Executive Officers

Gary C. Hanna, 57
Chief Executive Officer and Director

He has over 30 years of executive experience in the energy exploration and production and service sectors, with a primary focus in the mid-continent U.S. and Gulf of Mexico regions. From 2009 until June 2014, Mr. Hanna served as the Chief Executive Officer of EPL Oil & Gas, Inc., or EPL, a publicly-traded company that was acquired by Energy XXI in June 2014 for $2.3 billion, and was elected as a director of EPL in June 2010 and Chairman in 2013. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Hanna served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Admiral Energy Services, a start-up company focused on the development of offshore energy services. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Hanna served in various capacities at Tetra Technologies, Inc., an international oil and gas services production company, including serving as Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2007. Mr. Hanna also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tetra’s affiliate, Maritech Resources, Inc., and as President of Tetra Applied Technologies, Inc., another Tetra affiliate. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Hanna served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Gulfport Energy Corporation, a public oil and gas exploration company. From 1995 to 1998, he also served as the Chief Operations Officer for DLB Oil & Gas, Inc., a mid-continent exploration public company. From 1982 to 1995, Mr. Hanna served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hanna Oil Properties, Inc., a company engaged in oil services and the development of mid-continent oil and gas prospects. Since November 2015, Mr. Hanna has served as a member of the boards of directors of Hercules Offshore, Inc. and Aspire Holdings Corp. Mr. Hanna holds a B.B.A. in Economics from the University of Oklahoma.

Edward Kovalik, 41
President and Director

He has been the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of KLR Holdings and KLR Group, an investment bank specializing in the energy sector which he co-founded in the spring of 2012. Mr. Kovalik manages the firm and focuses on structuring bespoke financing solutions for the firm’s clients. Mr. Kovalik has over 16 years of experience as an investment banker. Prior to founding KLR Holdings, from 2002 until April 2012, Mr. Kovalik was Head of Capital Markets at Rodman & Renshaw, and headed Rodman’s Energy Investment Banking team. From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Kovalik was a Vice President at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., where he focused on private placement transactions for public companies. Mr. Kovalik has served as a member of the boards of directors of River Bend Oil and Gas, LLC since June 2013 and Marathon Patent Group, Inc. a public company, since April 2014.

T.J. Thom, 43
Chief Financial Officer

He has more than 20 years of financial and operational experience energy industry. Ms. Thom served in various capacities for EPL from October 2000 until June 2014, when EPL was acquired by Energy XXI for $2.3 billion. Ms. Thom served as Principal Financial Officer of EPL from July 2009, as Senior Vice President of Business Development from September 2009, as Chief Financial Officer from June 2010 and as Executive Vice President from January 2014, to June 2014. Ms. Thom helped lead EPL through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding which culminated in 2009. From 1992 to 2000, Ms. Thom served as Senior Reservoir Engineer for Exxon Production Company and ExxonMobil Company with operational roles, including reservoir engineering and subsurface completion engineering for numerous offshore Gulf of Mexico properties. Ms. Thom has served as a member of the board of directors of Yates Petroleum Corporation since October 2015 and as a member of the board of directors of Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. since August 2014. Ms. Thom holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. in Management with a concentration in Finance from Tulane University.

Gregory R. Dow, 52
Chief Operating Officer and Secretary

He has served as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of KLR Holdings since April 2012. Mr. Dow was General Counsel at Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group, Inc. from February 2008 until April 2012 and a Managing Director and the Deputy General Counsel at Cowen and Company, LLC from May 2004 until December 2007. From 1998 through 2004, Mr. Dow was a Director and the Equity Capital Markets Counsel at Merrill Lynch, serving in New York and in London, where he covered the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to that, he was Equity Capital Markets Counsel at Peregrine Capital Markets in Hong Kong, which at the time was the largest independent investment bank in Asia. Mr. Dow began his legal career at the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, where he focused on Latin America. Mr. Dow also had five years of experience in strategic consulting with Taylor Research and Greenwich Associates, where he focused on telecommunications, media and financial industry clients. Mr. Dow is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Dartmouth College.

Board of Directors

Gizman Abbas, 43
Director Nominee

He has been a partner at Twenty First Century Utilities since March 2015. In addition, Mr. Abbas has been Managing Partner of DI Development LLC, a company focused on the New York City real estate market, which he founded in 2011. From July 2008 to March 2015, Mr. Abbas was a founding partner of Apollo Commodities Partners, L.P., the commodity investment business at Apollo Management. Previously, from July 2004 to July 2008, he was Vice President at Goldman Sachs, where he invested in the oil & gas, power, bio-fuels, metals & mining, and agriculture sectors. Mr. Abbas began his finance career in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley, having previously been a Senior Project Engineer on oil & gas construction projects for Exxon Mobil Corporation and a Co-Op Power Engineer at Southern Company. Mr. Abbas has served as a director of Handeni Gold Inc. since February 2012. Mr. Abbas holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a BS in electrical engineering from Auburn University. Mr. Abbas is well-qualified to serve as director due to his extensive financial background.

Charles O. Buckner, 71
Director Nominee

He has served as a director of Patterson-UTI since February 2007. Mr. Buckner, a private investor, retired from the public accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP in 2002 after 35 years of service in a variety of client service and administrative roles, including chairmanship of Ernst & Young’s U.S. energy practice. Mr. Buckner served as a director of EPL from 2009 to 2014, Global Industries, Ltd., a marine construction services company with global operations from 2010 to 2011, Gateway Energy Corporation, a publicly held oil and gas pipeline company from 2008 to 2010, Horizon Offshore, Incorporated, a marine construction services company for the offshore oil and gas industry from 2003 to 2007, and Whittier Energy Corporation, a publicly held company with domestic onshore oil and natural gas exploration and production from 2003 to 2007. Mr. Buckner is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Houston. Mr. Buckner is well-qualified to serve as director due to his extensive accounting and financial background.

Douglas W. York, 54
Director Nominee

He has served in a number of managerial and executive roles during his tenure in the E&P sector, most recently as Co-Founder and Managing Member of privately held Sequel Energy, LLC, or Sequel. Sequel was formed in 2006 and was focused on the acquisition and development of operated and non-operated interests in Louisiana, Oklahoma and North Dakota before divesting its assets in late 2013 and early 2014. Prior to co-founding Sequel Energy, Mr. York spent ten years with St. Mary Land and Exploration Company, a publicly-traded company with operations in multiple U.S. basins, where he served as Vice President, Engineering and Acquisitions from August 1996 until August 2003 and as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from September 2003 until March 2006. Mr. York served as Acquisitions Coordinator for the Rockies Region and as Regional Engineer for the Northern Business Unit during three years with Meridian Oil Company from 1993 to 1996. Mr. York began his career with ARCO Oil and Gas Company in 1983 where his roles included Drilling Engineering, Reservoir Engineering and Planning and Evaluation. Mr. York holds a B.S. Degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa. He has served on the Boards of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States, Montana Petroleum Association, Petroleum Engineering Advisory Board at the University of Tulsa and on the Development Board of Colorado UpLift.