ABOUT US

Co-Founder

Mr. Cegelski is Apex MWD’s co-founder. He is driven to build a company where employees take pride in building long and fruitful careers and customer experience a resounding success. With his deep industry knowledge and extensive experience in sales and marketing, he is excited to help drive Apex MWDs growth and success. He is known for his strong work ethic, leadership abilities, and strategic thinking and has a proven track record of success in the oil and gas industry.

Mr Cegelski brings 12 years of experience in the oil and gas industry to Apex MWD. He began his career with Baker Hughes, where he was selected as one of 13 out of 3,000 applicants. During his time at Baker Hughes, Mr. Cegelski held many key positions with increasing responsibility including, Rockies Operations Manager, Strategic Sales, and North American Sales Manager for Baker Hughes Offshore. In these positions, he oversaw operations in various regions, including North America, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. He helped to drive growth and profitability for the company through strategic sales, channel partnership, and marketing initiatives

In 2011, Mr. Cegelski was tasked with deploying a new drilling technology in the Marcellus/Utica shale. With his deep knowledge of drilling technology and industry experience, he helped to drive a significant increase in revenue from $12 million to approximately $80 million in just 18 months.

In 2019, Mr. Cegelski left Baker Hughes to join DoubleBarrel RSS, a private equity-backed downhole technology provider. There, he helped to commercialize a rotary steerable technology and drive growth in new markets for the company.

Mr. Cegelski holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from St. Norbert College.

Co-Founder

Mr. Cox is Apex MWD’s Co-Founder. He is passionate about developing lasting relationships and creating long-term customer satisfaction and success. He brings extensive experience in the oil and gas industry, combined with his deep knowledge of MWD/Directional Drilling to his co-founder role. Chris is known for his strong work ethic, attention to detail, and ability to build and maintain strong relationships with clients and colleagues.

Mr. Cox comes to Apex MWD as a highly experienced professional in the oil and gas industry, with more than 13 years of experience in MWD/Directional Drilling.

Mr. Cox has worked both onshore and offshore, in multiple states and internationally, gaining valuable experience in various environments.

Mr. Cox started his career as an MWD field hand with LEAM Drilling, where he gained hands-on experience working with MWD equipment. He later transitioned to Impact Guidance Systems (IGS), where he developed his skills in the design and development of MWD tools. In his role at IGS, he helped build and design new MWD tools and gained in-depth knowledge of the internals of MWD equipment.

Following IGS, Mr. Cox worked with Nabors Drilling and Crescent Directional as a field supervisor. In this role, he ran multiple tool configurations, including rotary steerable, EM tools, and legacy style and resistivity tools. He gained valuable experience working in various environments, from land drilling to offshore operations.

Mr. Cox began his sales career at Hunter Directional, where he built valuable relationships within his network. In this role, he worked closely with clients to provide customized solutions that met their unique needs, helping to grow the company's business.

Mr. Cox holds an Associate of Business degree from McLennan Community College, where he received a full golf scholarship from 2007-2009. He and his team competed for the NJCAA national title in 2009, demonstrating his dedication to teamwork and achieving success both on and off the golf course.

CFO

Chad Gardner is Apex MWD’s CFO and is responsible for financial acumen, contract negotiation, legal compliance, and budgeting and forecasting. Mr. Gardner is a highly accomplished business executive with over 20 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes.

He is widely recognized for his expertise in mergers and acquisitions due diligence, deal negotiation, capital structure optimization, financial metrics and performance optimization, budgeting/forecasting, and long-term strategy development and implementation.

Since 2013, Mr. Gardner has served as the CEO of Gardner Capital Group LLC, a proprietary trading organization that has achieved great success under his leadership. In this role, he has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company's operations, including risk management, capital allocation, and business development.

In addition to his role at Gardner Capital Group, Mr. Gardner also serves as the fractional CFO of United Energy Services, a leading provider of energy solutions. In this capacity, he has been responsible for developing and implementing financial strategies to help the company achieve its goals and objectives.

Prior to his current roles, Mr. Gardner held various positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Aon Corporation, and several Wall Street firms, including Lehman Brothers, Jefferies & Co, and Credit Suisse. He has worked in the Audit and Management Consulting Practices, gaining valuable experience in financial analysis, risk management, and strategic planning.

Mr. Gardner earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Lehigh University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is known for his strong analytical skills, strategic thinking, and leadership abilities, and has a proven track record of driving growth and profitability for the organizations he serves.

VP of Operations

Mr. Turner is the VP of Operations for Apex MWD. He brings a track record and enthusiasm for building successful operations to the company. He loves building, growing, and adapting businesses in ever-changing conditions and counts his adaptability as a critical differentiator to his approach to customer success.

Throughout his career, Mr. Turner has consistently been recognized for his operational experience and knowledge in the MWD sector. He is known for his strong work ethic, leadership abilities, and strategic thinking, and he has a proven track record of success in the oil and gas industry. His expertise and dedication have helped to drive growth and success for each company he has worked with, and he is widely respected in the industry for his accomplishments.

He brings 19 years of experience to Apex MWD. Mr. Turner started his career with Rown Drilling in 2003 as a Derrick Hand, learning the ins and outs of the drilling process from the ground up.

In 2007, Mr. Turner joined H&P as a Derrick Hand, honing his skills and developing his expertise in the industry. He then went on to join LEAM Drilling in 2009 as an Operations Coordinator, where he quickly proved himself to be a valuable member of the team. Mr. Turner was later tasked with running new Special Projects for LEAM, including Analytics, Asset Acquisition, and Remote Operations. His hard work and dedication to the company resulted in significant growth and success for LEAM.

Following his time at LEAM, Mr. Turner was hired by Crescent Directional as the North American Operations Manager, managing 80-90 rigs. He was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company's operations and ensuring that each rig was running at peak efficiency. Mr. Turner's expertise in the field and his dedication to his work helped to drive the company's growth and success.

In 2017, Mr. Turner joined Hunter Directional to start an MWD division. He was instrumental in the division’s success, leveraging his extensive knowledge of the industry to drive growth and profitability for the company. In 2021, Hunter Directional exited the market, and Mr. Turner joined Pro Directional as the North American Operations Manager.