Speakers

Damon Box serves as a managing director in energy investment banking.

Box rejoined Simmons Energy | A Division of Piper Jaffray℠ in 2011 from Halliburton, where he worked as a director in the M&A group. Prior to Halliburton, Box was with Simmons Energy from 2006 to 2010. Box’s prior experience includes energy corporate and investment banking with KeyBanc Capital Markets and Wachovia Securities.

Box graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

Derek Detring's career has been fully devoted to energy advisory, where he has completed over $8 billion in capital raising and M&A advisory transactions. Derek spent the first four years of his career at Merrill Lynch, where he primarily focused on capital raising and M&A assignments for large, publicly-listed companies, followed by four years at Integral Advisors, a boutique A&D advisory firm he co-founded in 2009, and finally Wells Fargo where he spent one year in their A&D group. For the past three years Derek has lead his new company, Detring Energy Advisors, which focuses on the mid-cap A&D market.

Derek graduated summa cum laude and first in his engineering class from Vanderbilt University and attended the Wharton Executive Education Program, where he passed with honors.

Mr. Dirlam has served as Executive Vice President - Land & Operations since May 2018, prior to which he served as the Company's Senior Vice President of Land & Operations since 2013 and other various roles with the Company since 2009. Prior to Northern, Mr. Dirlam served in various finance and accounting roles for Honeywell International. Mr. Dirlam holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Saint Thomas and a master's degree from the University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management.

Mr. Edwards joined NGP in 2009 and serves as Partner of the NGP funds. He is a leading specialist in the natural resources industry with over 30 years of experience. Mr. Edwards concentrates on NGP’s transaction sourcing and execution as well as the monitoring of active portfolio companies. In addition, Mr. Edwards oversees the firm’s Environmental, Social & Governance efforts as well as leads the firm’s international efforts in capital raising and investor relations activities.

Prior to joining NGP, Mr. Edwards served as Vice President and Head of Strategy for the Gas, Power and Renewables segment at BP p.l.c., where he was responsible for formulating BP’s global gas strategy and business development activities in the areas of climate and alternative energy. From 1994 to 2005, he was a Partner and a leader of the Energy Practice at McKinsey & Company, in both Singapore and Houston. Prior to that, Mr. Edwards was an executive with Marathon Oil Company and Brown and Root International focusing on offshore construction and production operations.

Mr. Edwards received a BSME in 1978 from Tulane University, and earned dual Petroleum Engineering and Management degrees in 1993 and 1994 from Stanford University.

Bio coming soon!

Travis Hancock serves as Vice President of Corporate Finance for EnerVest, Ltd.   At EnerVest, Mr. Hancock focuses on transactions, portfolio management, and capital efficiency of EnerVest’s private equity funds.  EnerVest’s CEO John Walker and Mr. Hancock worked together in 2018 to structure, negotiate, and execute EnerVest’s largest monetization in company history with TPG’s Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), which now trades on the New York Stock Exchange as Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation.  Prior to joining EnerVest in 2013, he was a member of the investment team at Wells Fargo Energy Capital, Inc. Mr. Hancock has also spent time in national politics. Mr. Hancock received a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He is a member of the Houston Producers’ Forum and the Independent Petroleum Association of American, where serves on the Supply & Demand Committee.  Mr. Hancock and his wife, Dr. Anna Lehmann, live in Houston and have one son.

 Born and raised in West Virginia, Mr. Hutson, Jr. is the fourth generation in his family to immerse himself in the gas and oil industry, with family roots dating back to the early 1900s. Building upon his experiences in the Oil & Gas Industry, Rusty established Diversified Gas & Oil in 2001. After years of refining his strategy, Rusty and his team quietly took DGO public in 2017. He continues to lead his team and expand the company’s footprint throughout the Appalachian Basin. With a rapidly growing portfolio, Rusty remains focused on operational excellence and creating shareholder value.

Bio coming soon.

CEO, and President, and Chairman of the Board of Mariner Energy, Inc. (2001 – 2010), until Mariner merged with Apache Corporation in a transaction valued in excess of $4 Billion.  From 2000 to 2002, he served as Vice President of Enron North America Corp. and co-managed its Energy Capital Resources group.  From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Josey provided investment banking services to the oil and gas industry and portfolio management services to institutional investors as a co-founder of Sagestone Capital Partners.  From 1993 to 1995, he was a Director with Enron Capital & Trade Resources Corp. in its energy investment group.  From 1982 to 1993, he worked in the drilling, production, pipeline, corporate planning and commercial activities at Texas Oil and Gas Corp.  He currently serves on the board of directors of Noble Corp. He is a former board member of Northern Tier Energy and Apache Corporation. Mr. Josey holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and a MS in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston.

Thomas Laughlin is one of the founding partners of the Dallas office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Thomas regularly represents private equity investors, their portfolio companies, and other various public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, investments (controlling and minority), divestitures, joint ventures, financings, restructurings and other corporate matters. He also represents management teams in connection with the formation of joint venture platforms and follow-on transactions.

Thomas has broad experience across many industries, but in particular, he has focused his practice representing clients in the energy, infrastructure and logistics sectors, including upstream and midstream oil and gas, oilfield services, manufacturing and transportation services.

Austin Lee represents and counsels clients in the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas properties, as well as a broad range of transactional and operational matters regarding upstream and midstream operations. Austin also focuses on the representation of lenders and borrowers with respect to the financing of oil and gas properties; pipeline systems and other midstream assets; and other development facilities.

Additionally, Austin has experience working in-house as upstream legal counsel at an independent exploration and production company where he was the principal legal contact for a business unit covering the Bakken Shale, Eagle Ford Shale and other areas of South Texas. He also has experience working with a major oil and natural gas exploration and production company through a secondment in one of its onshore focused business units.

In 2018, Austin was one of only five lawyers named by Law360 as an Energy Rising Star, which recognizes lawyers nationwide that are under 40 years of age for accomplishments in the energy space. Prior to entering legal practice, Austin worked as an independent petroleum landman and as a certified public accountant.

William "Bill" Marko is a managing director of Jefferies LLC in the Energy Investment Banking Group. He has managed more than $70 billion of asset and corporate transactions. He specializes in applying detailed technical evaluations to M&A transactions. While his activities are focused in the U.S., Marko also works on worldwide projects with Jefferies’ London based energy team and he heads Jefferies’ Canadian upstream activities. Prior to joining Randall & Dewey, subsequently purchased by Jefferies, he worked more than 18 years in various engineering, operations and commercial roles at Mobil Oil. With more than 37 years of industry experience in worldwide acquisition, divestment and new business development, he has evaluated transactions in all major U.S. basins and more than 70 countries. Marko is a registered Professional Engineer in Louisiana and is Chair of the Tulane University President’s Council and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Tulane School of Science & Engineering.

Andy is a Principal Analyst with Enverus’ Operator Intelligence group. He specializes in upstream-asset valuations, operational and financial forecasts, and related research products. Prior to joining Enverus, Andy worked for energy-analytics and US E&P businesses for over a decade. He is based in Houston, Texas.

Eric Mullins is the co-Chief Executive Officer of the Lime Rock Resources team and has jointly led the team since co-founding the Lime Rock Resources strategy in 2005. Mr. Mullins oversees all strategic, financial, and operational aspects of the Lime Rock Resources funds. Prior to joining Lime Rock, Mr. Mullins served as a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs where he led numerous financing, structuring, and strategic advisory transactions for public and private E&P companies in the division’s Natural Resources Group. He spent the last 10 years of his 15-year career in Goldman Sachs’ Houston office. Mr. Mullins serves on the board of directors for PG&E Corporation. He is also on the board of trustees of the Baylor College of Medicine. He is a graduate of Stanford University (A.B.) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (M.B.A.).

Mr. Powell is a Principal of Carnelian Energy Capital Management, L.P. Prior to joining Carnelian, Mr. Powell was a Vice President in the Oil and Gas Group at Denham Capital Partners, where he focused on sourcing investments, transaction analysis and execution, and monitoring active portfolio companies. Prior to joining Denham, Mr. Powell was an Associate in the Energy Group of KKR & Co. and an Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Greenhill & Co. Mr. Powell grew up in Dallas, Texas, and received a B.B.A. in Finance with honors from the Business Honors Program from The University of Texas at Austin.

Andrew Rapp is a Co-Founder, Managing Director and the Chief Operating Officer of Petrie Partners.  Prior to co-founding Petrie Partners in 2011, Andrew was a Managing Director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Energy and Power Investment Banking Group. He joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch as part of Merrill Lynch’s acquisition of Petrie Parkman & Co. at year-end 2006.  Since beginning his career in 1999, Andrew has completed over 150 merger, divestiture, joint venture, restructuring and financing transactions totaling over $125 billion in consideration. 

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, 1981. Scott has been with NSAI since 1988 and was made Chairman and CEO in 2008. Prior to NSAI, Scott was a Supervising Reservoir Engineer with Exxon Company, U.S.A. He has been involved in hundreds of projects both domestically and around the world, including Latin America, Mexico, Australia, and West Africa. His areas of specific expertise include coalbed methane property evaluations, probabilistic analysis, and interpretation/application of industry reserves definitions and guidelines.

Mr. Rexrode is the President and Managing Partner of BlueRock Energy Partners where he leads the Management team in the overall execution of the firm’s business strategy, including business development, investment analysis and structuring, and capital raising. Prior to BlueRock he spent 10 years at Just Energy, a North American wide electricity and natural gas retailer, where he held executive roles in Finance and Business Development, leading all M&A activity with over $800 million in corporate acquisitions. Prior to Just Energy he served 9 years at Enron Corp where he held positions in Oil and Gas Producer Finance structuring debt and equity investments with independent producers. Prior to Enron he served 2 years as an Aerospace Engineer with McDonnell Douglas in Houston. Mr. Rexrode holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Texas at Austin.

Polidoros Trejos is a cofounder of Fortuna Resources and Fortuna Resources Mgmt. and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Fortuna, Mr. Trejos was a Vice President of Finance at Sanchez Oil & Gas, where he shepherded Sanchez Energy through its IPO process. Earlier in his career, Mr. Trejos worked as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers where he primarily focused on corporate finance and M&A for oil and gas companies. Mr. Trejos is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A in Business Honors and Finance.

Juan Diego Vargas, Director, joined First Reserve in 2007 as an Associate and returned to First Reserve as a Vice President in 2012 after earning his M.B.A. Mr. Vargas’ responsibilities include investment origination and structuring, due diligence, execution and monitoring, focusing on the equipment, manufacturing and services sector, as well as the resources sector. Prior to joining First Reserve, he was an Analyst in the Financial Sponsors and Latin America Groups at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Vargas holds a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from London Business School.

Mark Whitley is Chairman, President and CEO of Chisholm Energy Holdings, LLC., headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Chisholm has 36,000 acres in the Delaware Basin in Lea and Eddy counties in New Mexico. Mr. Whitley has over 40 years of industry experience. Prior to Chisholm, he was Senior VP of Range Resources from 2005-2012. He also served as VP, Operations for Quicksilver Resources and VP and General Manager for Mitchell Energy. Mr. Whitley holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kentucky.

From 2008 to 2012, Blake Williams was a natural gas trader and scheduler at Vega Energy, an asset management and consulting firm. Blake joined Brigham Resources in 2013 and served as the Director of Finance and Marketing. He was responsible for all aspects of corporate finance, including capital budgeting, financial analysis and acquisition evaluation, as well as midstream strategy and marketing. Blake joined Brigham Minerals subsequent to the sale to Diamondback Energy and since that time has served as CFO.

Blake earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin