Management

Ryan Smith - President, CEO and Director
Mark Zajac - Chief Financial Officer
Jakob Hulcy - VP of Operations
Kip Ferguson - Exploration and Business Development
Mason McGuire - Director of Corporate Development

Mr. Smith has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and President since December 2019. Mr. Smith joined the Company in January 2017 and served as Chief Financial Officer from that time through June 2023. Prior to U.S. Energy, Mr. Smith served as Emerald Oil Inc.’s Chief Financial Officer from September 2014 to January 2017 and Vice President of Capital Markets and Strategy from July 2013 to September 2014. Prior to joining Emerald, Mr. Smith was a Vice President in Canaccord Genuity’s Investment Banking Group focused solely on the energy sector. Mr. Smith joined Canaccord Genuity in 2008 and was responsible for the execution of public and private financing engagements along with mergers and acquisitions advisory services. Prior to joining Canaccord Genuity, Mr. Smith was an Analyst in the Wells Fargo Energy Group, working solely with upstream and midstream oil and gas companies. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from Texas A&M University.

Mr. Zajac began his public accounting career in 1994 with Arthur Andersen and later joined KPMG where he was a partner and national industry leader for many years prior to his retirement. Mr. Zajac’s career includes serving a variety of public and private companies throughout the energy value chain, including exploration and production, master limited partnerships, trading and marketing, independent power sectors and Special Purpose Acquisition Companies as well as extensive experience with securities and exchange offerings, mergers and acquisitions and global accounts. These experiences have exposed him to a wide variety of business experiences including PCAOB requirements, IPOs, emerging accounting and industry views, internal control effectiveness assessments, security offerings and various rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Zajac earned his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration, from Texas Tech University. He is a licensed Texas Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Hulcy has most recently served as the Company’s Operations Manager and has been with the company since January 2022. Prior to U.S. Energy, Mr. Hulcy served at H2O Midstream, LLC. from 2020 to 2022 and at Delaware Energy Services as the Senior Facilities Engineer from 2018 to 2020, managing pipelines, facility designs and construction, as well as daily operations. Prior to his time in the midstream sector, he served various operational engineering roles from 2012 to 2018 at Murex Petroleum Corporation with a primary focus on unconventional Bakken wells. Mr. Hulcy earned his B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University.

Mr. Ferguson has served as Exploration and Business Development team lead since January 2022. He brings over thirty-five years of executive management experience in public and private corporations encompassing energy evaluation, drilling & completion operations, acquisitions & divestitures and project management for both fossil fuels and green sustainability programs. Mr. Ferguson served as EVP of Magnum Hunter Corp. and President of the Eagle Ford division building it into a $1 billion asset and property using successful development strategies with technical evaluations, optimization and efficiencies.  Mr. Ferguson has managed large oil and gas reserve evaluations that follow Securities Exchange Commission guidelines for public company disclosures. Mr. Ferguson has served on several Board of Directors in the United States, Canada and Australia and has co-authored industry technical papers, as well as, served on many executive teams and professional panels. Mr. Ferguson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from The University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. McGuire has served as our Director of Corporate Development since April of 2022 and is largely responsible for our acquisition and divestiture diligence and corporate finance related functions. Prior to joining U.S. Energy, he served as a Consultant at Opportune LLP in their Restructuring and Complex Financial Reporting group. While at Opportune, his efforts were focused on transactional due diligence and in- and out-of-court restructuring advisory services to a variety of public and private clients primarily within the upstream and oilfield service space. Mr. McGuire earned his B.A. in Finance and Energy Management from the University of Oklahoma.