UPDATE
We are pleased to announce that the Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer have accepted positions with Ness Energy. These positions have been filled after many months of searching for individuals who are quality candidates that are well suited for and willing to assume the risk to serve as Directors and Officers of Ness Energy. I, David Boyce will be the Chairman of the Board and President and there will be two independent Board Members and a Chief Financial Officer.
The independent board members are, Spencer Wilcox, 73 years of age and Owen Laughlin 66 years of age. Mr. Wilcox and I traveled to Israel together several times through the years in support of Ness Energy with our first trip together with the founder of Ness Energy occurring in 1989. Mr. Wilcox has been in the oil and gas industry with experience in equipment, exploration and production for over 45 years. He served as chairman of the board of one of the most respected private Christian schools in the Oklahoma City area and is currently serving on the board of a non-profit international Christian Mission organization. Mr. Laughlin has practiced law with a broad area of experience in the states of Oklahoma and Texas since 1977. In 1996 he was elected to the Oklahoma state Senate and served the northwest portion of the state for the maximum term limit of 12 years. In addition, he served for 19 years on the board of First National Bank of Higgins, Texas. In 2012 he was appointed General Counsel of the Oklahoma Insurance Department and was also appointed as the Director of the Receivership Office and managed the legal department there. Mr. Laughlin’s legal practice included many facets of the oil and gas industry and he has owned interest in oil and gas production and founded a business that serviced a particular facet of the oil and gas industry.
The board of directors elected Michelle Booth, 61 years of age as the Chief Financial Officer. She is a CPA and early in her career worked for a public accounting firm and then transitioned to private accounting focusing on oil and gas. Michelle has been employed as the in-house accountant for an oil and gas company in Oklahoma City for the past nine years and served on the Board of Directors there for two years. In addition, Ms. Booth works as a consultant, resolving financial and accounting challenges for many private oil and gas companies. For the past five years, she has served on the Finance Board for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond, Oklahoma and was Chairman for one year. She is a member of the American Institute of CPA’s and the Oklahoma Society of CPAs.
With these most important positions of Directors and Officers filled the goal is to engage an auditing firm that will accept Ness Energy as a client. The SEC Form 10 Application requires the company’s accounting be fully audited by a PCAOB certified accounting firm. On December 6th we had a meeting in the offices of a smaller certified auditing firm located in Oklahoma City. This firm is considering Ness as a client, but has not yet made their final decision. Several other smaller certified accounting firms have declined accepting Ness as a client due to the company’s current financial condition. The search will continue and we ask that you pray one will be located soon.
After the auditing firm has committed to Ness the next goal is to engage a Market Making firm. There are very few remaining in the industry who are willing to serve penny stock companies. Due to the stricter government regulations imposed by the SEC after the financial crash of 2008 many small publically traded companies have been forced out of trading publically, thus reducing the number of Market Makers servicing the once vibrant market. I was encouraged by the response of one such company after an extended phone conversation. It was revealed in the conversation that this current Presidential administration is enthusiastically “pro small business” and that the SEC’s approval of Form 10 Applications for smaller companies may receive a more favorable assessment now than under the previous administration. Encouragingly, Ness met several of the minimum standards of criteria set by this particular Market Maker. As with engaging an auditing firm, please pray a Market Maker will accept Ness as a client very soon also.
All of us at Ness Energy want to thank you for the prevailing prayers for Ness’ to return to trading on a public exchange so it can accomplish its Mission of assisting and preparing for the Diaspora’s return to Israel. Ness’ Mission Statement is posted on the website and can be seen by clicking on the “About Us” wording at the top of the page. The Mission Statement also includes all of the related scriptures that inspired and direct Ness’ divine assignment.
Thank you, again for your prayer and we in turn pray for the welfare of all our stockholders. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a joy filled and prosperous New Year.
In Jesus Name,
David M. Boyce
Chairman and President
Ness Energy International, Inc.