Corporate Governance

Ben M. “Bud” Brigham is our founder and has served as the Executive Chairman of our board of directors since our inception and most recently as our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Brigham has founded several upstream energy enterprises, including Brigham Exploration Company in 1990, which completed its IPO in 1997. Mr. Brigham served as its President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors until its sale to Statoil in December 2011.

In 2012 Mr. Brigham founded Anthem Ventures, LLC, a family office. In that same year he and others founded Brigham Resources, which was subsequently sold to Diamondback in 2016. In 2012 he also co-founded Brigham Minerals Inc., to pursue mineral acquisitions in top-tier domestic shale resource plays. Brigham Minerals completed its IPO in 2019 (NYSE: MNRL), and Mr. Brigham served as its Executive Chairman until its merger with Sitio Royalties in 2022.

In 2017 Mr. Brigham founded Brigham Exploration Company, LLC (the second entity founded by Mr. Brigham with such name), a non-operating company focused on the Permian Basin. Brigham Exploration 1 (“BEXP 1”) was initially funded with Mr. Brigham’s capital, with subsequent investments by friends and family and a large institution. In the fourth quarter of 2021, new acreage and working interest acquisitions ceased in BEXP 1, and Brigham Exploration 2 (“BEXP 2”) commenced acreage and working interest acquisitions, with a larger capitalization including most of the BEXP 1 participants as well as additional institutions.

In 2022 he was a co-founder of Langford Energy Partners, which pursues the acquisition, development and optimization of operated oil and gas properties in top-tier shale resource plays.

Prior to founding Brigham Exploration Company in 1990, Mr. Brigham served for six years as an exploration geophysicist with Rosewood Resources, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, and as a seismic data processing geophysicist for Western Geophysical, a provider of 3-D seismic services. Mr. Brigham earned a Bachelor of Science in Geophysics from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Brigham is a member of the National Petroleum Council, The Bureau of Economic Geology Visiting Committee and the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee. Mr. Brigham was inducted into the All American Wildcatters in April 2012.

Mr. Brigham was selected to serve on the board of directors due to his knowledge in the industry and leadership of our Company since its inception.

Gayle Burleson was appointed to serve as a director of our board of directors in connection with our IPO in March 2023 and also serves as the Chair of our Compensation Committee and as a member of our Audit Committee. Ms. Burleson served as a director of Brigham Minerals from January 2022 until its merger with Sitio Royalties (NYSE: STR) in December 2022, where she currently serves on the board of directors. Ms. Burleson has served as a director for Select Water Solutions, Inc. since 2021, and previously served as a director for privately held Chisholm Energy Holdings, LLC from May 2021 until its acquisition by Earthstone Energy, Inc. (NYSE: ESTE) in February 2022. Ms. Burleson was most recently with Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) (“Concho”) as the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Land and held that position from May 2017 until Concho’s acquisition by ConocoPhillips in January 2021. She was employed for 15 years at Concho in various roles and capacities with ever-increasing leadership responsibilities. Prior to joining Concho, Ms. Burleson served in a number of engineering and operations positions with BTA Oil Producers, LLC, Mobil Oil Corporation, Parker & Parsley Petroleum Company and Exxon Corporation. Ms. Burleson received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas Tech University. Ms. Burleson was selected to serve on our board of directors in light of her knowledge of the energy industry.

Stacy Hock was appointed to serve as a director of our board of directors in connection with our IPO in March 2023 and also serves as a member of our Compensation Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee. Since 2008, Ms. Hock has been a private investor and philanthropist. Ms. Hock served on the board of directors for Brigham Minerals from January 2022 until its merger with Sitio Royalties (NYSE: STR) in December 2022. Since 2015, Ms. Hock has served on the boards of Aminex Therapeutics, a privately held clinical stage drug development company, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She has also served for the last ten years on the board of the African Dream Initiative. Since 2016, she has served on multiple boards associated with the University of Texas, including the Blanton Museum of Art National Leadership Board and The University of Texas at Austin McCombs MBA Advisory Board. In 2021, Ms. Hock joined the University of Austin Board of Advisors. Ms. Hock previously held senior management positions in the software industry, including IBM’s WebSphere Software Services business. Ms. Hock received her B.S. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her M.B.A from the University of Texas in Austin. Ms. Hock was selected to serve on the Board due to her finance and investment experience as a private investor.

Mr. Howard serves as Chairman and CEO of Howard Midstream Energy Partners, LLC (“HEP”), a diverse, multibillion-dollar energy company operating critical energy infrastructure in four states and Mexico. With more than 28 years of midstream energy experience, Mr. Howard has passionately led a purpose driven organization through some of the most challenging times in the oil and gas industry.

Prior to co-founding HEP in 2011, Mr. Howard was President of Midstream at Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP and ETE), a Fortune 100 energy company, where his responsibilities encompassed all aspects of the midstream, transportation and storage segments including business development, engineering, operations, contract administration, and compliance for both the regulated and non-regulated businesses. In addition to chairing the HEP Board of Directors, Mike serves on the Board of Directors of Jonah Energy LLC and the Boards of Trustees for the Texas A&M University, Kingsville Foundation, the United Way of Bexar County, and the Witte Museum. Mike received his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University, Kingsville.

Lance Langford was appointed to serve as a director of our board of directors in connection with our IPO in March 2023 and also serves as the Chair of our Nominating and Governance Committee and as a member of our Compensation Committee. Mr. Langford has over 30 years of oil and gas industry experience. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Langford Energy Partners I, LLC since 2020. He is a Co-Founder and has served as a member of the general partner of Brigham Royalties Fund I, LP since 2023.  Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, and director of Luxe Energy LLC and Luxe Minerals LLC from 2015 to 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Langford served as Senior Vice President for Equinor ASA (formerly named Statoil ASA) from 2011 to 2015. From 1995 to 2011, Mr. Langford built and led Brigham Exploration’s engineering, operations, marketing and midstream departments, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President—Operations at the time the company was purchased by Statoil. He started his engineering career with Burlington Resources Inc. from 1987 to 1995. Mr. Langford earned a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University. Mr. Langford was selected to serve on our Board in light of his knowledge of the energy industry and familiarity and experience with our predecessor, Atlas LLC.

Mark P. Mills was appointed to serve as a director of our board of directors in connection with our IPO in March 2023 and also serves as a member of our Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. Mr. Mills has been a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, an economics and policy research institute, since 2013, and a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science since 2014. He has also served as a strategic non-operating partner with Montrose Lane (an energy-tech venture fund) since 2017, and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Power Capital LLC, a boutique venture fund he co-founded in 2001 (ceased operation in 2009). Previously, Mr. Mills was chairman and Chief Technology Officer of ICx Technologies, Inc., from 2005 to 2008, aiding in its public offering in 2007. Mr. Mills served in the White House Science Office under President Reagan and subsequently provided science and technology policy counsel to a variety of private sector firms, the Department of Energy and U.S. research laboratories. Mr. Mills was a technology advisor for Bank of America Securities, Inc. and coauthor of the Huber-Mills Digital Power Report, a tech investment newsletter. Early in his career, Mr. Mills was an experimental physicist and development engineer at Bell Northern Research (Canada’s Bell Labs) and at the RCA David Sarnoff Research Center on microprocessors, fiber optics, missile guidance, earning several patents for his work. In 2016, Mr. Mills was named Energy Writer of the Year” by the American Energy Society. Mr. Mills holds a degree in physics from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Mills was selected to serve on our board of directors in light of his management skills and knowledge of the energy and the technology industries.

Douglas G. Rogers was appointed to serve as a director of our board of directors in connection with our IPO in 2023. Mr. Rogers served as a director of our predecessor, Atlas LLC, from 2018 to 2023.  Since 2015, Mr. Rogers has served as the Executive Director and Secretary/Treasurer of The Sealy & Smith Foundation, a charitable organization that has provided John Sealy Hospital and the University of Texas Medical Branch with over $1 billion in funding in furtherance of its mission to provide healthcare on Galveston Island, Texas. Mr. Rogers is also a member of the board of directors of The Sealy & Smith Foundation. Mr. Rogers holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas A&M University. Mr. Rogers was selected to serve on our board of directors as a representative of The Sealy & Smith Foundation and because of his background in banking, real estate and investments.

John Turner has served as our Chief Executive Officer since March 2024 and most recently as our Chief Financial Officer and President since November 2022. Prior to that, Mr. Turner served as Chief Financial Officer since our founding in 2017. Mr. Turner has over 20 years of oil and natural gas industry experience. Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Turner worked in various capacities for both public and private entities, with a focus on corporate finance, business development and strategic planning, including as Chief Financial Officer of Brigham Exploration Company, LLC (the second entity founded by Mr. Brigham with such name), Chief Financial Officer of Mediterranean Resources, LLC and Vice President of Brigham Exploration Company (NASDAQ: BEXP). Mr. Turner received a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Masters of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

Robb L. Voyles was appointed to serve as a director of our board of directors in connection with our IPO in March 2023 and also serves as the Chair of our Audit Committee. Mr. Voyles has served as a Mediator, Arbitrator and Referee/Special Master with JAMS, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution services worldwide since 2021. Mr. Voyles previously served as Executive Vice President, Secretary and Chief Legal Officer at Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) (“Halliburton”) from 2014 through 2021, where he led the company’s litigation, commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, labor and employment and ethics and compliance departments. He was also responsible for Halliburton’s corporate governance, directed its enterprise risk management program and guided the company’s sustainability and ESG design, practices and reporting. Mr. Voyles also served as Halliburton’s interim Chief Financial Officer in 2017. Prior to his tenure at Halliburton, Mr. Voyles spent 26 years with Baker Botts L.L.P., where he was a senior partner and the global chair of the litigation department. Mr. Voyles earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Dayton. Mr. Voyles was selected to serve on our board of directors in light of his experiences in the oil field services industry, and with corporate governance and legal matters.