Miller Energy has new Houston leadership

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Jean-Philippe Studios

Miller Energy Executive Chairman Scott Boruff sees more of the Tennessee-based company's operations moving to Houston.

Jordan Blum

Reporter- Houston Business Journal

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Tennessee-based Miller Energy Resources Inc. (NYSE: MILL) has new top leadership and more of it is based out of Houston.

Miller opened its Houston office in the Kinder Morgan Building downtown at the end of the summer, and now the new CEO is based out of Houston.

Carl Giesler, who was the Houston-based managing director of investments at Harbinger Group Inc., is the new Miller CEO. Former CEO Scott Boruff, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, stepped back into the role of executive chairman with Miller.

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Houston-based Miller CFO John Brawley, who was originally heading the Houston office, is leaving Miller as of Nov. 14 to become CFO of Oklahoma-based SandRidge Energy Inc.'s new master-limited partnership, MidCon Midstream LP, which is going public. Jeffrey McInturff, Miller's chief accounting officer, will become the interim CFO, according to Giesler. Miller has started a formal search to fill the job permanently.

In a July interview, Boruff left open the possibility of Miller eventually moving its headquarters to Houston.

"Houston is a dealmaking community," Boruff said at the time. "I'm in Houston three times a month already. It's the energy capital."

Miller is a fast-growing oil and natural gas exploration and production company focused on the Cook Inlet area of Alaska and the Appalachian Basin. But the company has experienced financial woes in its stock value.

In explaining the recent CEO change, Boruff said in a prepared statement, "With Carl on board, we will further zero-in on our operational and cost of capital improvement initiatives. We will also assess our capital deployment with a greater returns-emphasis to improve our cash flow and liquidity. These efforts, coupled with improved market communications and transparency, will help us deepen and grow our institutional investor base."

Jordan Blum covers energy for the Houston Business Journal. Read the top Texas energy news in our free weekly newsletter, Energy Inc. Click here to subscribe to the Energy Inc. newsletter.