Oil and Gas Startups

As Chief Corporate Development Officer at Opportune, Denna’s primary focus is cultivating and sustaining new and existing client relationships across the firm and assisting service lines with project allocations and development. She has over 20 years of experience in corporate development, business development, project management, and acquisition and divestitures. Before joining Opportune, Denna previously served as Vice President of Corporate Development and Executive Director of Acquisitions & Divestitures at EnergyNet where she assisted the business development team with client relations, performance, and overall company objectives. Prior to becoming VP of Corporate Development, Denna has served in various business development and technical roles.

Denna earned her B.A. degree in Business Administration, as well as a Petroleum Land Management Certification, and holds FINRA Series 22 and 63 licenses.

Eric Madry is the Managing Director of Post Oak Minerals, joining in April 2021.

Prior to joining Post Oak Minerals, Eric was the Co-President and CFO of Victerra Energy (f/k/a Atlantic Resources Company), a private equity backed oil and gas operator in the Delaware Basin.  As part of Victerra’s executive team, Eric was responsible for corporate strategy, business development, capital planning, performance measurement, and company administration.

Previously, Eric was a Principal and Vice President at Stellus Capital Management and its predecessor D. E. Shaw & Co., where he was a key member of an energy investment team that originated over $1.4bn of equity and debt capital investments into upstream, midstream and oilfield service companies across 50+ transactions.

Eric began his career at Simmons & Company International, a leading energy focused investment bank, where he advised senior management and directors of public and private energy companies on buy-side and sell-side M&A engagements.

Eric received an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.  Additionally, Eric received BBA and MPA degrees from the University of Texas, McCombs School of Business.

Leslie Armentrout is President and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Cross Energy Partners.  Ms. Armentrout has over 25 years of experience in the upstream energy business.  She started her career in Midland, Texas as a Production Engineer in the Permian Basin with Texaco and stayed through the Chevron merger as she progressed through roles of increasing responsibility in Planning, Reservoir Engineering and Development, moving to Houston in 2003 after completing her MBA. After Chevron, she went to Hess and worked in technical, planning and leadership roles of increasing responsibility supporting US Onshore, Offshore and International assets. After Hess, she transitioned into Unconventionals and the Private Equity space, joining Atinum Energy Investments as Director of Engineering and then Murphy Oil as Reservoir Engineering Manager for US Onshore Unconventional assets.  These roles brought Ms. Armentrout back to Houston to help US Onshore teams grow their asset bases in a financially prudent manner.  In 2018 she and her family moved to Pittsburgh to lead the development team at CNX to continue to build CNX’s top tier Marcellus and Utica asset base.  In 2020 Ms. Armentrout joined Encino Energy, a private equity backed upstream operating company.  As the Corporate Reserves Manager she implemented SEC reporting standards and grow the Ohio Utica.  She and her family returned to their home in the Houston area in 2020.  In 2023, Ms Armentrout founded Silver Cross Energy Partners LLC (SCEP). SCEP acquires mature assets that present opportunity for optimization and growth.  SCEP is a low cost operator with a laser focus on cashflow.  Their investment, risk management and operating strategy is intended to provide a stable cashflow to their investor employees and shareholders. She is a recognized leader in Reserves, Business Development, Reservoir Dynamics as well as Unconventional Resource Development and Economic Assessment.  She has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.  Leslie and her husband Jim live in Richmond Texas on 2 acres in the country with their 2 teenagers and 2 dogs.  She loves to travel, fish and read books.

Mike Kifer currently serves as Vice President of Engineering for Westlawn, a private investment firm focused on long-term investment in the global oil and gas industry. Westlawn has partnered with best-in-class management teams to source, evaluate, and execute investments across the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Middle East. In this role, Mike leads the technical due diligence of investment opportunities for the firm.

 Prior to joining Westlawn, Mike was with EnerVest, Ltd. where he served in roles of increasing responsibility over eight years with the company. He joined EnerVest in 2014 as a senior member of the acquisitions team where he evaluated over $1.5 billion in assets successfully acquired on the behalf of EnerVest’s institutional partnerships. During this time, he held leadership roles as Vice President of Planning & Analysis and Vice President of Acquisitions & Divestitures. Prior to joining EnerVest, Mike was Vice President in the A&D Advisory practice at BMO Capital Markets. Mike began his career at ExxonMobil, contributing to various reservoir engineering and project management roles.  A native of Kansas, Mike graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University. Mike is an active member of Society of Petroleum Engineers, ADAM Houston, and Houston Producer’s Forum.

Kyle Noyes became President and COO of the company upon the formation of Grenadier Energy III. Prior to that, Kyle served as Executive Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Kyle joined Grenadier in August 2011 as the Drilling and Completions Manager and helped get the company over the finish line for the sale of Grenadier I’s Marcellus Shale assets. Since that time, he has worked in various Operations and Engineering roles for the company and was an integral part of building, growing, and monetizing Grenadier II. Prior to joining Grenadier, Kyle spent the first part of his career with Occidental Petroleum where he worked in their Permian business unit and spent five years overseas with Occidental of Qatar. Kyle graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering in May of 2000. He later obtained an MBA from the University of Texas in 2016.