Key Personnel

Jack E. Vaughn - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Jack Vaughn is currently Chairman and CEO of Peak Energy Resources, LLC. He previously was President and CEO of Peak Energy Resources, Inc. Prior to forming Peak, Vaughn was Vice President – Rocky Mountain Division for EnerVest Management Partners from 1996 to 2002. Vaughn managed a successful San Juan Basin CBM project held by an EnerVest/GE Capital partnership. This project was sold to Texaco in November 2001. He also managed the acquisition, development and divestiture of successful conventional Wyoming Green River Basin projects divested to Samson Resources in late 2002. Prior to that, he was an Executive Project Manager for the Hillman Company Energy Group, managing the development of a successful CBM project in the San Juan Basin from 1989 to 2006.  He previously worked as a consultant in drilling and completion operations and project management throughout the Rockies, East Texas, and the Mid-Continent for a number of independents.

Jack holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and started his career in 1968 with Amoco Oil Company. He has over 40 years of industry experience.

Alex McLean, P.E. – President

Alex McLean joined the Peak Energy management team in June 2003. His career has spanned over twenty-seven years working the Rockies and Mid-Continent in various production, operational and drilling engineering positions.  This includes stints with Tenneco Oil Company (1982 -1989: San Juan Basin), Meridian Oil (1989-1993: Williston Basin) and Samson Resources (1993 –1995: Anadarko Basin).

In 1995, Alex moved to Durango, Colorado and helped start Sagle, Schwab and McLean Energy Resources, an engineering/operations consulting company. While there, he spear-headed the $9.3 MM acquisition of Meridian Oil’s La Plata County, Colorado properties on behalf of SG Interests. That acquisition (made in late 1995) became the foundation of a Fruitland Coal resource play that sold six years later to Conoco for ~ $550 MM.

He is a 1982 graduate of the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering. He is also a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado.

Steven M. Thibodeaux - Vice President, Geologist

Steve Thibodeaux joined Peak Energy Resources in July 2003 where his primary responsibilities include planning and implementation of capital development projects, identification and assessment of acquisitions, oversight of operational activities in the field, and geological reservoir modeling for accurate reserve quantification. Steve brings over 28 years of geology experience to Peak.

Prior to joining Peak, he spent 10 years with Burlington Resources, Inc. in Farmington, New Mexico, where he was a Senior Staff Geologist and team leader of a multi-disciplinary team focusing on coalbed methane development and optimization in the San Juan Basin along with assessing both domestic and international CBM acquisition opportunities. During the twelve years prior to that, he worked as a contract geologist, well site geologist and mudlogger for numerous operators with extensive experience in the majority of Western US and Rocky Mt. basins.

Steve obtained a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas where he graduated Gamma Sigma Epsilon (Geological Honor Society) in 1981. Steve maintains memberships with the Four Corners Geological Society, GSA and AAPG.

Jeff M. Lowe – Vice President, Finance and Accounting

Jeff Lowe joined Peak Energy in August of 2004. He brings to Peak over 25 years of oil & gas accounting management experience to lead Peak’s finance and accounting staff. Most recently, Jeff held the positions of Vice President of Finance and Accounting (Shenandoah Energy) and Coordinating General Manager for Questar Corporation’s Uinta Basin Division (Denver, Colorado) where he was retained after its purchase of Shenandoah Energy, Inc. Since 1989, he has held several accounting management positions in the energy sector, working for Ocean Energy, Inc. (Denver, Colorado), K N Energy, Inc. (Denver, Colorado), and Apache Corporation (Denver, Colorado) and others.

Majoring in Accounting, Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska (Omaha). In 1996, Jeff obtained a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Regis University, Denver, Colorado, graduating with honors. He also holds a Certified Public Accountant license.

Matthew A. Gray, CPL – Vice President, Land

Matt joined Peak in July 2003 after three years as a landman for Burlington Resources, Inc.'s San Juan division.  His responsibilities at Burlington included securing, improving and perfecting Burlington’s legal right to drill and produce hydrocarbons throughout the San Juan Basin. He has provided land support for Peak's multi-state drilling program by working with industry partners, landowners, Indian Tribes and various regulatory agencies (BIA, BLM, Texas RRC, NDIC, NOGCC).

Matt received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 2000 where he majored in Energy Management with a minor in Finance. Matt is a Certified Professional Landman (CPL) and a current member of the American Association of Professional Landmen and the Four Corners Association of Professional Landmen.

Victor Rudolph, P.E. - Vice President, Production

Vic has over 23 years of diverse engineering experience within the industry, having worked for Marathon Oil Company (1985 -1996), Apache (1996 -2000) and Red Willow Production Company (2000- 2004). He has worked projects in Louisiana, Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Vic has been supporting Peak Energy since May, 2004 with completion, production and facility expertise.

Vic graduated with a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio.

Everett Toombs - Vice President, Drilling

Everett Toombs joined Peak Energy Resources in July 2003. His career spans 44 years in eighteen different countries and sixteen different states and includes all phases of drilling engineering, planning and supervision. His vast drilling knowledge was a key element to Peak’s success in the Texas Panhandle Granite Wash play and the Ft. Worth Basin Barnett Shale play. He was also a key player in Peak’s start-up drilling company – Pinnacle Drilling Company – that purchased, rebuilt, manned and managed three drilling rigs.

Everett graduated from USC with a degree in Petroleum Engineering after serving two years in the United States Marine Corps.

William F. Sawyer – Vice President, Technical Services

William joined the Peak Energy staff in September 2003. The previous five years, he worked for Burlington Resources Inc., Farmington, New Mexico as a Senior Staff Technician where he managed their digital wireline database (13,000 logs/500,000 curves) and provided professional technical assistance to geologists and engineers. Before that, William worked for Halliburton Energy Services out of Farmington, New Mexico as a field engineer primarily dealing with open hole and cased hole logging, log analysis and interpretation. In the summer of 1994,

William worked for Southwest Geophysical Services, Inc. before graduating from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering. William has a strong understanding of geological and engineering analysis software like IHS Energy-PETRA, Paradigm-GEOLOG, and Landmarrk-ZMAP and ESRI-ArcMap.

Sheila Thompson – Manager, Regulatory Affairs

Sheila has been with Peak Energy since its formation in November 2002. She possesses a significant background in oil and gas production. Her current responsibilities include managing and running all in-house reserve economics, environmental assessments, interacting with all regulatory agencies, nominating volumes, APD’s, gas imbalances, and marketing contracts as well as developing, implementing, and maintaining the company’s on-line production reporting database. Her computer expertise allows her to aid in geological electronic mapping and to troubleshoot/repair computer hardware/software issues. Before joining Peak Energy, Sheila worked for Ecosphere Environmental Services, Durango, Colorado, where she was their office manager. Prior to Ecosphere, she was with EnerVest San Juan Operating Company, Durango, Colorado, where she developed oil and gas field maps of current properties, performed property acquisition analysis, compiled and assessed budget versus actual information, and oversaw database management.

Sheila obtained a Bachelor of Science from the University of Vermont in 1989 majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Communications.

James (Jim) N. Bonaventura - Production Superintendent

Jim re-joined Peak Energy in February of 2008 as Production Superintendent after having worked previously for Peak in 2005 and 2006 supervising Texas production and completion operations in Peak's horizontal Barnett Shale wells. Jim supervises all production and completion operations in North Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming. Jim brings over 43 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in most major basins in the domestic United States. He has worked for Getty Oil, Supron Energy, Coseka Resources, Quinoco Petroleum, Hallwood Energy, Pure Resources and, most recently, Williams Company E&P in the Ft. Worth Basin.

After graduating high school, Jim served as a Jet Mechanic during the Vietnam War and was Honorably Discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1965. Durango natives, Jim and his wife are happy to call Durango home again.

Rick Sandau - District Completion Superintendent

Rick was added to the Peak Energy team in July 2008 to oversee completion operations in North Dakota.  He brings nearly two decades of completion experience to Peak. Most recently, Rick shouldered the responsibilites of district completion superintendent at Headington Oil Company out of Sidney, Montana from 2000-2008.  Before that, he worked for Hallwood Petroleum, Inc. - Denver, Colorado from 1993 to 2000.

Dale "Stretch" Wempen - Production Foreman

Stretch joined Peak Energy in March 2008 bringing over 28 years of experience in oil and gas gathering and transportation operations, equipment maintenance, construction and field management.  As Peak's Production Foreman in the Wind River Field, Stretch has demonstrated his expertise in gas compression, gas processing, gas accounting, safety and environment construction standards.

Before joining Peak in 2008, Stretch managed properties for various companies in the Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Utah) to include Bitter Creek Pipeline (2005-2008), Encana Oil & Gas, Inc. (2004-2005), Tom Brown Inc. (2000-2004), Kinder Morgan (1992-2000) and Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Company (1980-1992). 

Donald D. Buckner – Accounting Manager

Don joined the Peak's accounting group in November of 2004. He brings with him over 30 years of financial management and accounting experience, a majority of it in the energy sector. Most recently, Don worked for HRF Exploration & Production (Denver, Colorado and Gaylord, Michigan) as the Operational Controller. Prior to that, Don was the Assistant Controller at Forcenergy, Inc. (Metairie, LA) and Vice President & Controller at Gulfstream Resources, Inc. (Metairie, LA).

Don obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration from Washington State University. In 1997, he was certified as a public accountant in the State of Louisiana.

Jacqueline Manning – Accounts Payable Manager

With the company since July 2003, Jackie brings over 22 years of financial, administrative and contract management, and cost proposal preparation experience to Peak Energy. For six years before joining Peak, she acted as senior contract administrator for Altarum Institute (formerly Vector Research, Inc.) of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her cost analysis experience ranges from working for Ebasco Services, Inc., Denver, Colorado; Lockheed Martin, Denver, Colorado; and Control Systems, Inc., Denver, Colorado.

Jackie holds two Bachelor of Science degrees, one in Finance from Metropolitan State College in Denver and the other in Biology Education from the University of Illinois. She is a Certified Professional Contract Manager (CPCM), NCMA which she attained in 1999.

Carol Waltz – Property Accounting Manager

Carol Waltz joined the Peak accounting group in August 2005. She brings 30 years of oil and gas accounting experience primarily in the property accounting area. Her current responsibilities include all aspects of the JIB process, as well as payouts, AFE maintenance and tracking, property allocations, inventory and accounts receivable. Prior to joining Peak Energy, Carol held a similar position with Patina Oil & Gas, Questar Corporation, Shenandoah Energy, Ensign Oil & Gas and Bow Valley Petroleum in Denver, Colorado.

Carol is a past president of the Colorado Society of COPAS where she served on the Board of Directors for six years and chaired several committees. She maintains a membership in that organization. In 1997 Carol earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Regis University, Denver, Colorado, graduating with honors.

Jerry Modjeski – Revenue Manager

Jerry Modjeski joined Peak Energy in October 2005. Prior to joining Peak, Jerry worked for the University of Texas System Administration for 10 years as a senior financial analyst in the Office of Finance and as supervisor of the Lands Accounting Office, West Texas Operations. At University Lands, Jerry’s department was responsible for collecting, reporting, and analyzing oil & gas revenue for the 2.1 million acres owned and managed by the University. Jerry also worked at Chevron U.S.A. in the Gulf of Mexico Business Unit.  He began his professional career as a broker/analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.’s Houston office.

Jerry holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance with a minor in Accounting from California State University, Bay Area, and in 2001, Jerry received a MBA from Texas State University, graduating with honors.

Barbara Hampton - Manager of Human Resources and Risk Management

Barb has been with the Peak Energy team since September 2003.  She currently acts as office manager, human resources and benefits manager, and the company's primary insurance contact. Before joining Peak, she worked over 17 years for Durango Mountain Resort in both administrative and customer service capacities. She was the executive assistant to the President & CEO of Durango Mountain Resort before leaving in 2003.

Raised in Oklahoma City, Barb graduated with honors from the University of Oklahoma where she obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1983, majoring in finance.

Gretchen Tracy – Land Analyst

Gretchen has been with Peak since December of 2002. Her current duties include providing administrative support to both the Chairman and the Vice President of Land. As Land Analyst, she is responsible for creating and maintaining lease documents and files. She actively participates in lease curative efforts, and landowner communications and relations. She also assists in the preparation of division orders and accounting interest decks.

Gretchen obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO in Mathematics and French in 2007, graduating at the head of her class for both majors.

Lauren Zimmerman - Receptionist and Land Administrative Clerk

A recent addition to Peak Energy, teaming up in May 2008, is Lauren Zimmerman, who functions as both the Receptionist and Land Administrative Clerk.   Her duties include providing company-wide administrative support as well as assisting the Land department with various key projects. 

In April 2008, Lauren graduated with honors from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting as well as a minor in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.