Our Team
Philip F. Bell
President and CEO
In addition to serving as President and CEO of EPI, Phil is also a Managing Member of Temblor Petroleum, LLC, a partnership that is developing several oil fields — including heavy oil — in California.
After graduating from Duke University, Phil spent the first 16 years of his career at General Electric (GE), starting in their financial training program and progressing through numerous senior CFO positions throughout the world. His most recent position was CFO of GE Power Systems – Asia (now GE Energy), based in Hong Kong, a $1.8 billion revenue business. Prior to this position, he was CFO of GE Gas Turbine, also $1.8 billion in revenue. After leaving GE, Phil helped found ICG Commerce, a procurement services firm. He then joined FNX Solutions, a software company for capital markets trading, where he was CFO and then President. His most recent position was as CFO for Kaz, Inc, a $400 million consumer medical products company.
Dr. J. Kenneth Wittle, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer
Ken has a B.A. in Chemistry from Franklin and Marshall College, a Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University, and attended the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. He spent several years at General Electric, where he directed the development and testing of organic and inorganic materials used in low-, medium-, and high-voltage transformers and relays. At GE, he was on a team that developed the use of direct current in commercial applications, which was the genesis of the Electrically Enhanced Oil Recovery™ (EEOR) process at EPI. He then joined EPI in 1979.
Ken, along with several other partners, founded Electro-Pyrolysis in 1983 and holds the patents for a DC arc furnace for the destruction of hazardous and municipal solid waste through ultra-high temperature pyrolysis.
Ken has written 46 technical papers and holds 26 U.S. and foreign patents.
David J. Fricker
Vice President – Business Development
Dave is based in Calgary and has over 30 years experience in various roles in the oil and gas industry. His most recent position was Vice President – Engineering for Cirrus Energy, where he led the company’s development engineering and corporate engineering activities. Prior to that, Dave was Vice President – Corporate Development at Provident Energy Ltd., where he held a leadership position for the company’s acquisitions and divestures, corporate planning, and reserve evaluations. Earlier in his career, Dave held numerous operating and engineering roles at Saudi Arabia Oil Company, Kuwait Oil Company, Ranger Oil, Bow Valley Industries, and Gulf Canada Resources
Donald G. Hill, Ph.D.
Consulting Petro-Physicist
Dr. Hill has over 30 years experience in implementing innovative petrophysical solutions for the petroleum industry. He is currently an adjunct Professor of Petrophysics at the University of Southern California and is a Consulting Petrophysicist. He has previously held senior positions at Chevron Corporation, the Anaconda Company, Gulf Oil Company, and Shell Oil Company. Dr. Hill has worked with EPI for seven years and has been intimately involved in the laboratory testing of the EEOR technology, and has presented the technology at several conferences.
