About Us
20 Years of Excellence in Natural Gas
Sapphire Gas Solutions is proud to celebrate 20 years of dedicated service to the natural gas industry. Founded in 2005 with a focus on midstream solutions and support, we expanded into the mobile natural gas sector in 2010—paving the way for our nationwide presence today.
Over two decades, we’ve grown into a trusted industry leader in pipeline integrity management, mobile natural gas solutions, and renewable energy support. Here’s to the next 20 years of innovation, reliability, and energy solutions that move the industry forward.
Natural Gas Solutions. Nationwide.
Sapphire Gas Solutions provides nationwide access to CNG, RNG, and LNG solutions. We are a solutions-oriented company that helps public agencies and private businesses incorporate clean-burning natural gas and low-carbon intensity renewable natural gas.
We are an industry leader with a broad range of offerings and products, and We are dedicated to helping our clients find unique solutions for their unique problems.
Our Mission
Sustainability through the widespread integration of natural gas as a clean, reliable energy solution, driving positive change for both America and the world.
Our Vision
A future where innovative solutions transcend the norms of traditional
infrastructure and revolutionize energy delivery increasing natural gas
accessibility worldwide.
Our History
Sapphire Gas Solutions was founded in 2005 and originally focused on providing midstream solutions and support. In 2010 we entered the mobile natural gas solutions business, and developed that into our current nationwide footprint.
We have become an industry leader in pipeline integrity management, mobile natural gas solutions, and renewables.
Meet Our Team
The team at Sapphire is composed of pioneers in the natural gas fueling solutions business. With decades of combined experience providing natural gas end-use solutions, our team is the most experienced in the industry today.
Sam Thigpen
Founder, CEO
Sam Thigpen
Founder, CEO
Sam Thigpen, the Founder and CEO of Sapphire Gas Solutions, is a recognized entrepreneurial leader and avid outdoorsman. He is a 2021 winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year® award for the Gulf Coast region and attributes his entrepreneurial success to the field and operations experience gained early in his career. Having been in the natural gas industry for 25 years, Mr. Thigpen has spent two-thirds of that time as an entrepreneur. Since founding, what is now, Sapphire Gas Solutions in 2005, the company has been recognized as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company twice.
Mr. Thigpen’s background is one of vast natural gas industry experience. It spans working in natural gas processing, SCADA system installation and maintenance, offshore production service, upstream oil and gas operations, international petrochemical and LNG plant service, natural gas pipeline operations, pipeline and facility construction, gas pipeline auditing, CNG/LNG/RNG fueling station construction, CNG/LNG/RNG virtual pipeline operations, and finally, executive management and strategic leadership.
Outside of business, Sam is an avid offshore fisherman, accomplished sporting clays competitor, and enjoys outdoor activities such as pheasant, dove, and quail hunting. Mr. Thigpen is a life member of MENSA and the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry. He is also a Texas Freemason and a member of the Woodlands Church, in The Woodlands, TX.
Jeremy Gilliam
Chief Operating Officer
Jeremy Gilliam
Chief Operating Officer
Jeremy Gilliam serves as Chief Operating Officer for Sapphire Gas Solutions. In this role, Jeremy oversees operations for Sapphire’s Infrastructure Management, Energy Management, and Mobile Compression business lines, along with project management, logistics, maintenance, and fleet. Prior to joining the Sapphire team, Jeremy worked for Rockwater Energy Solutions, the oilfield chemicals division of Select Energy Services, for more than nine years in various senior operations roles, including Vice President of Manufacturing & Distribution, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Operations Support, and Vice President of Business Analysis. Jeremy began his career in oilfield services as part of the senior leadership team of Mountain Drilling Company, a private equity backed startup drilling contractor, serving as Corporate Controller. Prior to his time in the oilfield, Jeremy held various finance and accounting positions with Brinker International after beginning his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, TX. Jeremy received an M.S. in Finance and B.B.A. in Accounting from Texas A&M University and is licensed as a CPA in the State of Texas.
Scott Johns
Chief Commercial Officer
Scott Johns
Chief Commercial Officer
Mr. Scott Johns serves as Chief Commercial Officer for Sapphire Gas Solutions. Scott is a business leader, responsible for development of corporate strategy, business building, strategic M&A activity, and performance improvement activities for Sapphire. Prior to joining Sapphire, Scott led the commercial activity for CLEANCOR LNG LLC as President of the distribution business, including marketing, sales and business development for virtual pipeline and fleet fueling. Scott has served in various senior leadership positions including Vice President of Sales for Applied LNG Technologies, a merchant liquefaction production platform based on the West Coast and is responsible for hundreds of millions of gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel sales across the nation in his career.
Scott is an environmentally focused individual whose understanding of the relationship between fuel choices and quality of life has led to regulatory change. In 2007, Scott successfully lobbied for changes in the shore power/Cold Ironing regulation passed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to reduce emissions from ocean going vessels calling at ports in California. He holds a B.S. degree from California State University Long Beach. With his scientific background in chemistry and industrial fuel applications allied with an in-depth environmental knowledge base and regulatory understanding, Scott is frequently in demand as a conference speaker.
James Ainsworth
Vice President, Transportation
James Ainsworth
Vice President, Transportation
James Ainsworth serves as Vice President, Transportation for Sapphire Gas Solutions. As the head of this newly formed and expanding Division, Mr. Ainsworth leads all functions regarding truck transport fuel and equipment deliveries, logistics, dispatch, and fleet management of both heavy and light duty assets.
Mr. Ainsworth began his career in the energy industry at Ferrellgas, a major propane marketer, where he had P&L and executive responsibility for the company’s internal 200 truck transport fleet, safe delivery of up to one billion gallons of LP Gas annually, and advocated for both company and industry interests in state and national propane industry association roles.
Mr. Ainsworth believes that a primary responsibility of senior leaders is to put the right people, operations, infrastructure, processes and metrics into place to ensure the success of the organization and has demonstrated this ability throughout his career.
In his personal life, Mr. Ainsworth is a devoted husband and father of three daughters and enjoys time with his family. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Texas A&M University.
Katherine Lowe
Vice President of Integration & Value Creation
Katherine Lowe
Vice President of People Operations
Katherine Lowe, SHRM-CP, MA is a well-versed human resources professional with over 17 years of experience and nearly a decade in the energy and chemical industry. Mrs. Lowe specializes in the areas of talent acquisition, talent development, and employee relations. Katherine’s connection with others and relentless perseverance to meet goals allow her to be a key resource. Mrs. Lowe provides quality results in high-pressure situations, effectively handles multiple priorities while demonstrating exceptional business judgment and discretion.
Shyamli Mohamed
Chief Financial Officer
Matt Short
Chief Financial Officer
Shyamli came to Sapphire from, most recently, Eavor Technologies, where she was
CFO. Shyamli is an experienced finance executive with extensive international
experience, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, multi-billion-dollar business
finance leadership, and multi-country finance strategy and leadership across the
energy space. Additionally, earlier in her career Shyamli spent 12 years with
Schlumberger in various large scale divisional finance leadership roles in 5 different
countries.
Shyamli received her bachelor’s degree in accounting & finance from the University of
Bombay, and completed the Executive Management program at Harvard Business
School. Additionally, she is involved in multiple non-profit organizations, has been a
speaker at multiple forums and leadership events, and holds a board director role for a
non-profit healthcare organization.
Jennifer Cadena
General Counsel
Preston McDonald
General Counsel
Jennifer came to Sapphire from, most recently, Crescent Energy Company, where she
was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. Jennifer has led ~$9B in mergers
and acquisitions, joint ventures, and divestitures. Additionally, earlier in her career,
she was Counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright which is recognized as one of the world’s
leading legal advisors in energy and infrastructure, among many other sectors.
Jennifer graduated with a bachelor’s from Texas A&M, and is a law school graduate
of the American University Washington College of Law. She holds licenses in
multiple states, has been recognized for her achievements by multiple organizations
and publications, and has been instrumental in building companies into multi-billion dollar organizations.
In her role as General Counsel, Jennifer will be the direct contact for all legal matters related to M&A, agreements, contracts, risk mitigation, insurance, and employment