Ryan Turner was Chief Investment Officer and Chief Financial Officer - Institutional Investments, of American Energy Partners, LP (AELP), a company formed in 2013 by Aubrey K. McClendon. Prior to AELP, Mr. Turner served in financial and strategic capacities at private-equity backed E&P companies. He was Vice President - Finance & Strategy at Caelus Energy, a Dallas-based international E&P company with assets in Southeast Asia and Alaska. He was Vice President - Strategy & Business Development for Kosmos Energy, a Dallas-based international E&P company, now public, with assets offshore West Africa and on the Atlantic Margin. Mr. Turner also worked as an investment banker at Citigroup with its New York and Houston energy groups. He has been involved in over $51 billion of M&A transactions, public equity and debt offerings and private financings. He earned a B.A. from Duke University.
Wes Brown, Vice President of Land Operations, is based in Oklahoma City. Prior to Stronghold, Mr. Brown was a Financial Analyst for IAP where he concentrated on the Aviation and Engineering Solutions segment of the company, on US Government programs, ranging from aircraft repair with the US Forest Service to helicopter overhaul with the Afghan National Army in Afghanistan. Mr. Brown earned a B.B.A in Finance from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Jack Reilly, CFA, CPA, Managing Director, is based in Dallas. Mr. Reilly was a Director at EnCap Investments L.P., a $37 billion energy-focused private equity fund. At EnCap, Mr. Reilly served on the boards of twelve portfolio companies and was actively involved in all aspects of management, origination, evaluations, acquisition/dispositions, capital allocation, structuring, negotiations and risk management of EnCap’s investments. Prior to joining EnCap, he worked for Evercore Partners, where he focused on M&A advisory work and restructuring within the energy industry. He also worked at Ernst & Young, LLP in its Transaction Advisory Services group focused on energy M&A. Mr. Reilly graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Honors Program at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, where he received an M.S. in Finance and a B.B.A. in Accounting. He is a CFA charterholder, a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of several industry groups.
Quin Cogdell V, CPA, Managing Director, is based in Dallas. Mr. Cogdell previously served as the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Product Officer at A2 Access, a New York-based financial technology firm. Prior to joining A2 Access, he worked as an Associate at PwC in New York where he provided tax, valuation and advisory services to global real estate private equity firms. Mr. Cogdell is a licensed CPA in New York.
Isaac Antebi, Managing Director – IT, is based in Dallas. Prior to Stronghold, Mr. Antebi worked for a local Managed Service Provider responsible for the support, security and infrastructure on numerous accounts. Mr. Antebi also spent over 5 years working as a Senior Systems Engineer for The Howard Hughes Corporation. Mr. Antebi earned a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology from the University of Texas at Dallas as well as earning multiple information technology certifications. He is also a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Zach Watkins, Director of Operations and Human Capital
Jordan Spencer, Senior Legal & Data Analyst, is based in Dallas. Mr. Spencer previously worked as a corporate paralegal at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in their private funds group. He graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics.
Andrew Kock, Vice President - Geoinformatics, is based in Oklahoma City. Prior to joining Stronghold, Mr. Kock served as an IT Systems Analyst at Permian Resources managing their GIS and Petrotechnical systems. Before Permian, he served as a Geospatial Projects Coordinator at AELP and GIS Coordinator at Chesapeake Energy Corporation. Mr. Kock received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Oklahoma.
Dylan Collins is the Petrotechnical Director at Stronghold. Prior to Stronghold, Mr. Collins was a Geologist for Pioneer Natural Resources where he was responsible for strategic development in the Permian Basin including mapping, modeling, seismic interpretation and technical research contributing to the development of over 1,200 horizontal wells in the Midland Basin. Prior to Pioneer, Mr. Collins served in the U.S. Marine Corps Infantry for 10 years. Mr. Collins earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Geology with distinction from San Diego State University and a Master of Science in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Dr. Jason Vertrees is an experienced technology leader focused on growing companies by building collaborative, cross-functional teams to deliver great software products. For more than a decade, he has held technical executive positions in a variety of early- and mid-stage companies. He has led Technology, Technical Product Management, Engineering, and Data Science. Jason remains very technical, though, enjoying the chance to dive deep into the weeds of modern software development when needed. Jason has developed software for desktop, mobile, and cloud, spanning a variety of industries including pharma, commercial real estate, e-commerce, and supply chain. Dr. Vertrees graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with two Bachelor's degrees, one in Computer Science and the other in Japanese. He received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Biophysics from the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Vertrees spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher, shared between Dartmouth College and Boston University, researching machine learning applications for the prediction of protein function annotation. Jason lives in Austin, TX, with his wife and daughter. He can often be seen running around Town Lake for fun.