global Wireline organization, wrote the first standardized facility requirements for deepwater rig operations, and protected share in the highest value deepwater market through field compliance programs.

$5B organizationDeepwater standards
First
Deepwater facility standard written
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 in a strategically critical market. Cut the incident rate from 125 to 63 per 1,000 jobs in the first year and moved market share from 94 to 98 percent while customers were actively evaluating alternative suppliers.

ExxonMobil Top Safety PerformerWireline 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, cutting TRIR from 1.3 to 0.58 in one year through direct field leadership. Led wireline marketing for the Americas, launching new technology products and building the share growth strategy.

7 sites, 6 statesTRIR 1.3 to 0.58
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.

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