Mr. Webster serves as the Managing Partner of AEC Partners, a private equity firm which invests in the energy industry, and continues to co-manage its predecessor partnerships, Avista Capital Partners Funds I-III, which he co-founded in 2005, focusing on investments in healthcare, energy and other industries. From 2000 until 2005, Mr. Webster served as the Chairman of Global Energy Partners, Ltd., an affiliate of CSFB Private Equity, which made private equity investments in the energy business. From 1998 to 1999, Mr. Webster was the CEO and President of R&B Falcon Corporation, an offshore drilling contractor, and prior to that, was Chairman and CEO of Falcon Drilling Company, which he founded in 1988. Mr. Webster has been a financial intermediary since 1979 and an active investor in the energy sector since 1984. Mr. Webster holds an MBA from Harvard University, and both a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Management and an Honorary Doctorate in Management from Purdue University.
Mr. Webster was nominated to serve on our Board because of his extensive financial knowledge and executive experience, and his business leadership skills from his tenure as CEO and/or director of several publicly-traded companies. He has strong skills in corporate finance, capital markets, investments, mergers and acquisitions, and complex financial transactions.