No offense, and not intending to criticize you, but I don't believe your speculation is believable, and I don't believe he had an "old job" back at TPL, and this is why. If my recollection is correct, when he became the Independent Member of the PDS management committee, he was actually the Managing Director for Relational Advisors, who I believe was a private investment banking firm. They were the financial advisors to TPL during the merger to form PDS, and also supposedly represented TPL when TPL tried to buy PTSC's share behind the "lowball" offer by TPL to purchase the MMP from PTSC outright prior to that. Essentially he was an agent of TPL in their dealings with PTSC with respect to acquiring the MMP.

So basically, our illustrious managers and BOD members, in their finite wisdom, agreed to have this totally TPL friendly (and by default PTSC adversary based on his role in prior business transactions) "independent" person as the third member of the management committee when P-Newco was formed and didn't think that might compromise OUR interests!

Then sometime AFTER that, Neilson and TPL dispensed with the independence charade and Neilson became a full fledged TPL employee according to TPL's website. Still, when I and other shareholders challenged PTSC management on this issue when we discovered that, PTSC responded that they/we were being well served by Mr. Neilson in this role and not to worry. This despite the specific language in the M.A. that would seem to disqualify him in that independent manager role since he was now formally a TPL employee.

Then, sometime in April of 2010, as I communicated here, I discovered that Neilson was no longer working at TPL though it's uncelar exactly how much earlier than that he had left. Not surprisingly based on what we learned from the Chuck Moore / Intellasys team complaints, TPL still listed him on their website at that time, and for a great while thereafter, as a TPL employee. This was at the time of the "resolutions" that PDS approved (with PTSC's vote and Neilson's vote), that TPL did not accept.

All of that is a long winded way of saying that he didn't have an old job at TPL. Furthermore, I don't think (at least there's no public documentation that shows) he was paid very much if at all by PDS to be on the management committee that one could construe as his main source of income during the 5 years he was on the committee. So I think the from 2006 time frame through last year, he was collecting a salary from TPL in his role as Senior VP there, and probably a nominal fee for the PDS role (similar to our BOD members get for PDS participation), and left TPL due to what was about to come down the pike.

What's remarkable is that PTSC agreed to him in the PDS independent role despite his CLEAR NON-indendence. Initially AND after being formally hired by TPL. Who knows how much of the current situation would have been avoided with more prudent decision on this issue by our BOD/Management. Maybe nothing would have changed, and perhaps Neilson is a totally stand-up straight-up by-the-book guy, and was truly independent but common sense and experience says NOT with respect to his ability to truly be independent and serve in the spirit that the M.A. says that person should serve.

Rather, I suspect he's a smart guy, saw that things were going to go sideways, realized that PTSC was actully going to finally take legal action, and decided it was time he better show some true indepence through those resolutions to cover his backside, and it either cost him his job at TPL, or he beat cheeks before he could be implicated with Leckrone.