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For Immediate Release
November 17, 2009

WASHINGTON - At its 80^th Annual Meeting recently in New Orleans, La., the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) announced its new executive leadership team. Bruce Vincent has assumed the role of IPAA chairman, and Virginia "Gigi" Lazenby is the association's new vice chair. Vincent is the president and director of the Houston-based Swift Energy Company, and Lazenby is president of Bretagne, LLC, a Nashville oil and gas producer.

IPAA is the leading national upstream association representing more than 5,000 American oil and natural gas companies, most of them small, independent businesses, which drill 90 percent of the oil and natural gas wells in the United States. On average, these companies produce 82 percent of American natural gas and 68 percent of American oil and on average, employ 12 workers.

"These are extremely challenging times for America's independent oil and gas producers, but I'm excited to hit the ground running and to continue our fight for expanded 21^st century domestic energy exploration. Congress and the administration have made energy security and climate change top priorities, and IPAA remains committed to working with policymakers in Washington to find commonsense energy solutions that encourage responsible production of all energy resources here at home, including oil and natural gas," said Vincent. "Producing homegrown energy helps drive down foreign imports and stabilizes prices for families and small businesses. New technologies have given us access to clean-burning shale gas that was once thought to be unreachable, and IPAA is eager to continue to tell this success story, and others, about our industry."

As chairman, Vincent will serve as the chief spokesman for IPAA before Congress, policymakers, the media, and industry. During the annual meeting, Vincent highlighted top association priorities ranging from securing access to affordable, reliable, American energy; energy taxes; regulatory issues, particularly hydraulic fracturing and climate change; increased oversight and regulation of the financial markets and access to future markets and market share for oil and natural gas.

"Bruce is the right man at the right time for this job. Our members are grateful for his leadership and commitment to helping to solve our nation's growing energy problems. IPAA is very fortunate for Gigi's continued dedication to our industry and its members," said Barry Russell, IPAA's president and CEO. "We also owe Buddy Kleemeier, our outgoing chairman, enormous thanks for his work over the past two years."

Vincent and Lazenby will serve a two-year term in their leadership posts for IPAA.

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BACKGROUND

More about Bruce Vincent 

• Bruce Vincent is president and director of Swift Energy Company and has been employed at Swift Energy since 1990. Swift Energy is an independent oil and gas company engaged primarily in the exploration, development, acquisition and operation of oil and gas properties in the United States. 
   
• Bruce has held prior management-level positions in the oil and gas industry with public companies Energy Assets International Corp where he served as director, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer; Tangent Oil and Gas Co. where he served as director, president and chief executive officer; and Peninsula Resources Corp. where he served as director, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.
   
• Bruce is a member of the IPAA Executive Committee and Regional Board of Directors for the IPAA, as well as past director of the national association and past chairman of the Capital Markets, Communications, International and Program committees. He is a founder and past chairman of the Board of Advisors for IPAA's Oil and Gas Investment Symposium (OGIS) as well as the IPAA London E&P Investment Conference. Bruce was named the initial recipient of the IPAA Leadership Award in 1996. 
   
• Bruce is a founder and former board member of NAPE® (formerly known as the North American Prospect Expo) and was chairman of NAPE® 2002. He is past co-chairman of the Houston Energy Finance Group and has previously served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Investment Program Association. Additionally, he served as Chairman of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Houston in 2000 and 2001 and currently serves as a member of its Advisory Board and he recently joined the Board of Directors of Theatre Under The Stars in Houston. 
  
• Bruce currently serves as a member of the National Petroleum Council, a federally chartered and privately funded oil and natural gas advisory committee that represents the views of the oil and natural gas industry in advising, informing, and making recommendations to the Secretary of Energy. He is also a member of the Natural Gas Council.
  
• Bruce served as a Naval Supply Officer from 1969 to 1973. He earned a BA in Business Administration from Duke University in 1969 and an MBA in Finance from the University of Houston in 1976

More about Virginia "Gigi" Lazenby 

• Virginia "Gigi" Lazenby is managing member, chief executive officer and 100 percent shareholder of Bretagne LLC, an oil and gas production company she founded in 1988. Previously, she served as president of Transatlantic Exploration LTD.
  
• Bretagne's properties are in the Big Sinking Field of Kentucky. The company's operations include primary and enhanced recovery operations as well as development and field extension drilling.
   
• Gigi is the vice chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America where she previously served on the Board of Directors and chaired the Political Action Committee as well as serving on several other IPAA committees.
  
• Gigi previously served on the Board of Directors of the American Petroleum Institute and is a member of the National Petroleum Council, a post appointed by the Secretary of Energy. She previously served as the president of the National Stripper Well Association. She is also a member of the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association. Gigi has testified before Congress many times on behalf of the National Stripper Well Association and the Independent Petroleum Association of America and was awarded the Independent Petroleum Association Leadership Award in 2001.
  
• Gigi previously served as the president of the Owen Alumni Association at the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University and also served as vice president of the Board of Directors of Belle Meade Plantation, an historic property in Nashville, Tenn. representing a history of agricultural and Thoroughbred breeding encompassing a full century of Southern History.
  
• Gigi received a B. A. in history from Vanderbilt University and an MBA in finance from the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University.