Fracking Company FTS Legal Boss Leaves for Allied BioScience

FTS International Inc., a fracking-service provider, lost general counsel Jennifer Keefe to Allied BioScience less than a year after declaring bankruptcy during a pandemic that buffeted the oil and gas industry.

Keefe started in May as chief legal officer, general counsel, and corporate secretary for Dallas-based Allied BioScience. The company produces an antiviral surface coating product SurfaceWise2, which kills microbes like those that cause Covid-19.

Keefe spent six years with FTS International, which emerged from bankruptcy proceedings last fall as the pandemic stunted the oil and gas industry. The company reported eliminating $488 million in debt as part of the restructuring, and its net losses for 2020 fell to $37.8 million compared to $72.9 million in 2019.

“The pandemic hit, budgets were slashed, and the industry was in survival mode,” said Bloomberg Intelligence energy analyst Vincent Piazza. “For a while there, prices were actually negative. So cash flow was really hammered for the better part of 2020.”

In the company’s March 5 earnings call, FTS International CEO Michael Doss said the company faced “low points in terms of industry activity” in the second and third quarters of 2020.

In her new job, Keefe has “supported” Allied BioScience in a settlement with the company’s founder and former CEO, Craig Grossman, according to a statement. The settlement resulted in “mutual recognition that Allied BioScience owns all of the intellectual property related to its full range of products,” the company statement said.

Allied BioScience allegedthat Grossman inappropriately conducted business on behalf of the company and claimed continued ownership of certain inventions relating to Allied BioScience’s products.

Last August, the Environmental Protection Agency granted SurfaceWise2 emergency use authorization to “continuously protect against COVID-19 with a single application,” according to a statement at the time.

Allied BioScience also named former T-Mobile USA executive David Maxwell as chief financial officer.

“Both Jennifer and David bring exceptional leadership and expertise that will be critical to our company’s growth as we continue to fight the burden of infectious disease,” Allied BioScience CEO Michael Ruley said in a Tuesday statement.

Keefe started her career with Squire Patton Boggs, where she worked for over 17 years.

She and Allied BioScience did not respond to multiple requests for comment.