Ted Beneski
Chief Executive Officer

Ted Beneski is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Insight Equity Holdings, LLC. Prior to founding Insight Equity, Ted was a co-founder and Senior Vice President of the Carlyle Management Group (CMG), a private equity group which has yielded investment returns of over 60% annually since its creation. This group was the Carlyle Group's turnaround entity which also managed its own $600 million fund.

Before he joined CMG, Ted was the co-founder and Managing Director of Bain & Company’s Dallas office. Bain is a global leader in strategy-based management consulting services. As a Senior Partner at Bain for over ten years, Ted advised Fortune 100 clients across a wide range of industries in the areas of portfolio and business unit strategy, mergers and acquisitions, operational improvement, organizational and process redesign, new product introduction and growth strategy. His specific industry experience includes aerospace, defense, marine, automotive, transportation, telecommunication, waste management, financial services and high technology.

Prior to his success at Bain, Ted worked for five years as a commercial banker with Bankers Trust in New York and Shawmut Corporation in Boston.

Ted received his MBA from the Harvard Business School ('85) and a BA with honors from Amherst College ('78), majoring in economics.

Victor Vescovo
Managing Director

Victor Vescovo currently serves as a high-level advisor to Direct Fuels, serving on its Board of Directors. He works closely with the management of Direct Fuels' major business units to satisfy the needs of its growing customer base and pursue growth opportunities. He served as Acting President of Direct Fuels from late 2004 through mid-2006.

Prior to his role at Insight Equity and Direct Fuelst, Victor was a senior manager at Bain & Company where he focused on merger integration and operational improvement cases. His most notable successes included profit improvement work at Lockheed Martin, Continental Airlines, Dell Computer, as well as with other firms. Before Bain, Victor worked in the mergers & acquisitions department of Lehman Brothers. There, he was responsible for company due diligence and transaction execution, as well as working overseas in the Middle East advising the Saudi royal government on business investments.

Victor received his MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top 5% of his class. He also received a Master's Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in ten months and earned a double major BA in economics and political science from Stanford University in three years.

Additionally, Victor is a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves, specializing in operational targeting. He has participated at the staff level in combat operations for the Middle East and Balkan theaters, and served for more than a year after 9/11 supporting counter-terrorism efforts overseas. Victor is also an accomplished pilot as well as mountaineer, having scaled the highest peak on six of the world's continents.

Ross Gatlin
Managing Director

As Chief Restructuring Officer and Managing Director at Insight Equity, Ross Gatlin is focused on driving increases in equity value by optimizing portfolio and business unit strategy. He also focuses on developing, structuring and closing superior investment acquisition opportunities. His strategic and operational execution for Insight portfolio companies is an integral part of the full potential model at Insight.

Prior to co-founding Insight Equity, Ross served as a Managing Director for TenX Capital where he focused on developing, sourcing, and structuring transaction opportunities. Ross was also a founding principal of the Carlyle Management Group where he was responsible for developing and managing investment opportunities. He has also served as a senior manager at Bain & Company, as well as an investment banker at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, where he specialized in financial restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions.

Ross has extensive corporate finance, strategy, and business management experience across multiple industries including: automotive, aerospace, airline, cable, defense, computer hardware & software, manufacturing, satellites, and telecommunications sectors. His assignments have included mergers and post-merger integration, acquisitions, financial restructurings, exchange offers, business valuation, as well as the design and valuation of complex securities.

Ross holds an MBA, with Distinction, Beta Gamma Sigma, from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He was one of only two in his class to graduate with such distinction and also receive the Dean's Distinguished Service Award. He earned his BBA from the University of Texas at Austin with concetrations in finance and accounting.

Warren Bonham
President

Warren Bonham is the President of Direct Fuels. He leads the daily activities of the company and is responsible for driving growth. Prior to joining the team at Direct Fuels, Warren was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at GES Exposition Services, Inc. (GES). GES is a $600 million contractor providing solutions for companies hosting trade shows and corporate events throughout North America. During Warren’s tenure at GES, the company experienced in excess of 50% growth in profitability during a period of contraction for the industry following the 9/11 terrorist strikes. Warren led finance and business development efforts, including successful implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Before joining GES, Warren was Chief Financial Officer of Electrolux LLC (Electrolux). Electrolux is a direct seller of premium floor care products. Every aspect of the company has undergone a complete transformation. Manufacturing has been outsourced, company storefronts have been franchised, the product line has been expanded and the brand name has been changed to Aerus. Warren was at the forefront of these initiatives.

Prior to Electrolux, Warren was a senior manager at Bain & Company. While there, Warren led many strategy and operational improvement cases. The most notable work included profit enhancement projects at Continental Airlines, Hilti, Frito Lay, Trizec and South African Airways.

Warren received his MBA from the Harvard Business School. He received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University and was the class valedictorian. He also maintains a Chartered Accountant designation.

Terry Nevels
Director - Engineering and Transmix Business Manager

In 1980, Terry began his career at Ergon Refining, a crude oil refinery in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In the mid-eighties, Ergon converted to heavy crude oil operations with asphalt their primary focus. Terry was involved in all aspects of the refinery's operation, which provided the basis for his management skills in operating other refineries and other oil-processing operations.

Terry joined Barrett Refining in 1990 as Maintenance Supervisor, with his main focus on implementing cost and efficiency improvements at their main refinery. Barrett was concentrated on light crude oil processing with jet fuel as their main product and primarily sold to the Federal Government. In 1994, Terry was promoted to refinery manager where he was responsible for day-to-day operations, working with Federal environmental authorities, the finance department, as well as overseeing the maintenance, operations, safety, and environmental departments.

1997, he began working for Direct Fuels as shift supervisor where he was primarily responsible for bringing Direct Fuels' processing unit online. In the spring of 1998,he was promoted me Terminal Manager. His current main responsibilities are locating and securing feedstocks for the processing unit, as well as overseeing safety, environmental, and maintenance for all of Direct Fuels' facilities. When Direct Fuels was acquired by Insight Equity in November 2004, Terry was promoted to the title of Director - Engineering and Transmix Business Manager.

Scott Lambert
Chief Financial Officer

Scott Lambert, a Certified Public Accountant, joined Direct Fuels as Controller in October 2003. His contributions to Direct Fuels include financial reporting, administration, technology, and supervision of the accounting and finance group.

Prior to Direct Fuels, Scott was the Director of Outsourcing for a software firm whose focus was providing accounting services to the retail petroleum industry. His primary responsibilities included supervision of an accounting group servicing multiple companies across the United States, implementing accounting systems for new customers, as well as state and federal tax reporting on behalf of customers.

Scott began his accounting career with KPMG Peat Marwick after earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas Wesleyan University.

Andre Lewis
Director of Terminal/Pipeline Fuel Operations

In 1978 Andre began his career in the oilfields of West Texas, specifically in oilfield construction. In that capacity, he was responsible for crews that constructed and maintained equipment from the wellhead to tank batteries, where crude oil is held before being shipped to the major refineries.

In 1982 he began working for Pride Refining, an independent refinery in Abilene, Texas. Starting in the Maintenance Department, by 1983 he became the Maintenance Foreman over General Maintenance and Construction and later, Maintenance Supervisor over the entire Maintenance Department. He was involved in several multi-million dollar expansion projects as well as the ongoing operations of the Maintenance Department.

In 1997 Pride Refining closed the refining division of their business and Andre migrated to work Koch Refining Co. at its 125,000 barrel per day products terminal in Fort Worth as an Operations Technician. In 1998 he supervised the construction and operation of Koch's dedicated 1,500 barrel/day transmix processing unit in Texas. He later became the Lead Operations Technician in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Products Terminal and Pipelines.

In 2004, Andre moved to Direct Fuels as the Operations & Maintenance Supervisor but was soon promoted to become the Director of Terminal/Pipeline Operations.