Diversified woos Eric Williams from Callon Petroleum

US-based gas and oil producer Diversified Gas & Oil appointed Eric M Williams as chief financial officer with immediate effect on Friday, managing to woo him from his position as manager of finance at NYSE-listed Callon Petroleum.

The AIM-traded firm said Williams would support the finance team, currently headed by finance director Brad Gray, with responsibilities including accounting operations, financial reporting and investor relations.

“I'm delighted to have Eric as part of the team at DGO,” said Diversified CEO Rusty Hutson, Jr.

“We have undergone a significant period of growth and continue to look to build on our experienced team to help support our objectives.

“Eric's impressive wealth of financial accounting and investor relations experience will be crucial as we continue to grow our business, execute our stated strategy and deliver value to our shareholders.”

During his more than seven years with Callon, the company reportedly grew “significantly” from a market capitalisation of $40m to more than $3.5bn, successfully transforming itself from a deep-water, non-operational company to an onshore, pure-play operator.

He was said to have been “instrumental” in enhancing and developing the financial reporting streams, and establishing a formal investor relations function as Callon's communications requirements increased.

Williams began his career in the Birmingham, Alabama office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Prior to his time at Callon, his career included various audit, accounting and financial reporting roles with several US publicly traded companies.

“We welcome the big company experience that Eric is bringing to DGO and our existing management team,” said Diversified’s Brad Gray.

“Eric has all the skills that we need at this exciting time in our company's development.”