Tom Gates

Tom Gates is a native of South Texas. He grew up in Laredo and his ranch at Catarina and has lived in Laredo and Corpus Christi his entire adult life. He is the son of the late Dorothy Jean and Albert Gates, husband to Diane Dilworth Gates, father to Dos Gates and his wife Samantha, and grandfather to Isla and Louisa Gates. He attended Texas Military Institute in San Antonio and Texas A & M, College Station.

Tom’s primary interest lies with his family oil and gas business, Gates Mineral Company, based in San Antonio. Tom is also on the board of International Bank of Commerce.

When Tom is not working or volunteering his time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends at home, his ranch, and in Vail, Colorado. His greatest joy is watching his granddaughters grow and experience new adventures.

Diane Gates

Diane Dilworth Gates was born and raised in South Texas. Her parents are Frances and Blackstone Dilworth who both grew up in McMullen County. She is a graduate of Saint Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, Sweet Briar College in Virginia, and completed her masters degree at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
 
Immediately after graduating from college, Diane married Tom Gates, also from South Texas. They have a son, “Dos,” married to Samantha Shafer Gates from San Antonio, and two granddaughters, Isla and Louisa.
 
Diane and Tom lived in Laredo for 25 years before returning to their previous home, Corpus Christi. During those years in Laredo, Diane worked at a small private school as a teacher and a counselor. She has also been on the board of that school for over 25 years. Other board activities include the Board of Visitors of M D Anderson and the Board of Governors of Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi.
 
In her spare time, Diane enjoys entertaining and spending time with her family.

Charles Cusack

President & CEO, Recoil Resources

Charles is a seasoned veteran with a proven track record of success. He is a well-rounded leader with 34 years of industry experience and a broad background in exploration, exploitation, geology, geophysics, reservoir engineering, and operations. Prior to founding Recoil Resources he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Halcon Resources Corporation. Prior to joining Halcon, Charles was a Co-Founder and the Vice President of Exploration for Petrohawk Energy Corporation from 2003 until the company was sold to BHP Billiton in 2012. He also held various positions with Cockrell Oil, Hess, Tenneco and Chevron. Charles graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Geology and Engineering.

Richard Stoneburner

Chairman, Tamboran Resources

Mr. Stoneburner has over 47 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He currently is owner of Stoneburner Consulting Services. He served as Senior Advisor and Partner with Pine Brook Partners from April 2013 thru December 2022. He served as president of the North America Shale Production Division for BHP Billiton Petroleum from 2011 to 2012. From 2009 to 2011, Mr. Stoneburner served as president and chief operating officer of Petrohawk Energy Corporation. He was the company’s chief operating officer from 2007 to 2009 and led their exploration activities as executive vice president of exploration from 2003 to 2007. Mr. Stoneburner began his career as a geologist in 1977 and held positions at Texas Oil and Gas Corp., Weber Energy Corp., Hugoton Energy Corp. and 3TEC Energy Corp.
 
Mr. Stoneburner is non-Executive chairman for Tamboran Resources, director for Sitio Royalties and well as a director for private upstream companies Pursuit Oil and Gas and Elevation Resources. He is an advisor to Ayata, a private company developing AI. He also serves on the advisory council of The Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, on the visiting committee of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin and is a board member of Switch Energy Alliance. He is also a former board member for Memorial Assistance Ministries and past president and former board member of the Houston Producers Forum.
 
Mr. Stoneburner holds a B.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.S. in Geological Sciences from Wichita State University, was a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist’s Distinguished Lecturer Series in 2012-2013 and was awarded the Norman Foster Outstanding Explorer of the Year award by the AAPG in 2016.

Larry Oldham

Manager, Oldham Properties Ltd.

Larry earned a BBA in Accounting from West Texas State University in 1975 and began his career as an auditor with Peat Marwick Mitchell in Amarillo, focusing on oil and gas companies. He founded Parallel Petroleum Company in 1980, taking it public and later selling it to Samsung C&T in 2010.

He currently advises Gateway Royalty entities, serves as an operating partner with Mountain Capital, and sits on the boards of Hannathon Petroleum and High Peak Energy, where he is lead director and audit chair.

Bill Zagorski

Advisor & Former Vice President – Chief Geologist (Retired),
Range Resources Corporation

William (Bill) Zagorski has over 45 years petroleum exploration across the Appalachian, Fort Worth, Illinois, Michigan, North Louisiana, Powder River and Uintah Basins. He earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980 and 1992.  He served first as a geologist with Atlas Energy Group (1980 – 1982), exploration manager with Mark Resources Corporation (1982 – 1993), vice president of geology for Lomak Petroleum/ Great Lakes Energy Partners (1993 to 2003), and until his retirement in 2023, vice president/chief geologist with Range Resources Corporation.  At these positions, Bill and his geoscience teams were responsible for various Medina Sandstone, Devonian Shale and Upper Devonian tight gas sandstone projects in the Appalachian Basin as well as exploration activities in the Huntersville Chert, Oriskany Sandstone, Trenton – Black River, and Knox Unconformity plays.

Early notable achievements included his successful application of the basin center trapping mechanisms pioneered by John Masters in the Elmworth field in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin to the then evolving deep Lower Silurian Medina Sandstone tight sandstone play in northwestern Pennsylvania. Bill is best known for his role in pioneering the giant Marcellus shale play in Pennsylvania. In 2004, Bill and key members of his technical team identified the Marcellus shale concept for Range Resources. This unique opportunity was championed and led by the vision of Range’s CEO, Jeff Ventura, which led to the completion of the Renz Unit #1 Marcellus vertical shale discovery in late 2004 followed by the initial successful horizonal discovery wells in 2007. The Marcellus shale now produces over 30 BCFE/D and is considered one of the world’s largest gas fields. Bill and Range’s Marcellus technical teams have made many contributions to the pioneering, delineation and understanding of the Marcellus play.  Many studies have been shared through various papers and technical presentations at various AAPG, SPE, PAPG, NAPE and other industry events.

Nissa Darbonne

Executive Editor-at-Large, Hart Energy

Nissa Darbonne, author of “The American Shales,” began her journalism career in 1984 in the oil and gas fields of South Louisiana. She is executive editor-at-large for Hart Energy Publishing, including HartEnergy.com and Oil and Gas Investor magazine, which she joined in 1998. Previously, Darbonne was the business editor for The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana) and a correspondent to The Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). She received her B.A. in English and Journalism from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (University of Louisiana at Lafayette).

Thomas Jones

Managing Partner, Normont Creek Energy Partners, LLC

Tom has over 40 years of industry experience. He recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Common Resources II, LLC and Common Resources III, LLC. Previously for Common Resources LLC, he served as Vice President of Engineering. He started his career with Chevron Geosciences. He worked for several independents including Torch Energy Advisors and Barrett Resources Corporation. In 1999 he joined Spinnaker Exploration Company as the Exploitation Manager and stayed with the company through its merger with Hydro Gulf of Mexico, LLC in 2005. Tom held various positions with Hydro including Business Development Engineering Manager and Head of Operation & Field Development for the Gulf of Mexico business unit. Subsequently with Hydro’s merger with Statoil, Tom assumed the role of Head of Gulf of Mexico Operations.

Jose Nevarez

Managing Partner, Normont Creek Energy Partners, LLC

Jose Nevarez has over 44 years of industry experience. He began his career in 1981 with Cities Service/Oxy as a staff geophysicist, working offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout his career, he has held positions with both major and independent companies, including Arco and Vastar Resources, where he served as senior principal geophysicist and area manager for the deepwater eastern Gulf of Mexico. In 1999, he joined Spinnaker Exploration Company as an exploration geophysicist and was later promoted to area manager of deepwater operations. Jose remained with Spinnaker through its merger with Hydro Gulf of Mexico, LLC, in 2005, where he advanced to Vice President of Exploration for the Gulf of Mexico. In 2007, he transitioned to Common Resources as Vice President of Exploration, overseeing the accumulation of assets in both the Haynesville and Eagle Ford Shales. Following the successful sale of Common Resources in 2010, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of Operations and Exploration for Common Resources II, which acquired significant acreage in the oil-rich Midland Basin. In 2012, Common Resources II monetized these properties. From 2012 to 2016, Jose served as Chief Operating Officer of Common Resources III, where the company acquired assets in the Panhandle of Texas, the Midland Basin, and the Delaware Basin. In 2016, he founded Normont Creek Energy Partners, focusing on the acquisition of minerals and overriding interests. Jose holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Louisiana Tech University and a Master of Business Administration from LeTourneau University.