OUR TEAM
CHRISTOPHER BEATO, PE
CEO & Co-founder
After beginning a career at Conoco, Beato has over thirty years of domestic and international oil and gas experience where he held various leadership positions with major and independent oil & gas companies while developing assets in over 42 different countries. Beato founded Exaro Energy in 2005 and has been focused on pioneering the redevelopment of oil condensate plays using new technology. Beato has invested ~ $1 billion in upstream E&P assets since founding Exaro, over $600 mm of which has been invested in Wyoming where at one point Exaro controlled the development of over 175,000 net acres held by ~85 mmcfe/d of production. Previously, Beato served as the Director of Baker Hughes Singapore and Managing Director of Baker Hughes Solutions for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Beato has authored 26 industry professional papers and articles and has 16 U.S. patents applied/issued, including a tender assist deep-water development technology that has been used to develop over 1 billion boe since 1999. Most recently,
Beato developed the patent pending “Effective kh” 3D seismic processing technology that integrates fracture stimulation data with seismic to map natural fractures in a shale reservoir to optimize the placement of horizontal wells. Beato graduated from Colorado School of Mines in 1986 with a degree in Petroleum Engineering and was later trained as a geologist while working at Conoco Inc.
Beato played football for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs before a shoulder injury cut his career short. After transferring to the School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, Beato found an insatiable passion for skiing. Beato continues to ski as much as he can, preferring to skin in the backcountry over taking a lift on the groomed mountains. Also doubling as a fly-fishing guide in his off time, Beato volunteers for Project Healing Waters where he teaches wounded military service members how to fly fish.
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WHITNEY WICKES
COO & Co-founder
Ms. Wickes is an energetic and passionate oil and gas professional with an interdisciplinary understanding uncommon among modern landmen. Idolizing the original generation of landmen that knew how to “do it all,” Wickes has always been determined to be a master of her craft. Her keen ability to answer high-stress problems with creative solutions led her to become the youngest female to sit on the executive team of a publicly traded oil and gas company. In 2016, Wickes was named VP of Land at Emerald Oil, Inc., a Bakken operator whose market cap reached nearly $1B at its peak. Following Emerald Oil, Wickes worked for an E&P focused on the SCOOP/STACK of Oklahoma before being hired by Mr. Beato to help close the $200M acquisition of Linn Energy’s assets in southwest Wyoming and form XRO Energy LLC. Wickes subsequently became the VP of Land at XRO, where she oversaw the land and regulatory teams managing an asset base of 175,000 net acres and 1,400 wells. Wickes graduated from
the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado with a degree in Finance and earned 3 certificates from the University of Denver within the field of Petroleum Land Management.
Born and raised in a small mountain town in Colorado, Wickes is an avid outdoorswoman and quickly fell in love with Wyoming while working at XRO. After having been a professional skier in her teenage years and a competitive marathoner and triathlete in her early 20s, Wickes’ main passion has always been and continues to be horses. Wickes currently trains out of Colts Unlimited in Sheridan and competes on the national hunter/jumper circuit.
Wickes was recently named to Forbes’ prestigious “30 Under 30” list for 2020.
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JUSTIN DAVIS
VP of Land
Davis grew up in Wyoming and started his professional career doing title and escrow for residential and commercial property. His work for an abstract company in Colorado’s DJ Basin was his first exposure to land and mineral rights transactions. With that same company, he also spent a few years in Southern California before moving back to Torrington, his hometown. There, he served six years as Office Manager for Powell Title & Escrow, a family-owned company with three satellite branches in the state. He moved to Sheridan in 2010 to join Western Land Services, where he worked on oil and gas development projects mainly in the Bakken and Powder River Basin.
Read MoreAs a Land Manager at WLS, Justin led teams of as many as 30 people to provide land services in the Rockies. He rolled up his sleeves to serve major and small developers alike to complete a diverse array of projects spanning multiple states. Justin’s career path has enabled him to develop a comprehensive skill set that includes transactions for private, public, and Native American land and includes all perspectives from landowner to producer and operator. His genuine and charismatic personality coupled with a passion for land work disposed him to become a key component of business development and client relations, where he gained a widespread reputation for honesty, hard work, and “riding for the brand.”
Justin is a member of the Wyoming Association of Professional Landmen and the American Association of Professional Landmen and has specialized his continuing education with programs offered by the WAPL/AAPL and other organizations that support the industry.
Justin doesn’t do a “half job” with anything and tenaciously peruses his work and leisure projects. In his free time, he enjoys lifting weights, learning about health and fitness, hiking, and fly fishing. He’s also a connoisseur of adventure and horror novels and films as well as classical music. He never starts eating a pizza or doughnut he does not intend to finish. Justin lives in Sheridan with his wife, Tracee, and two daughters. He has a life philosophy that love embraces all things, allows all things, trusts all things, transcends all things.
TYLER JENKINS
VP of Acquisitions & BD
Jenkins is a 4th generation oil and gas professional with 14 years of experience. His diverse work history covers all aspects of A&D and project development across many of the US’ top-tier plays. Beginning his career with a small Denver based independent, Jenkins successfully acquired several early-stage leasehold positions in the Bakken, Cotton Valley / Haynesville and the Marcellus / Utica / Trenton Black River. In 2008 Jenkins transitioned to a senior land role for private equity-backed Tracker Resource Development.
Read MoreWhile at Tracker, Jenkins worked on sourcing, closing, and facilitating the development of assets across the Rockies, west Texas and the mid-west. Tracker’s most notable success was the acquisition, development, and sale of a 160,000 net acre position underneath 60 producing wells. The position was sold to Hess in late 2010 for $1.05b. Subsequently, Jenkins began working for Aspect Energy, LLC, a privately-held company focused on building the land team necessary to support the development of conventional fields in southern Texas. Over the past several years, Jenkins has partnered with various leasehold, mineral, and royalty aggregators. Most recently, Jenkins served as the VP of Land for Sunrise Exploration & Production, building a sizeable position in central Louisiana’s TMS / Austin Chalk.
Although originally from Oklahoma, his love for the outdoors brought him to Colorado. Jenkins now spends his free time fly fishing, snowboarding and rafting with his wife and twin daughters across the Rocky Mountains. Jenkins graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado with a Bachelors in Business Administration and completed multiple certificates in Energy Land Management from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.
NICK FATSEAS
VP of Finance
Fatseas began his career in public accounting as an auditor for non-profit organizations in the Washington D.C. area after graduating from the University of Maryland in 2008. After becoming a CPA and moving to Colorado in 2011, he continued his work as an audit supervisor with Moss Adams LLP, managing audit engagements for publicly traded and privately held companies across a multitude of industries including oil and gas, renewables, manufacturing, and healthcare. After seven years in public accounting, Fatseas joined Fifth Creek Energy during its start-up phase, providing technical analysis for acquisitions, operational decisions, and financial reporting.
Read MoreUpon Fifth Creek’s merger and rebranding with Bill Barrett Corporation in 2018, Fatseas transitioned into working as the Senior Financial Analyst for HighPoint Resources, a large Denver-Julesburg basin operator, covering investor relations, treasury, operations and financial reporting. Fatseas joined Rocking WW in October of 2019 as the VP of Finance and is responsible for the accounting, finance, and human resources functions of the company.
Growing up in Owings, Maryland, Fatseas was an athlete, playing lacrosse and football from an early age. Like many east-coasters who have moved west, he has a genuine passion for the outdoors, enjoying camping and hunting with family and friends in the warmer months, while cross-country skiing and an occasional ice climb keeps him going in the colder months.
