Chris D. Tesarski
Executive Chairman of the Board
Mr. Tesarski has had a career in the energy industry which has spanned over two and a half decades, beginning with his first foray into the industry in 1983 with Canadian Occidental Petroleum in their Joint Venture Department. An excellent speaker, writer and communicator, Mr. Tesarski has used those skills to great benefit as he has had the opportunity to lead, shape and motivate companies to strategize and to grow with vision. Just as important though has been his emphasis on solid implementation of that vision through development of internal systems and processes which have led to greater efficiency.
From his first position at Canadian Occidental until today Mr. Tesarski has built a reputation as a spreadsheet specialist utilizing all major spreadsheet systems to provide skilled management consulting services to numerous companies. Although known to be a skilled user, he has been called upon to implement his knowledge and skills to help strategize, design and implement PC based Production Accounting Systems, Joint Venture Revenue Systems, Gas Marketing & Control Systems, as well as strategic Acquisition & Divestiture Systems. Several of these internal systems have been used to integrate into commonly used data management systems within the industry.
The following is a partial list of companies where Mr. Tesarski has been employed or where his various consulting companies have had or have contracts:
Canadian Occidental (now Nexen), Grandalta Resources, BP Canada/Talisman, Okusan Energy, Canadian Pioneer Energy/Cimarron, Grandir Resources, Eravista/Torrington, Rustler Petroleum, Bearspaw Petroleum, Nexxtep Resources, Chancellor Energy, General Atlantic and Moraine Production Company, The Terra Group of Companies, EnCana, Enerplus, Husky Oil, TIRMOIL Energy Ltd., General Reef Corp., Arrow Energy Ltd., Sunshine Oilsands Ltd.
Although Mr. Tesarski’s career has meant full-time employment for some well known companies in the energy industry, for well over a decade his skills and expertise have been sought out by numerous companies in a senior advisory and consulting role. This resulted in Mr. Tesarski operating a consulting company called Visionwest Energy Services from 1993 to 1997. He then incorporated as THE OVERTURE CORPORATION in April 1997. Overture was a company which methodically carved out a niche in the Commodity marketing and Acquisition & Divestiture sector of the energy industry. In 2002 it became FWDStep Resources Limited. Overture started with its first project in late 1996, facilitating the purchase of a $400,000 unit interest for a client. By 2003/2004 FWDStep had helped to facilitate well over $100,000,000 worth of transactions in the energy industry.
In 2004, Mr. Tesarski lent his expertise in Oil & Gas Contract Analysis to assist in helping two major Canadian oil and gas companies facilitate closing procedures on well over $1.5 billion in assets.
In January 2005, Mr. Tesarski was asked to assist Husky Oil in managing their Northern Road Systems and establishing internal processes for long term strategic management of Husky’s road and Third Party Agreements. Mr. Tesarski was an integral part in the development of several regional initiatives for road management and business development in the Peace River/Slave Lake Area.
In September 2006, Mr. Tesarski was appointed CEO of Arrow Energy Ltd., a TSX Venture Exchange listed company. Mr. Tesarski grew the company from less than 100 BOE/d to over 300 BOE/d prior to his departure in July of 2008.
Since leaving Arrow, Mr. Tesarski has given leadership as President & CEO to an exciting new oil and gas venture, SANDBOX ENERGY CORP. The company has grown from ZERO production to approx. 100 boepd, with significant holdings in SW Saskatchewan (150+ sections @ 100% working interest), Thorsby, AB and Clyde, Texas.
