Paul L. Howes joined Newpark's Board of Directors and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in March 2006. In June 2006, Mr. Howes was appointed as Newpark's President. Mr. Howes' career has included experience in the defense industry, chemicals and plastics manufacturing, and the packaging industry. Following the sale of his former company in October 2005 until he joined Newpark's Board of Directors in March 2006, Mr. Howes was working privately as an inventor while engaging in consulting and private investing activities. From 2002 until October 2005, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Astaris LLC, a primary chemicals company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, with operations in North America, Europe and South America. Prior to this, from 1997 until 2002, he served as Vice President and General Manager, Packaging Division, for Flint Ink Corporation, a global ink company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan with operations in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

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Gregg joined Newpark in April 2007 as Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Newpark, Mr. Piontek was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of Stewart & Stevenson LLC, where, as a member of the executive team, he directed all start-up and purchase accounting functions related to the purchase of assets from Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc. and served as lead executive financial officer for their $150 million public debt offering. Previously, from 2001 to 2006, he held the positions of Assistant Corporate Controller and Controller, Power Products Division at Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Piontek served in various financial roles at General Electric, CNH Global N.V. and Deloitte & Touche LLP. Mr. Piontek is a Certified Public Accountant and received a Master of Business Administration from Marquette University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Arizona State University.

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Mark J. Airola joined Newpark in October 2006 as Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer and was appointed as Secretary in December 2006. Mr. Airola has practiced law for 22 years, primarily with large, publicly traded companies. Most recently, Mr. Airola was Assistant General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for BJ Services Company, a leading provider of pressure pumping and other oilfield services to the petroleum industry, serving as an executive officer since 2003. From 1988 to 1995, he held the position of Senior Litigation Counsel at Cooper Industries, Inc., a global manufacturer of electrical products and tools, with initial responsibility for managing environmental regulatory matters and litigation and subsequently managing the company's commercial litigation.

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Bruce has been in the drilling fluids industry since 1973 and has held many technical, operational and administrative positions during this 35 year period. Bruce joined Newpark in April 1998 as Vice President International and since October 2000 he has served as President of Newpark Drilling Fluids. Prior to joining Newpark, Mr. Smith was the Managing Director of the UK operations of M-I Swaco.

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Jeffery L. Juergens joined Newpark in October 2010 as President of Newpark Mats & Integrated Services and Newpark Environmental Services. Before joining Newpark, Mr. Juergens held the position of Chief Executive Officer of B&B Oilfield Services, an oilfield equipment manufacturing company which was acquired by Halliburton. Previously from 2007 to 2009, he was at Omni Energy Services, where he led the company's Seismic Drilling Division as General Manager. Prior to 2007, he served SPS International, a wellbore cleanup tools and technology company, as Vice President International Operations, with responsibility for the development of operations in Canada and Latin America. Mr. Juergens began his career with BJ Services and also worked for Baker Hughes. Mr. Juergens has a bachelor's degree in business and economics from Arkansas State University and a Masters in Business Administration from University of Phoenix.

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Frank is Vice President Technical Services. Dr. Lyon joined Newpark in September 1991. He has 35 years of research, university teaching and oil industry technical experience. He received his Ph.D. from Kansas State University and did postdoctoral work at Tulane University followed by several faculty appointments. During his academic career, Dr. Lyon participated in the EPA's contract research program. His introduction to the oil industry was research to develop and manufacture aluminum alloyed sacrificial anodes for corrosion control systems used on offshore platforms and drilling rigs. The Technical Services group assists the Newpark family of companies providing services for R&D, intellectual property, environmental management systems, health & safety, regulatory compliance, quality and Six Sigma initiatives.

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David joined Newpark in September 2007 as Chief Information Officer. David has a diverse background with experience in information technology, operations and accounting. Prior to joining Newpark, David was responsible for IT strategy and operations at Lexicon Genetics including the design, implementation and support of J.D. Edwards. Previous to Lexicon, David worked at Compaq Computer Corporation as a North American division Controller before transitioning to a global SAP team lead role where he was responsible for business process reengineering and implementation of finance functionality at manufacturing and sales subsidiaries. David previously served in leadership roles as Vice President of Finance and Administration with a service company and a senior auditor with Arthur Andersen L.L.P. David is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Information Technology Professional.