Houston healthcare provider appoints new CFO

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US Physical Therapy has appointed Nchacha Etta as its new CFO. Jason Curtis, the Senior VP of Finance and Accounting, who has been the interim CFO, reverts back to his old position.

The company owns and/or manages 796 outpatient physical therapy locations in 45 states. It has its head office in west Houston, revenues of $670 million and a market capitalization of $1.2 billion.

Mr. Etta replaces Carey Hendrickson, who announced back in February that he was resigning to take a position at another publicly-traded company. In April, Mr. Hendrickson was appointed CFO at the PACS Group, a Salt Lake City provider of post-acute care and senior living facilities. PACS has a market capitalization of $7 billion. His predecessor at PACS, Derick Apt, resigned in September 2025 after he was found guilty of accepting expensive items from people linked to the company’s business partners. PACS Group is also under investigation from the DOJ regarding potential fraudulent billing under Medicare.

Between June 2023 and Nov 2025, Mr. Etta was the CFO of Omnicell, a global healthcare and technology company that is based in Fort Worth and is publicly-traded (market cap $1.7 billion). In his career he has worked for Eli Lilly, Microsoft, Coca-Cola (including a two-year stint in Houston) and Johnson & Johnson. He is also a non-executive director at Houston-based KBR.

Mr. Etta will receive a base salary of $625,000. He will also receive a restricted stock grant worth $550,000 that will vest over four years. A performance-based grant worth $200,000 will also be granted. This will vest in the first quarter of 2027 (assuming the company meets performance targets).

SEC filing – 8-K US Physical Therapy CFO appointment

 

ConocoPhillips announces leadership transition

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ConocoPhillips (‘COP’) has announced a leadership transition. Ryan Lance, who has been CEO for 14 years, transitions to Executive Chairman. Andy O’Brien, currently the Executive VP, Strategy, Commercial and Chief Financial Officer, becomes CEO. Konnie Haynes-Welsh, currently VP, Finance and Controller is promoted to CFO.



COP has its head office in west Houston and is the third largest Houston-area by market capitalization ($148 billion), behind ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Ryan Lance started in Alaska

Mr. Lance, 64, began his career with Arco Alaska, which was later acquired by BP. In 2001, he joined Phillips Petroleum as General Manager of the Lower 48 and Canadian operations. After the merger with Conoco, he was appointed VP of Lower 48 for the combined company. In his new role, his salary will reduce from $1.8 million to $1.1 million.

Mr. O’Brien, 50, started his career with Conoco in the United Kingdom in 1997 as a Financial Analyst. He spent time in finance roles in Calgary, Anchorage, Indonesia and Houston before becoming Senior VP, Global Operations in 2022. He became CFO in 2025 after his predecessor retired. Mr. O’Brien’s base salary will increase from $934k to $1.7 million.

Konnie Haynes-Welsh joined COP in 2012 as a Manager, SEC Compliance and has held various roles in the finance department. She is a graduate of the University of Texas and started her career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2000. She worked for Mariner Energy (later acquired by Apache) before joining COP. Ms. Haynes-Welsh will have a base salary of $743k.

Another Brit promoted

Greig Patterson, currently VP, Corporate Planning & Development, will become VP, Finance and Controller. He is another Brit, who started his career with BP as a Financial Analyst in Aberdeen. He joined COP in 2007 and has worked in Norway, Canada and Malaysia.

Big retention stock awards for key Executives

In addition to these changes, the company also gave Kirk Johnson, Executive VP, Global Operations and Technical Functions, a restricted stock unit award worth $5 million, that will vest on the fifth anniversary of the grant. Likewise, Nicholas golds, Executive VP, Lower 48 and Global HSE, is awarded a $3 million grant, that will vest after three years.

SEC filing 8-K – ConocoPhillips leadership transition

 

 

 

 

 

Testing and Engineering services company moves back to Houston

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A year after TIC Solutions moved its corporate office from Tomball to Hollywood, Florida, it has now moved it back to the Galleria area.

The company provides asset integrity, engineering and geospatial services. It has revenues of $1.8 billion and an enterprise value of $3.1 billion.

TIC was formed from the merger of two publicly-traded companies in August 2025, Acuren (based in Tomball) and NV5 (based in Florida). Acuren shareholders ended up with 60% of the combined company, NV5 40%. The combined entity was renamed TIC Solutions and the head office moved to Florida.

Acuren was originally formed in 1974 as Longview Inspection. In July 2024, it was taken public by a SPAC, Admiral Acquisition Corp for $1.9 billion. NV5 traced its origins back to 1949 in California and went public in 2013. Both companies were highly acquisitive.

At the time of the merger, the CEO of Acuren, Tal Pizzey, became the CEO of the combined company, though he was actually based in Edmonton, Canada. The CEO of NV5, Ben Heraud, became the COO of the combined company. He is based in California. Mr. Pizzey voluntarily resigned in March 2026 and Mr. Heraud took over as CEO.

Kristin Schultes, the CFO of Acuren, became the CFO of the combined group. She is based in the Houston-area.

There have been a number of companies that have moved their head office to Houston area in 2026. Expand Energy and Devon Energy are the two largest, but there have been a few other smaller companies (Ainos, Barnwell Industries and Olenox Industries).

SEC filing – 8-K – Quarterly results

 

 

 

 

Smelltech company moves headquarters to Houston

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Ainos, a Nasdaq-traded company with a market capitalization of $10 million, has relocated its corporate office from San Diego to the Galleria area of Houston.

The company is a dual platform AI and biotech company pioneering smelltech and immune therapeutics. The company was originally formed as Amarillo Biosciences in 1984. In 2021, it changed its name to Ainos, following a takeover by Taiwan Carbon Nano Technology Corporation. Most of its employees are based in Taiwan.

The core technology is an AI-based electronic sensory system for smells that integrates gas sensor arrays with proprietary artificial intelligence models to digitize scents into machine-readable data format. The company believes that there are many industrial applications where real-time sensing and anomaly detection is important.

In the first quarter, Ainos received an initial order for 1,400 AI Nose systems worth $2.1 million from a semiconductor manufacturer.  The initial order is to be delivered over three years. If successful, 20,000 AI Noses in total, could be eventually be deployed with that customer.

Separately, the company is continuing to develop a low-dose oral interferon platform targeting selected rare, autoimmune and infectious disease indications.

In 2025, the company had revenues of $124,000 and a net loss of $15 million.

Chairman and CEO Chun-Hsien (‘Eddy’) Tsai is based in Taiwan. So is CFO Hsin-Liang (‘Christopher’) Lee, who is licensed as a CPA in the United States.

You can see the complete list of Houston-area public companies here.

Ainos shareholder letter on Phased AI Nose deployment

Archrock appoints Mohit Singh as its new CFO

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Archrock has appointed Mohit Singh, as its new CFO, effective July 6, 2026. He replaces Doug Aron, who announced back in March that he would be retiring.

Archrock has its head office in west Houston and is a natural gas compression company with revenues of $1.5 billion and a market capitalization of $7.4 billion.

Mr. Singh was previously the CFO of Chesapeake Energy from 2021 through its merger with Southwestern Energy in 2024 to form Expand Energy. He left in August 2025. Expand recently appointed a new CFO after a 7 month search. Mr. Singh began his career with Shell, moved into investment banking with Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital Markets, before joining BP’s US onshore subsidiary.

Mr. Singh will a base salary of $650,000 and a one-time sign-on award of restricted stock with a value of $1.5 million that will vest over the next two-and-a-half years. He will also receive a relocation package to move to Texas from Oklahoma City.

Mr. Aron, aged 52, has been the CFO since August 2018. He worked for HollyFrontier for 15 years, including 6 years as CFO. He also spent 5 months as CFO at Nine Energy before joining Archrock. Funnily enough, I wrote about his successor at Nine Energy just yesterday.

Mr. Aron will leave on June 30 and will receive a pro-rated bonus for 2026 ($576,000). His restricted stock awards that were due to vest in January 2027 will vest on his retirement. All other outstanding stock awards will be forfeited. No severance will be paid.

Since announcing his retirement, Mr. Aron has sold stock worth $10.6 million. He still owns stock worth $14.5 million.

SEC filing – 8-K Archrock Singh CFO appointment

Sugar Land Industrial Services company appoints new CFO

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Team Inc has appointed Clint Roeder as its new CFO. He replaces Nelson Haight, who had been in the position since June 2022.

Team, based in Sugar Land, provides specialty industrial services and has revenues of over $900 million but a market capitalization of only $77 million. The company appointed Gary Hill as its new CEO back in January.

Mr. Roeder was the CFO at PrimeFlight Aviation Services for six years until April 2026. PrimeFlight, also based in Sugar Land, has 18,000 employees in over 235 airports around the world. Prior to that, he was the CFO at Nine Energy Services, joining them a month before the company went public in January 2018. As an aside, Nine Energy appointed a new CFO last month.

Mr. Roeder will receive a base salary of $500,000.

Mr. Haight, previously the CFO at Key Energy Services, will receive a severance of $603,750, representing 15 months of salary, to be paid over 15 months. He will also receive a pro-rated bonus for 2026 worth approximately $166,000, to be paid before January 31, 2027. His restricted stock units will also vest, worth around $315,000.

Finally, Mr. Haight’s performance share units will continue to vest in accordance with their terms. If targets are met, the payout would be 92% of the value had Mr. Haight remained employed. According to the proxy filed in April, the market value of those performance share units was $1.8 million at December 31, 2025 (assuming performance targets are met).

SEC filing – 8-K – Team CFO Roeder appointment

 

Olin and Huntsman to combine in all-stock merger

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Olin has agreed to acquire Huntsman, based in The Woodlands, in an all-stock transaction that values Huntsman at $2.43 billion.

Olin shareholders will own 54.5% of the combined entity, Huntsman investors 45.5%. The combined company will be called OlinHuntsman and will have its headquarters in The Woodlands. Olin is currently based in St Louis, Mo.

Both companies are in chemicals. Olin is more upstream and is a market leader in the production of chlorine and caustic soda. Huntsman’s strengths are downstream products in the chlorine chain and more formulation and application expertise. Olin will gain expanded outlets for its chlorine, Huntsman will gain access to cheaper chlorine inputs.

The two companies agreed to an at-the-market exchange ratio using volume-weighted average prices over the 30 days to June 12. That smooths out the recent drop in Olin’s stock price and penalizes Huntsman whose stock has risen over the past month. As a result, Olin’s offer values Huntsman at $13.85 a share, nearly 13% below Monday’s close of $15.89.

Synergies

The company will have combined revenues of $12.5 billion and proforma EBITDA of $1.3 billion after assuming $400 million in synergies. Synergies will come from

  • $150 million – elimination of duplicate corporate costs.
  • $75 million – raw material savings from scale and sourcing.
  • $75 million – asset optimization.
  • $100 million – additional raw material savings from 2031 onwards as existing Huntsman supply contracts expire and transfer to Olin.

Ken Lane, CEO of Olin, will become the CEO of the combined group, while Phil Lister, CFO of Huntsman, will be the combined CFO. Peter Huntsman, current CEO of Huntsman, will become the non-exec Chair, while Todd Slater, CFO of Olin, will serve as the Chief Integration Officer.

There have been a couple of other deals completed recently where the Houston company was acquired but the headquarters ended up remaining in Houston notably, the Devon and Coterra merger and Chesapeake’s acquisition of Southwestern Energy.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Investor Presentation – OlinHuntsman

 

Houston SPAC to take Professional Basketball League public

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Graf Global, a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) based in The Woodlands, has agreed to take Big3 Holdco public for $332 million.

Big3, based in Los Angeles, is a professional 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by rapper/producer Ice Cube (real name O’Shea Jackson) and Jeff Kwatinetz, a leading talent manager. There are currently 8 teams in the league, based on major cities. Season 9 of the league begins later this week with the final scheduled for late August.  Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler is the league’s commissioner.

Big3 originally owned all 8 teams. They have sold 4 to independent owners. For example, the Houston Rig Hands are owned by Eric Mullins (CEO of Lime Rock Resources) and Milton Carroll (former Chairman of Centerpoint Energy). Franchises are reportedly valued at $10 million per team. In addition to the 4 active teams that they currently own, Big3 also own 4 inactive teams. For sales of teams 13+, sale proceeds will be split evenly between Big3 and the independent owners.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Once the deal closes, the business will be renamed Big3 Basketball Holdings under the ticker symbol ‘TONT’. It will be the first publicly-traded professional sports league in the US.

Graf Global went public in June 2024 in a $230 million IPO. It has until the end of this month to complete an acquisition or return the monies raised in the IPO to investors.  However, there is a shareholders’ meeting scheduled for June 26 where it is proposed to extend the deadline to complete a deal to December 27, 2026.

Investor Presentation – Graf Big3

 

 

 

Power systems provider ERock raises $600 million in its IPO

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ERock, which produces natural gas distributed power systems for commercial customers, has completed its initial public offering (IPO). The company raised $600 million by offering 27.9 million shares at $21.50. That was in the midpoint of the expected range of $20 to $23. At that price, the company had an initial market capitalization of $4.7 billion.



History

ERock was originally founded in 2006 in Houston and was known as Enchanted Rock. It provided emergency diesel systems to provide rapid-response backup power. During 2019, the company pivoted to a modular natural gas microgrid system that customers would rent, rather than buy. In 2016, the company signed a contract with HEB covering 45 stores in the Houston-area. Energy Impact Partners then invested in ERock in 2017.

The company deploys its systems in three configurations: bridge power, which provides prime power ahead of grid interconnection; backup power during grid disruptions and dispatchable power, which delivers on-demand flexible capacity for peak load management.

Financials 

More recently, the company has signed deals with datacenter customers such as Microsoft. At the end of March 2026, the company had a backlog of $1.3 billion, up from $145 million at March 2025.

For 2025, the company had revenues of $183 million but an adjusted EBITDA loss of $23 million. Prior to the IPO, the company had $300 million in cash, primarily as a result of customer deposits paid in Q1 2026 against the backlog.

Net proceeds after underwriting discounts and commissions will be $553 million. $291 million will be added to cash and $77 million will be used to repay old debt. The balance of $184 million will be paid to pre-IPO shareholders and certain current and former directors and officers.

Management

The CEO of ERock is John Carrington. He joined in November 2025 and was previously the CEO at Stem Inc, a Houston public company that offers energy software and storage systems. Mr. Carrington took over from founder Thomas McAndrew, who stepped down earlier in 2025.

Ian Blakely is the CFO of ERock. He has been with the company since 2014. He held the CFO role from 2014 to 2020, before becoming Chief Strategy Officer and then Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Blakely assumed the CFO role again in June 2025.

The company will list on the NYSE under the ticker ‘EROC’. Not to be confused with another Houston company that went public recently, EagleRock Land, which took the ticker ‘EROK’

SEC filing – S-1/A – ERock

Houston technology company appoints new CFO

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KULR Technology Group has appointed Dr. Mike Kimel as its new CFO. He replaces Shawn Canter, who left the company last month.



KULR is based in Webster, TX and has a market capitalization of $172 million. It designs and builds advanced battery systems for autonomous systems, digital infrastructure, e-mobility and space. For 2025, the company had revenues of $16 million. The company also invests heavily in bitcoin and at the end of March, held 1,083 bitcoins with a market value of $74 million.

In 2025, the company had an operating loss of $43 million. In addition, it took a $14 million write-down on the value of its bitcoin. The company also lost $6.9 million on an investment in a German robotics company that was trying to develop an exoskeleton.

The company was founded in 2013 in San Diego and went public in 2018. It opened a Research & Development facility in Webster, near NASA in March 2023 and moved its corporate headquarters there in August 2024.

Co-founder and CEO Michael Mo owns about 70% of the shares. In April he removed four directors from the Board (one of whom was Mr. Canter) and appointed two new ones. One of the two new directors was Dr. Kimel. With his appointment to the CFO position, Dr. Kimel has now resigned from the Board.

Dr. Kimel has served as the Founder and CEO of a pricing and analytics firm since 2019. Prior to that, he has held various pricing, analytics and strategy roles at companies such as Sears, FirstEnergy Corporation and Toyo Tire Holdings. He will receive a base salary of $350,000.

SEC filing – 8-K KULR CFO appointment