SAM L. BANKS – FOUNDER, PRESIDENT AND CEO
Mr. Banks is the founder and majority owner of Yuma Energy, Inc. He has 37 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, the majority of which he has been leading Yuma. He graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana with a B.A. degree in 1972. In 1976, he served as Republican Assistant Finance Chairman for the Re-election of President Gerald Ford, under former Secretary of State Robert Mosbacher. From the end of 1976 to 1982, Mr. Banks was assistant to the President of Tomlinson Interests, a private, independent oil and gas company. Mr. Banks founded Yuma in 1983, and has been responsible for all aspects of the company’s business growth, including the development of Yuma's business opportunities in exploration, production, pipelines, gas distribution, and gas trading.
RICHARD K. STONEBURNER – CHAIRMAN, APPOINTED IN SEPTEMBER 2013
Mr. Stoneburner has more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He holds a B.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas and a M.S. in Geological Sciences from Wichita State University. Mr. Stoneburner began his career as a geologist in 1977, and held positions of responsibility and leadership with Texas Oil and Gas Corp., Weber Energy Corp., Hugoton Energy Corp. and 3TEC Energy Corp. He joined Petrohawk Energy in 2003, where he led Petrohawk’s exploration program from 2005 to 2007 prior to serving as the company’s President and COO from 2007 to 2011. When BHP Billiton acquired Petrohawk in 2011, he was appointed President of the North America Shale Production Division where he managed operations in the Fayetteville Shale, the Haynesville Shale, the Eagle Ford Shale, and the Permian Basin divisions. Mr. Stoneburner currently serves on the Board of Directors of Newfield Exploration and Cub Energy and serves as a Senior Advisor to the private equity firm Pine Brook Partners. Prior to his appointment as Director, he was a Board Advisor to Yuma from July 2013.
JAMES W. CHRISTMAS – APPOINTED IN SEPTEMBER 2013
Mr. Christmas has extensive experience in oil and gas company growth issues, with a focus on capital structure and business development strategies. He began his career as a Certified Public Accountant in New York. He was with Arthur Andersen & Co. from 1970 until 1978, before leaving to join National Utilities & Industries (“NUI”), a diversified energy company, as Vice President and Controller. He remained with NUI until 1988, when NUI spun out its unregulated activities that ultimately became part of KCS Energy, Inc. Mr. Christmas served as President and CEO of KCS from 1988 until 2003, and Chairman of the Board and CEO from 2003 until KCS’s merger into Petrohawk in 2006. During his time as CEO, Mr. Christmas helped build KCS from a $10 million company to one of nearly $2.0 billion in value at the time of the merger with Petrohawk in 2006. BHP Billiton acquired Petrohawk in August 2011, and at the request of BHP, Mr. Christmas has continued to serve as a director of Petrohawk and Chairman of its financial reporting committee. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Halcon Resources Corporation, and is a guest lecturer of a graduate class in entrepreneurship at St. John’s University in New York. In addition, he serves on the advisory board for The Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St John’s, and underwrites an annual business plan competition to foster entrepreneurship.
FRANK A. LODZINSKI – APPOINTED IN AUGUST 2012
Mr. Lodzinski has more than 40 years of oil and gas industry experience, including the successful completion of several reverse mergers. He holds a BSBA degree in Accounting and Finance from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and from 1971 to 1984, Mr. Lodzinski was employed in public accounting and industry. In 1984, he formed Energy Resource Associates, Inc., which acquired management and controlling interests in oil and gas limited partnerships, joint ventures and producing properties. Certain partnerships were exchanged for common shares of Hampton Resources Corporation in 1992, which Mr. Lodzinski joined as a director and President. Hampton was sold in 1995 to Bellwether Exploration Company. In 1996, he acquired Cliffwood Oil & Gas Corp., and in 1997, Cliffwood shareholders acquired controlling interest in Texoil, Inc., where Mr. Lodzinski served as CEO, President and Director. In 2001, Texoil, Inc. was sold to Ocean Energy, Inc., and Mr. Lodzinski was appointed CEO, President and Director of AROC, Inc. to direct the restructuring and ultimate liquidation of that company. In 2003, AROC completed a monetization of oil and gas assets with an institutional investor and began a plan of liquidation in 2004. In 2004, Mr. Lodzinski formed Southern Bay Energy, LLC, whose general partner Southern Bay acquired the residual assets of AROC, Inc. In 2007, core investors and management invested additional cash and merged Southern Bay into GeoResources Inc., where Mr. Lodzinski served as CEO, President and Director until the company was sold to Halcon Resources for $1.0 billion in 2012.
STUART E. DAVIES, CFA – APPOINTED IN OCTOBER 2016
Mr. Davies has served as a director of Davis since 2006. Mr. Davies also serves as a Managing Director at Bain Capital Credit (“BCC”). Mr. Davies joined Bain Capital Credit in 1999. He is a Managing Director and the Chief Investment Officer of BCC’s Opportunistic Credit business. He serves as the Portfolio Manager for the BCC's Credit Opportunities funds and BCC's separate accounts in opportunistic credit. Prior to his current role, Mr. Davies was responsible for investments in the Metals and Mining sectors and ran BCC’s Middle Market Group from 1999 to 2008. Previously, he worked at the Prudential Capital Group, where he originated private placements and managed a portfolio of private placement investments primarily in the industrial manufacturing, mining, and service industries. In addition to serving as a Director of Davis, Mr. Davies serves as a Director of White Oak Energy and an Advisor of Nicolet Capital Partners, LLC. Mr. Davies is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He received an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.A. from Yale University.
NEERAJ MITAL – APPOINTED IN OCTOBER 2016
Mr. Mital has served as a director of Davis since 2009. He was formerly a Senior Managing Director of Evercore Partners Inc., a New York-based global investment banking advisory and investment management firm, and Co-Head of its private equity business. Mr. Mital has twenty-seven years of experience in principal investing and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Evercore in 1998, he was a Managing Director at The Blackstone Group. From 1989 through 1991, Mr. Mital was with Salomon Brothers Inc. Prior to joining Salomon Brothers, he was a CPA with Price Waterhouse. Mr. Mital has also served on the Board of Directors of Sentral Energy, Ltd. since 2015 and Alliantgroup, LP since 2006. He received a B.S. in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
J. CHRISTOPHER TEETS – APPOINTED IN OCTOBER 2016
Mr. Teets has been a partner of Red Mountain Capital Partners LLC (“Red Mountain”), an investment management firm, since February 2005. Before joining Red Mountain, Mr. Teets was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Teets joined Goldman, Sachs& Co. in 2000 and was made a Vice President in 2004. Prior to Goldman, Sachs & Co., Mr. Teets worked in the investment banking division of Citigroup. Mr. Teets has also served as a director of Marlin Business Services Corp., since May 2010, as a director of Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., since December 2015 and as a director of Air Transport Services Group, Inc. since February 2009. Mr. Teets also previously served as a director of Encore Capital Group, Inc. from May 2007 until June 2015, and Affirmative Insurance Holdings, Inc., from August 2008 until September 2011. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Occidental College and an MSc degree from the London School of Economics.