Board of Directors

Wayne Prejean has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director of Drilling Tools International since 2013. He was appointed Chairman of the Board in April 2026, after serving as Interim Chair from December 2025 to April 2026.

Mr. Prejean has more than 45 years of oilfield-services experience. He began his career in field operations in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979 and subsequently held field operations, operations management, sales, and executive-management roles with companies specializing in directional drilling and medium-radius horizontal-drilling technology, including Scientific Drilling, Becfield Horizontal, Drilling Measurements Inc., Drilex Services, and Baker Hughes INTEQ. His responsibilities included domestic and international operating locations.

In 1999, Mr. Prejean founded Wildcat Services, a provider of specialty automated drilling equipment for drilling rigs. During his leadership, the company grew from a local supplier serving approximately 50 rigs to more than 500 systems deployed in 20 countries. National Oilwell Varco acquired Wildcat Services in 2004, after which Mr. Prejean served as General Manager and later as a strategic advisor.

Mr. Prejean has also co-founded several oilfield-services companies focused on solids control, downhole-tool development, measurement-while-drilling products, and precision metal cutting and machining. He has extensive experience in merger-and-acquisition transactions and post-acquisition business integrations.

Curt Crofford has served as a director of Drilling Tools International since 2012. He is a Managing Director at Hicks Equity Partners, LLC, a private-equity investment firm founded by Thomas O. Hicks, where he has worked since 2005.

Before joining Hicks Equity Partners, Mr. Crofford held investment-banking positions at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and BT Alex. Brown Inc. During his career, he has been involved in investments including Drilling Tools International, Latrobe Specialty Metals, and Standard Pump Parts.

Mr. Crofford holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University.

Jack Furst has served as a director of Drilling Tools International since 2012. He is the founder of Oak Stream Investors, a private investment firm established in 2008 that invests in real estate, oil and gas, fixed-income securities, and public and private equities.

Before founding Oak Stream Investors, Mr. Furst was a partner at HM Capital Partners LLC, where he served from 1989 through 2008. During his tenure, he participated in all aspects of the firm’s business, including originating, structuring, and monitoring investments. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President and later as a partner at Hicks & Haas; worked in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance at The First Boston Corporation; and began his career as a Financial Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mr. Furst holds a Bachelor of Science, with honors, from the College of Business Administration at Arizona State University and a Master of Business Administration, with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Business.

Ira H. Green, Jr. has served as a director of Drilling Tools International since January 2026. He has served as Managing Partner of IHG Advisors, LLC, a financial-advisory and consulting firm serving energy companies, since October 2025.

From January 2016 through September 2025, Mr. Green served as Managing Director and Head of Energy, Power and Infrastructure Capital Markets at Piper Sandler & Co. In that role, he advised private and public energy companies on debt and equity capital raising and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Green has more than 35 years of investment-banking experience, including more than 15 years leading energy capital-markets activities, and has also served as Chief Financial Officer of two private companies.

Mr. Green serves on the Board of Trustees of the Darden School Foundation at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Mr. Green holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Daniel Kimes was appointed to the Drilling Tools International Board in April 2026. He is a Partner at Arch Energy Partners, a registered private-fund adviser and direct investor focused on upstream oil-and-gas opportunities. At Arch Energy Partners, Mr. Kimes is responsible for deal origination, underwriting, hedging, risk mitigation, and fundraising, and he serves on the firm’s Investment Committee.

From 2021 to 2023, Mr. Kimes served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of ROC Energy Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company. In that role, he led the sourcing, negotiation, and execution of ROC Energy Acquisition Corporation’s business combination with Drilling Tools International in June 2023.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Kimes held executive roles with energy-focused portfolio companies, including as Co-Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer, and director of Shot Hollow Resources, LLC, and as Chief Financial Officer and director of Brigadier Oil & Gas, LLC. He also worked as a private-equity associate at Natural Gas Partners and began his career in the energy-investment-banking group at RBC Capital Markets.

Mr. Kimes graduated magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and honors in Liberal Arts and Business. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Eric C. Neuman has served as a director of Drilling Tools International since 2012. He is a Managing Director and Partner of Hicks Equity Partners, LLC, where he has served since 2005. Before joining Hicks Equity Partners, Mr. Neuman was a partner at HM Capital Partners from December 2000 and had served as an officer of the firm since 1993.

At HM Capital Partners, Mr. Neuman was involved in the formation and development of numerous media investments, including Chancellor Media and Capstar Broadcasting, LIN TV, Sunrise Television, and Marcus Cable. Beginning in 2002, he also assumed responsibility for HM Capital Partners’ Latin American business.

Mr. Neuman currently serves on the boards of DirecPath Newco, LLC, Crossings, LLC, and Drilling Tools International. His prior directorships include Intercable, an international provider of television, internet, and telephone services; GigaMonster; Just Brakes, LLC; and Glori Energy, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: GLRI). Mr. Neuman holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University.

Jeremy Thigpen was appointed to the Drilling Tools International Board in April 2026. He has served as Executive Chairman of Transocean Ltd., an international provider of offshore contract-drilling services, since May 2025. In that role, he works with the executive leadership team on strategy, leads Board meetings, serves as the primary interface between the Board and management, and participates in the evaluation of potential acquisitions and financing transactions.

From April 2015 through May 2025, Mr. Thigpen served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Transocean. During his tenure, he led strategic initiatives involving the company’s fleet, technology platform, leadership team, culture, and cost structure, with a focus on ultra-deepwater and harsh-environment drilling.

Before joining Transocean, Mr. Thigpen spent nearly two decades at National Oilwell Varco, Inc., now NOV Inc. His roles included Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; President of Downhole; and President of Downhole and Pumping Solutions. He also held positions in corporate business development, supply-chain management, and operations, with responsibilities spanning acquisitions, product development, international growth, capital allocation, spin-offs, share repurchases, and dividend initiatives.

Mr. Thigpen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Managerial Studies from Rice University and completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.