J. Anthony Gallegos, Jr.
About J. Anthony Gallegos, Jr.
J. Anthony Gallegos, Jr., age 55, was appointed as an independent director of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. on April 1, 2025. He has 30+ years of operating experience across offshore, international, and U.S. land drilling, currently serving as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. (ICD); he led ICD through a prepackaged Chapter 11, emerging in January 2025. He holds a B.B.A. from Texas A&M University and an M.B.A. from Rice University, and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the International Association of Drilling Contractors .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Committees/Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. | President, CEO, Director | Oct 2018–present; emerged from Ch.11 in Jan 2025 | Led restructuring and operations; board oversight |
| Sidewinder Drilling Company | Co-founder; SVP, CFO & Corporate Secretary; later President & CFO; then President & CEO | 2011–Sep 2017 | Built and led U.S. land drilling operator prior to merger with ICD |
| Scorpion Offshore Ltd. | Vice President, Business Development | Apr 2006–Sep 2010 | Helped scale international offshore contractor ahead of sale to Seadrill |
| Transocean, Atwood Oceanics, Ensco | Operational, marketing, corporate planning, management roles | Pre-2006 | Multi-disciplinary operating experience at NYSE-listed drillers |
| Gulf of Mexico offshore rigs | Roughneck (early career) | Early career | Ground-level operations exposure |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: ICD, previously) | President, CEO, Director | Oct 2018–present | Publicly traded until prepackaged bankruptcy; emerged Jan 2025 |
Board Governance
- Independence: The board affirmatively determined Gallegos is independent under NYSE standards .
- Committee assignments: Audit Committee member; Safety & Sustainability Committee member; not a chair (Audit Chair: Georganne Hodges; S&S Chair: Nigel Jenvey) .
- Board structure and process: Board held seven meetings in 2024; each director then serving attended at least 75% of board and relevant committee meetings. Independent directors hold executive sessions, presided by Lead Independent Director (Donald J. Tringali) .
- Staggered board: Gallegos was appointed to the class expiring at the 2026 annual meeting but, per bylaws, must stand for election at the next annual meeting (2025) .
| Committee | Member | Chair |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | Yes | No (Chair: Hodges) |
| Compensation | No | Chair: Holley |
| Nominating & Corporate Governance | No | Chair: Holley (serves; chair not indicated for Nominating in 2025 table) |
| Safety & Sustainability | Yes | No (Chair: Jenvey) |
Fixed Compensation
- Non-employee director cash retainer: $55,000 annual rate 1H 2024; increased to $70,000 annual rate 2H 2024; Committee Chair fee: $15,000 annually; Lead Independent Director fee: $17,500 annually; non-employee Chairman retainer: $35,000 annually .
- Equity: Annual director RSU grant valued at approximately $110,000 in June 2024, time-vested (not performance-based) .
| Component | Amount | Timing/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Director cash retainer | $55,000 (1H 2024); $70,000 (2H 2024) | Annual; paid in cash |
| Committee Chair fee | $15,000 | Annual; per chair position |
| Lead Independent fee | $17,500 | Annual |
| Non-employee Chairman retainer | $35,000 | Annual |
| Annual RSU grant (directors) | ~$110,000 fair value | Granted June 2024; time-vested |
Note: Gallegos was appointed in April 2025; 2024 director compensation table does not include him .
Performance Compensation
- No performance-based compensation is disclosed for directors; director equity is time-vested RSUs (no PSUs/options tied to director performance) .
Other Directorships & Interlocks
| Company | Relationship to NGS | Interlock/Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. | Included in NGS’s 2024 PSU peer group for executive LTIP (“Independence Contract Drilling, Inc., ICDI”) | Gallegos is CEO/Director of ICD; although he is not on NGS’s Compensation Committee, his leadership at a peer used in NGS performance awards warrants monitoring for perceived interlocks |
Expertise & Qualifications
- Deep operational expertise across drilling segments; executive leadership through restructurings and mergers .
- Business and finance training (MBA, B.B.A.) and relevant industry associations (SPE, IADC) .
- Industry perspective complements NGS’s compression rental business; adds field operations and customer insights to board deliberations .
Equity Ownership
| Holder | Shares Beneficially Owned | % of Class | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| J. Anthony Gallegos, Jr. | — | — | No NGS shares reported as of April 25, 2025 |
| Directors/officers pledging | None pledged | — | As of April 25, 2025, no shares owned by officers/directors were pledged as collateral |
Stock Ownership Guidelines: Directors must hold an aggregate market value at least 4x their annual cash retainer; measured using prior calendar-year average price; compliance window not disclosed for new directors .
Governance Assessment
- Board effectiveness: Gallegos strengthens industry-operator perspective on audit and safety/sustainability oversight; independence confirmed; not serving on Compensation Committee (reduces conflict risk with ICD peer usage in LTIP) .
- Independence, attendance, and engagement: Independent status affirmed; board-level process includes executive sessions and strong committee independence; 2024 attendance benchmarks met by then-serving directors; Gallegos appointment post-dates 2024 .
- Alignment and incentives: Initial lack of NGS share ownership (as of April 25, 2025) suggests limited near-term “skin-in-the-game”; ownership guidelines require building a position to 4x cash retainer over time .
- Potential conflicts: ICD included in NGS’s PSU peer group; given Gallegos’s senior role at ICD, perceived information-flow or benchmarking interlock is a monitoring point, mitigated by his non-membership on NGS’s Compensation Committee and the board’s independence structures .
- Shareholder confidence signals: Company increased director equity transparency and tightened executive pay-for-performance after outreach; 2024 Say-on-Pay passed with “more than 50% support,” prompting further compensation design rigor—not directly tied to director pay, but improves overall governance climate .
- Policies: Robust clawback policy for incentive compensation; insider trading policy prohibits hedging/pledging; director ownership guidelines promote alignment .