We are deeply honored that our first Veriten COBT guest is Secretary James A. Baker, III. A native Houstonian, Secretary Baker is one of the most accomplished and insightful leaders in the past 50 years of American history.

It is undoubtedly difficult to neatly summarize Secretary Baker's accomplishments and contributions to the country and to the world. Mr. Baker served as White House Chief of Staff for President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985, before moving to Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988. He was President George H.W. Bush's Secretary of State from 1989 to 1992, during which time the Berlin Wall fell, German reunification came to pass, and the Soviet Union dissolved, bringing an end to the Cold War. He served again as White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to President Bush from 1992 to 1993. Altogether, Mr. Baker led five presidential campaigns for three presidents and was a trusted advisor to a fourth. Prior to his time in Washington, Mr. Baker graduated from Princeton University and served in the United States Marine Corps, received his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and practiced law in Houston at Andrews and Kurth. In 1994, Secretary Baker founded Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy which is one of the nation's and the world's leading nonpartisan think tanks. He is presently a Senior Partner in the law firm of Baker Botts.

It was our distinct pleasure to host Secretary Baker at Veriten's offices, located at the ION in downtown Houston. In our discussion, we touched on the state of the world, the state of the energy and climate discussion, Ukraine and the issues around it, and other domestic issues including the national debt and inflation. Mr. Baker's knowledge, perspective and humor were encouraging and insightful. At 91, he is still sharper than ever. We are beyond thankful to have spent the time with him and hope you enjoy our discussion as well.

We had a quick lead-in with our Veriten team members Mike Bradley and Colin Fenton. Mike shared a timely market update on the outperformance of energy equities relative to the S&P 500 index. He also shared his expectations about this week's OPEC meeting in light of recent strength in crude oil markets. To frame our national debt discussion, Colin gave an overview of the key data and showed how the massive surge in public debt fuels the inflationary pressures that policymakers have been slow to recognize.

Thank you all for your support and friendship. We extend you a warm welcome to Veriten and look forward to everything to come. We are so excited!