Dr. Neal Smatresk
Dr. Smatresk is president of the University of North Texas, a Tier One research university with 38,000 students and more than 225 programs of study. He leads one of the nation’s largest public universities and the most comprehensive in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A biologist and researcher by training, he has more than 35 years of experience in higher education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Gettysburg College, a master’s degree in biology from State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. He has served on boards for the North Texas Commission, Dallas Regional Chamber and the Fort Worth and Denton Chambers of Commerce, and is an active member of the KERA Board of Directors.
Dr. Marilyn Wiley
Dr. Marilyn Wiley was named as Dean of the College of Business at the University of North Texas in August of 2015. Prior to this appointment, she served as Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Finance for six years. Before coming to UNT, she was MBA Director and Associate Dean and a member of the finance faculty at Florida Atlantic University. Marilyn earned her Ph.D. in Finance from Texas A&M University after five years as Vice President for Finance and Administration at Barrios Technology, a Houston-based aerospace contractor. She holds a BBA from UT-Arlington, and an MBA and MS-Finance from University of Houston – Clear Lake. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, and is a past president of the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth. Marilyn is a current board member and Vice President of the Southwestern Finance association. She is also a past board member and Vice President of the Eastern Finance Association, and recently served on the Board of Directors of the Fort Worth chapter of Financial Executives International. Her research has been published in a number of academic journals including the Journal of Futures Markets and the Journal of Finance.
Trey Cousins, Chairman
Mr. Cousins is a Capital Partner of Meadows, Collier, Reed, Cousins, Crouch and Ungerman, LLP, a Dallas-based boutique law firm specializing in federal tax planning, tax litigation and white collar criminal defense. He has both a BBA and JD from the University of Texas at Austin, and an LLM (taxation) from New York University. In addition to his service to PDI, he is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the AICPA and the Texas Society of CPAs.
Deborah Kitchens
Ms. Kitchens is Chief Financial Officer of the Peregrine Group. Previously, she worked for Arthur Andersen, then Kerr-McGee Corporation, where she was eventually named Vice President and Controller. She later accepted a position with Hunt Petroleum as Vice President of Accounting and Financial Reporting. She received a BBA in accounting from the University of Oklahoma and graduated with Highest Honors. She currently serves as chairman of the Board of Advisers for the OU Price College of Business and is on the Board of the Energy Institute.
Mark Wilson
Mr. Wilson is Chief Accounting Officer at Covey Park Energy. Prior to joining that company, he served as CFO for NorthCote Energy Ltd., Chief Accounting Officer for Petro Harvester Oil & Gas, and Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer for EXCO Resources. His specialties include SEC reporting and compliance, mergers, acquisitions and strategic divestiture, and banking relationships and financing. He earned a BBA from Eastern New Mexico University and is a CPA.
Claude Seaman
Mr. Seaman is the Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer for Continental Resources, Inc., which he joined in 2007 prior to Continental going public and has overseen the growth in the accounting department staff from 20 to 75 plus individuals. He is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day accounting and tax functions and internal and SEC financial reporting. Prior to joining Continental, he spent 25 years with various oil and gas companies in the Oklahoma City and Dallas areas as a financial reporting manager or controller with significant involvement in systems implementations. He is a leader in the industry, and a sought after speaker at the North American Petroleum Accounting Conference (NAPAC). He is a CPA and graduated from Oklahoma State University with a B.S. in Accounting.