Tech Titans Emerging CEO Award Finalist: James MacLean, Geoforce

One question keeps oil and gas executives up at night: Where is my stuff?

“This problem of not knowing where you’re stuff is, that’s existed in the oil field forever,” said Henry Rosen, vice president of marketing for Geoforce Inc.

Companies that have equipment all over the world needed a way to track equipment, and Coppell-based Geoforce has the answer: install a rugged, global positioning system that can be affixed to everything from frack tanks to blowout preventers.

The company’s CEO and president, James MacLean, saw the opportunity because he spent years working for Schlumberger on offshore oil rigs.

“To be successful, we had to gather up equipment from multiple sources and get it to the right rig at the right time,” MacLean said. “It was always a challenge. The cost of downtime when I was in the field was as much $7 a second for our equipment not being available and performing well. So, the need was very, very clear.”

The company tracks oil and gas equipment assets across six continents.

“Having control over that equipment through technology just made a lot of sense,” MacLean said. “It really was an operational need to get the job done.”

The company also has a subsidiary in Brazil.

Under MacLean’s leadership, the company has doubled, with 45 employees on-board in five years.

He has a stand-up meeting every Monday where departments report on their accomplishments from the previous week and their goals for the next week.

He organizes taco feasts, crawfish boils, college tournaments, graduation parties for interns and office poker nights, just to name a few of the employee perks.

See article in the Dallas Business Journal.

About Geoforce

Combining a cloud-based software platform with ruggedized GPS tracking devices, Geoforce’s Track and Trace solutions bring control to even the most remote field operations. Our asset tracking devices are built for the world’s toughest field operators in these industries: oil and gas, rail, construction, mining, transportation, government/defense, and agriculture. Today more than 1,300 customers track 150,000+ assets in almost 100 countries. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Geoforce operates a research and development office in Bozeman, Montana. Sales and support offices are maintained throughout the U.S. and in Brazil, Australia, and Canada.