enCore Energy Names Rich Little CEO as William Sheriff Returns as Executive Chairman, Eyes Permitting Push

Key Points

• The board named Rich Little as CEO while William Sheriff returns as Executive Chairman; Little, a petroleum engineer with extensive oil‑and‑gas operating and M&A experience, says he will focus on driving efficiencies and concentrating on high‑return assets during a short transition.
• Sheriff and Little prioritize advancing permitting, improving investor communication, and cutting cost centers, noting active drilling at Alta Mesa East and Nichols Ranch as near‑term catalysts; enCore says it is currently fully contracted for the year but has slowed new contracting until permitting progresses.
• The company intends to pursue domestic M&A (while remaining open to being acquired) as management anticipates industry consolidation, and describes the uranium market as healthy with government activity—including the Defense Production Act—and conversion/enrichment bottlenecks supporting longer‑term demand.

enCore Energy NASDAQ: EU used a brief investor web call to discuss leadership changes and outline near-term priorities, with Executive Chairman William Sheriff describing the move as a “team consolidating and team leading” decision by the board. Tim Gabruch, CEO and Director at Verdera Energy, hosted the call and introduced Sheriff alongside Rich Little, who has joined as CEO.

Board names Rich Little CEO; Sheriff returns as executive chairman

Sheriff said he was contacted “a few weeks back” for advice on management direction and that he “wholeheartedly recommended” Little to the board. According to Sheriff, the board agreed and negotiations followed, resulting in Little joining the company. Sheriff also thanked Little and the board for asking him to return, adding that he expects “a very short transition period.”

Little told investors he started in the office Monday and has been “digging into a lot of the details of business plan,” looking for “efficiencies” and ways to be “more focused mostly on the high return assets.” He asked that questions on those topics be held for later as he continues his review.

Little highlights oil-and-gas background and efficiency focus

Little provided an extended overview of his career to explain how his experience translates to uranium in situ recovery operations. He said he is trained in petroleum engineering and graduated from Texas A&M in 1995. He began at Halliburton Energy Services in completions work, including hydraulic fracturing, and later worked at Holditch-Reservoir Technologies (later acquired by Schlumberger), advising domestic and international operators on well stimulation and reserve measurement.

Little described multiple operating and leadership roles across his career, including field development and growth at Peoples Energy, management positions following acquisitions involving El Paso and Kinder Morgan, and later work tied to EP Energy, where he said he focused on developing an 180,000-acre position in the Permian Basin. He emphasized operational execution and cost control, citing a period when his teams drilled “over 350 wells,” built central production facilities, and implemented water recycling and other efficiency efforts.

He also discussed serving as CEO at Ajax Resources, where he said the company bought assets from W&T Offshore for $376 million and later sold them to Diamondback for $1.24 billion. Little attributed the increase in value to “driving efficiencies,” focusing on “high return assets,” and proving up “two additional zones” beyond what had been produced previously.

In describing why he took the enCore role, Little said he saw “tremendous” growth potential in the company’s assets and believes his experience with efficient operations, permitting, contracts, and “responsible growth” can add value. “I like accretive M&A transactions, and I like responsible growth,” he said, adding that economics should drive decisions “in the shareholders’ best value.”

Sheriff cites operational, permitting, and investor communication priorities

Sheriff said the company’s objectives going forward include improving investor communication, addressing cost centers, and advancing permitting. “Our projects are…very good projects,” he said, adding that with focus on those areas investors should see “a realization of that potential in fairly short order.”

He noted “active drilling has been going on” at the Alta Mesa East project and said the company expects to provide updates “in the near future,” including on permitting across several assets. Sheriff also said his return has “reinvigorated” the company’s M&A approach.

Sheriff said management plans to meet investors in major cities after the team is “settled” over the next few weeks and expects to attend the Canaccord conference in early to mid-May.

Contracting stance and M&A outlook

Asked about production and contracting, Sheriff said the company was not yet ready to discuss production in detail. On contracting, he said enCore “had slowed down on contracting last year, and that continues.” He added, “We are…fully contracted, and in fact, with permitting situation over contracted this year,” while also noting the board secured some contracts “at favorable prices” before his departure.

Sheriff said there remains “quite a bit of activity in the contracting market,” and the company expects to look at additional contracting once permitting progresses.

On M&A, Sheriff said he and Little are aligned and that the company intends to “stay domestic.” He said enCore has historically been an acquirer but is “not above and beyond being acquired at the same time,” adding, “We certainly aren’t taking ourselves off the market either.” Sheriff also argued industry consolidation is likely, saying there is room for “two or three” U.S. ISR companies “eventually, not six of them or eight or 10,” and that scale affects contracting, financial strength, and access to capital.

Permitting and uranium market commentary

Little said early observations suggest oil-and-gas permitting moves significantly faster than uranium permitting, and he believes there is work to do to educate stakeholders and improve efficiency. Sheriff added that it is incumbent on the company to work with regulators, noting Texas has had far more oil-and-gas industry experience than uranium over recent decades and that enCore remains active in Austin.

On uranium contracting and pricing trends, Sheriff said the market looks “healthy” and “steady” with a “slight positive bias,” but “not frothy.” He said longer-term supply-demand metrics and nuclear fuel cycle developments continue to build, with particular emphasis—and government funding—going toward conversion and enrichment. Sheriff described those areas as bottlenecks for the U.S. and Western markets.

Regarding the Defense Production Act, Sheriff said there is “quite a bit of activity” and collaboration involving the Department of Defense and Department of Energy, though he declined to provide details, saying he was “a little behind the curve” and would rather provide a “firmer update” later. He added that government agencies are moving to secure domestic U.S. production and that utilities are supporting those efforts.

About enCore Energy NASDAQ: EU

enCore Energy Inc is a U.S.-based uranium exploration and development company focused on deploying in-situ recovery (ISR) technology to bring domestic uranium projects into production. The company's operations are centered on the Nichols Ranch ISR facility in Wyoming, which represents enCore's flagship asset and its nearest-term production opportunity. Through ISR methods, enCore seeks to extract uranium with lower environmental impact and capital requirements relative to conventional mining.

In addition to Nichols Ranch, enCore holds a diversified portfolio of uranium properties in the western United States, including the Roca Honda project in New Mexico and several ISR-amenable projects in the Texas and Oklahoma regions.

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