D CEO’s Post

Nick Oberheiden wasn’t allowed to bring anything in or out of the bunker where he met with his client—no water, no phone, no notes. The enclosed area, called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), wasn’t much bigger than a shipping container. Military, national security, and intelligence officials use them to process sensitive and classified information. For six long hours, Oberheiden met with officials in a secret location as they laid out the case the government had built against his client, a defense department employee under espionage investigation for allegedly disclosing classified information. For a matter of this magnitude, Oberheiden says he met with the FBI, Justice Department, Secret Service, and a special unit of the Pentagon to discuss a resolution. The government kept the notes he took during the meeting afterward. To do his job, Oberheiden is one of the few civilian lawyers who can look at the classified information his client had allegedly disclosed. His security clearance is so high he cannot even tell others what it’s called. All discussions about that classified information had to be done in the presence of the feds. In cases such as these, private conversations between a typical client and his or her lawyer don’t exist. “It’s not a fun room,” Oberheiden says. “There is no privacy component.” When he meets with his client outside the bunker, conversations are done in hypotheticals. The client isn’t able to say which agency they work for or even that they disclosed certain documents. Discussing the matter with their lawyer without an FBI agent present is itself a crime. Read how ‘Unicorn’ Dr. Nick Oberheiden built his federal legal empire in Dallas from Will Maddox at the link below.

Few industries have changed as drastically and rapidly as the landscape of college athletics over the last year, let alone the last decade. From major conference realignment and the dissolving of the century-old Pac-12 to the omnipresent transfer portal and the formal introduction of NIL, Judy MacLeod, the commissioner of Conference USA—which offices out of Dallas—has been tasked with navigating every twist and turn since stepping in to lead the Group of Five conference in 2015. MacLeod is the first female commissioner of an FBS conference. She joined C-USA in 2005 and was elevated to executive associate commissioner and COO just a year later. Her stint with the conference was predated by a decade-long tenure as the athletic director at the The University of Tulsa. At Tulsa, she oversaw massive expansions and renovations of numerous athletic facilities and the transition from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA, adding women’s basketball, rowing, and softball in the process. Amidst industry wide disruption, MacLeod’s league is performing as good as it ever has on the playing surface. In 2023, the conference saw its first school earn an invitation to a New Year’s Day Six Bowl Game when Liberty University played the University of Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. Florida Atlantic University went on a Cinderella run to the NCAA Division I Men’s Final Four that same year. Just two years prior, Conference USA nabbed its first men’s soccer national title when Marshall University hoisted the trophy. Vying for ever-important media exposure, especially as a non-power five conference, in 2022 MacLeod negotiated a five-year media rights deal that runs through the 2027-2028 season with ESPN and CBS Sports Network on linear television and streaming platforms. As a result, all C-USA football games during October shifted to weeknights to avoid competing with the largest schools on Saturdays—an initiative fellow G5 conference, the Mid-American Conference, has had recent success doing. According to the Sports Business Journal, that media deal nets schools $750,000 per year. That same year however, C-USA was not immune to realignment as the American Athletic Conference—headquartered in Irving—poached six C-USA members after the Big 12 poached a handful of AAC institutions. As a result of the trickle down, MacLeod was forced to find new schools to keep the conference afloat. New additions included Liberty University, Jacksonville State University, New Mexico State University, and Sam Houston State University, with Kennesaw State University joining this year. D CEO's Layten Praytor recently sat down with Judy MacLeod at Conference USA Media Day held at PGA of America in Frisco to discuss the dramatic changes to the college athletics landscape, what the future might look like for C-USA, and more.

Meet the Dallas 500: Jeff Fehlis, American Cancer Society Jeff Fehlis joined the American Cancer Society in 2017 as the top executive in an 11-state region after a successful career in the airline industry with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines that spanned three decades. One of his biggest successes locally is building the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Hope Lodge, a 40,000-square-foot, $25 million facility near Baylor University Medical Center. #dceo #dallas500

This week in personnel moves: Legacy Capital taps former Citi and ORIX Group exec Jerry Abrahams as new president and CEO; Haynes and Boone, LLP selects Victor Vital as new global chair; Berkeley Research Group hires Michael Hollerich as its newest managing director in its Dallas office; and more at the link below. #DCEO #personnelmoves

Meet the Dallas 500: Cedric Rockamore, American Airlines When coaching others around him about DEI, Cedric Rockamore always begins with the why. He joined American Airlines in 2010 as the director of ramp services at Philadelphia International Airport for U.S. Airways. Following the company’s merger with American Airlines, he was named managing director of hub operations at Washington Reagan. He moved to North Texas in 2017 to become a vice president at American Airlines and, four years later, was named the airline’s chief diversity officer and VP of global people operations. Last year, the company celebrated its eighth straight year of receiving a perfect score on the Disability Equality Index. Cedric Rockamore says his best career advice is to “take risks and be OK with being uncomfortable; you never know what avenues it could lead to if you don’t take the risk and try.” Read more at the link below. #DCEO #Dallas500

Last Chance to Nominate: Excellence in Healthcare Awards 2024 D CEO magazine and D CEO Healthcare are pleased to recognize outstanding healthcare executives, practitioners, organizations, and other innovative industry leaders who continue to serve and achieve—despite ongoing challenges.   All finalists will be featured in the December 2024 issue of D CEO and at a private awards ceremony, where winners will be revealed. Help us recognize the North Texas organizations and executives driving innovation and leading the industry. The deadline to nominate is this Friday, August 16. #DCEO #Healthcare

Meet the Dallas 500: Bryan Pacholski, MOL, Compass After serving in the U.S. Army as a military police officer for 22 years, Bryan Pacholski segued into residential real estate in Cabo and now runs the Dallas-Fort Worth market for Compass. Earlier this year Compass moved into a new 14,000-square-foot space in Hall Park. Founded in 2012, Compass experienced 100 percent growth in ultra-luxury home sales in 2023. For Pacholski, he was encouraged to pursue his dreams from an early age. “My dad told me I could be anything I wanted in my life and to never limit myself to reach higher than I thought possible,” he says. Pacholski talks about the state of the housing industry, what he'd change about the sector, and more at the link below. #DCEO #Dallas500

D CEO is pleased to announce its Energy Awards finalists for 2024. In the spirit of the sector’s camaraderie, innovation, and sustainable future, we continue to recognize companies and executives in renewable energy alongside leaders in oil and gas. As part of this year’s program, energy icon Joseph Foran, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Matador Resources Company, has been selected to receive the Legacy Award. He joins past recipients Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer, Trevor Rees-Jones of Chief Oil & Gas LLC, Scott Sheffield of Pioneer Natural Resources Company, and the late T. Boone Pickens of BP Capital . Foran and all 38 Energy Awards finalists will be featured in the November issue of D CEO and recognized at an exclusive awards event.

There’s nothing flashy about Billy Quinn’s golf game. The energy investor reserves his flash for the octagon—he trains in MMA daily—and his sneaker game. With powder blue Jordan 1s on, his draw off the tee finds fairways, his disciplined approach shots, more often than not, set him up for success with the flat stick, and his green reading, at least at Dallas Country Club—one of his many memberships across the country—is top notch. Quinn is at the helm of Pearl Energy Investments. The founder and driving force behind the PE firm—which has 13 employees—has steered the company to about $2 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Established in 2015, Pearl has seen a net return on investment of 250 percent across its three funds and three co-investments. According to data from Preqin, Pearl’s first fund, initiated in 2015, was the country’s most successful energy fund in the past 20 years based on net ROI.  “We’re not doing quick flips. We’re building businesses over an extended period of time. And a little luck here and there goes a long way. We control the companies because we’re the big dollars behind them, but we don’t act like a controlling shareholder. We make decisions alongside the company’s management teams to produce the best outcomes.” What differentiates Pearl from other funds is that the firm’s principals invest between 5 to 10 percent of each fund as opposed to the 1 to 2 percent many other PE firms put up. “Put your money where your mouth is. We’re not just deploying other people’s money; we want our money in this. Because we’re cutting big personal checks, we just don’t think about funding, allocating dollars to a sector, or trying to get deals done. When somebody puts up 10 percent instead of 1 percent, the psychology behind that money is very different.” Read more from Ben Swanger at the link below.