George Helland

Consultant

Prior to running his own business, George A. Helland, P.E., Mr. Helland worked as vice president of operations for Dresser Industries. His responsibilities encompassed all of Dresser's operations in the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union.

Mr. Helland's experience in the NIS goes back to his first trips to the oil-producing regions in Azerbaijan and Western Siberia in 1969. Through a number of organizations, he has been involved in commercial activities in the fields of oil field equipment and services and agricultural and medical equipment in the NIS for many years.

Mr. Helland joined Dresser after serving in the George H.W.Bush Administration, where he was named deputy assistant secretary for export assistance at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in September 1990. There, he formed a new DOE office to assist U.S. exporters of energy goods, services and technologies. One of the first duties Mr. Helland assumed upon joining the government was the co-ordination of the U.S. companies and new technologies involved in the well-control efforts in Kuwait. Much of his later work in the government was spent working with the republics of Kazakhstan and Russia on their relations with U.S. companies.

Mr. Helland was president and chief executive of SH McEvoy, a division of Smith International, Inc, from 1980-1985, after joining a predecessor organization (McEvoy Oilfield Equipment Company) in 1979. From 1977 to 1979, he was the president and chief executive officer of Weatherford International, Inc.

Mr. Helland's early career was spent at the Cameron Iron Works, Inc., a Houston-based manufacturer of specialty forgings, pipeline ball valves and oil field equipment. After joining Cameron in 1961, Helland served in a variety of sales and manufacturing positions until he was named vice president responsible for all of the company's operations from 1973 to 1977. During this period, Mr. Helland was among the first U.S. manufacturing executives to visit the oil producing areas of the Soviet Union.

Mr. Helland is a registered professional engineer in Texas. He is a member of numerous professional societies. He serves as director of the Briarwood School and the Brookwood Community, a school for learning disabled children and a residential community for functionally disabled adults respectively in Houston. He is also the director of the Reiton Corporation, the American Petroleum Institute, Petroleum Equipment Supplier Association (PESA). He was PESA chairman from 1976 to 1977. He is also a director of the Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas of the U.S., where he is a member of the executive committee, and he is a trustee of Southwest Research Institute. Additionally, he served as director of Lockwood Corporation and Spur Drilling, Inc.

Mr. Helland received his degree in business administration from Harvard University, with distinction, in 1961. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas in 1959. The University of Texas honored him in 1977, naming him an Outstanding Engineering Graduate.

Mr. Helland grew up in San Antonio, Texas, where he attended public schools. He is married to Antonia Scott Day of Houston and has two children.