CEO of the Week: Halliburton’s Jeffrey A. Miller

Jeff Miller is chairman, president and CEO of Halliburton Co., another company that’s been significantly impacted by coronavirus pandemic. Now, the company is working to “power into and win the eventual recovery.”

The Houston-based oil services group on Monday posted an adjusted loss of 5 cents per share for the second quarter, down from a profit of 35 cents a share last year and “modestly better” than consensus forecast, according to The Street. The company’s reported loss was $1.91 per share, or $1.7 billion. Group revenues fell 45.8% from last year to $3.2 billion, missing analysts’ estimates of $3.35 billion.

Still, the earnings report demonstrates resilency, Miller contends.

“Halliburton’s second quarter performance in a tough market shows we can execute quickly and aggressively to deliver solid financial results and free cash flow despite a severe drop in global activity,” Miller said in the company’s press release. “Our results demonstrate a significant and sustainable reset to the power of our business to generate positive earnings and free cash flow.”

With more than 50,000 employees in over 80 countries, Halliburton comprises 14 product service lines, which operate in two divisions: drilling and evaluation, and completion and production. The company’s consulting and project management PSL works across both divisions and its financial results are included in the drilling and evaluation division.

Despite the market headwinds, the margin performance of Halliburton’s divisions and the $456 million of positive free cash flow generated this quarter “show the speed and effectiveness of our aggressive cost actions,” Miller said.

“We have an excellent international business, an efficient North America service delivery improvement strategy, a disciplined capital allocation approach, and a committed and competitive team,” he said. “Our continued deployment of leading digital technologies will drive efficiency and cost reductions for our customers and Halliburton.

Overall, Halliburton is charting “a fundamentally different course.”

“The strategic actions we are taking will further boost our earnings power and ability to generate free cash flow as we power into and win the eventual recovery,” he said.

Miller joined Halliburton in 1997, and for more than 20 years worked in the company’s oil field operations in Venezuela, Angola, Indonesia, and Dubai, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2010, he was promoted to senior vice president of global business development and marketing, and later took on progressively more senior executive roles culminating in the CEO position in 2017, and board chair in 2019.

Headquarters: Houston

Age: 56

Education: Bachelor’s degree, agriculture and business, McNeese State University; MBA, Texas A&M University

First joined company: 1997

Prior to joining Halliburton: CPA, Arthur Andersen

Named CEO: 2017

He’s No. 130 on Chief Executive and RHR International’s CEO1000 Tracker, a ranking of the top 1,000 public/private companies