Board of Directors
Mr. Cross has served as a director of Diamondback since October 2012. Mr. Cross is owner of Michael P. Cross, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas producer, and serves as its President, a position he has held since January 2007. Mr. Cross also currently serves as a director of Warren Equipment Company, a position he has held since 2002. Mr. Cross served as a member of the executive committee of the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board from February 2005 until March 2014, where he was a member of the executive committee from 2007 until 2014. Mr. Cross also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association for over 18 years, and was inducted into its Wildcatters Hall of Honor. Mr. Cross served on the Board of Directors for OGE Enogex GP LLC from October 2007 to October 2008. Mr. Cross also served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Windsor Energy Resources, Inc. from December 2005 until December 2006. Mr. Cross served as President and Manager of Twister Gas Services, L.L.C., an oil and gas exploration, production and marketing company, from its inception in 1996 until June 2003 and served as President of its predecessor, Twister Transmission Company, from 1990 to 1996. Mr. Cross graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. We believe that Mr. Cross’s strong oil and gas background and executive management experience qualify him for service on our board of directors.
Mr. Houston has served as a director of Diamondback since October 2012. Since 1991, Mr. Houston has been the principal of Houston Financial, a firm providing wealth management services with a focus on the energy sector. Since 2000, Mr. Houston has managed a mineral trust with approximately 9,200 net acres in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico, which includes responsibility for leasing and production matters. Mr. Houston served on the board of directors as Chairman of the Board and a memberof the executive committee of Deaconess Hospital, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from January 1993 until December 2008 and was involved in negotiating a merger for the hospital. Mr. Houston served as a director of Gulfport Energy Corporation fromJuly 1998, and as Chairman of its Board from June 2013, in each case, until June 2020. Mr. Houston also served on Gulfport’s nominating and governance, audit and compensation committees. He served as a director of Bronco Drilling Company from May 2005 until December 2010 and was a member of its audit committee. Mr. Houston received a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Oklahoma State University and a graduate degree in banking from Louisiana State University. He is Chairman-Elect of the Oklahoma State University Foundation and was recognized as a Top 100 Graduate of the Last 100 Years by the Oklahoma State University College of Business. In 2020, Mr. Houston was recognized as a Significant Sig by the Sigma Chi fraternity. We believe that Mr. Houston’s financial background and his executive management experience qualify him for service on our board of directors.
Mr. Plaumann has served as a director of Diamondback since October 2012. He is currently a Managing Member of Greyhawke Capital Advisors LLC, or Greyhawke, which he co-founded in 1998. Prior to founding Greyhawke, Mr. Plaumann was a Senior Vice President of Wexford Capital. Mr. Plaumann was formerly a Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal, Inc. and the President of American Healthcare Management, Inc. He also was Senior Manager at Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Plaumann served as a director and audit committee chairman for ICx Technologies, Inc. from 2006 until 2010, served as a director and a member of the audit and compensation committees of Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. from 2002 until 2017 and currently serves as a director of several private entities. Mr. Plaumann also has served as a director, an audit committee chairman and a member of the conflicts committee of the general partner of Rhino Resource Partners LP, a coal operating company, from2010 until 2016. Mr. Plaumann holds an M.B.A. and a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida, where he currently serves on the Foundation Board and the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Business. We believe that Mr. Plaumann’s service on the boards of other public companies and his executive management experience, including previous experience as chairman of audit committees, qualifies him for service on our board of directors.
Mr. West has served as a director of our company since December 2011. Mr. West served as our Chairman of the Board from October 2012 to February 2022 and as our Chief Executive Officer from January 2009 to December 2011. From January 2011 until December 2016, Mr. West was a partner at Wexford Capital LP, or Wexford Capital, focusing on Wexford Capital’s private equity energy investments. From August 2006 until December 2010, Mr. West served as senior portfolio advisor at Wexford Capital. From August 2003 until August 2006, Mr. West was the chief financial officer of Sunterra Corporation, a former Wexford Capital portfolio company. From December 1993 until July 2003, Mr. West held senior financial positions at Coast Asset Management and IndyMac Bank. Prior to that, Mr. West worked at First Nationwide Bank, Lehman Brothers and Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., the predecessor of KPMG LLP. Since February 2014, Mr. West has also served as Chairman of the Board of the general partner of Viper Energy Partners LP (Nasdaq: VNOM), one of our publicly traded subsidiaries, and since May 2019, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Rattler Midstream LP (Nasdaq: RTLR), another of our publicly traded subsidiaries. Mr. West holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from California State University, Chico. We believe Mr. West’s background in finance, accounting and private equity energy investments, as well as his executive management skills developed as part of his career with Wexford Capital, its portfolio companies and other financial institutions qualify him to serve on our board of directors.