Starting in January 2019, Bryan Sheffield will step back from the CEO role at Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE: PE), the company he helped found and grow from a fledgling E&P to Permian Basin powerhouse in roughly 10 years.

Sheffield will remain as CEO until year-end 2018, at which point he will become executive chairman. He will be succeeded as CEO by Matt Gallagher, the company’s current president and COO. As part of the succession plan, Parsley’s board will separate the roles of chairman and CEO at the time of Sheffield’s transition to executive chairman.

Sheffield’s plan of succession should put any investor skittishness to rest. Ray Alameddine, the company’s lead director, said that Sheffield and Gallagher have worked closely together on “every strategic decision for the last several years. Matt is deeply respected across the organization and Bryan will continue to provide guidance as his role evolves. For these reasons, we expect a seamless transition, accompanied by continued growth and operational excellence.”

Sheffield said in a statement he is proud of the tremendous growth of the company and the teamwork that made its growth possible.

“From our humble start, contract operating 100 wells in the Permian, we have built a publicly traded company that today operates over 1,200 wells and is closing in on production of 100,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day,” he said.

The company’s Permian Basin leasehold comprises about 229,000 net acres, including 178,000 in the Midland and 51,000 in the Delaware, as of third-quarter 2017.

Sheffield said that after 10 “exhilarating and intense years in this role” and with the company well positioned for the future, he looks forward to spending more time with his family as Gallagher leads Parsley’s next phase of expansion.

“I am confident that Matt is the right person to lead as CEO, and I am excited to work with him in our current roles for the remainder of this year, as executive chairman throughout 2019, and as chairman thereafter,” he said.

Since 2017, Gallagher has served as the president and COO. He joined the company in 2010 and served in positions of increasing responsibility across the company, including overseeing engineering and geoscience activities.

Last year at the 2017 NAPE Summit business conference in February, Sheffield said he initially turned toward other pursuits before taking over operation of 100 Spraberry Trend wells owned by his grandfather in the Midland Basin.

Sheffield’s original goal had been to build a company worth up to $20 million. The company has done far better than that, he said. “We had worked hard and built a $400 million company.”

The company’s market cap in third-quarter 2017 was $8.8 billion.

“It’s been a wild 9 years, with a lot of good luck and good timing,” he said in February 2017.

Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.