AAPL Announces 2024-2025 Executive Committee

The new slate of officers is led by Nancy McCaskell, CPL — the second woman in AAPL’s 70-year history to serve as president 

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — July 23, 2024 — The American Association of Professional Landmen, the energy industry’s premier land association, installed members of its 2024-2025 Executive Committee at its 2024 Annual Meeting in Boston in June. These seven energy executives and experts are optimistic about the future of energy — the industry that powers the world — and eager to help landmen maximize their many opportunities in the energy expansion.

“As we approach our seventh decade as an organization, we have a rich and vibrant history for which we are thankful and a future full of possibilities,” said Nancy C. McCaskell, CPL, AAPL’s incoming president. “AAPL’s definition of landwork embodies the ideas of what the energy future will bring to us — oil and gas, wind, solar, lithium from brine and a multitude of other resources. The vastness of the resources before us — our human resources, our energy resources — calls upon each of us to participate, shoulder to shoulder, in the endeavor to ensure our association continues to thrive far into the future.”

McCaskell is president of Masonboro Energy LLC, a Dallas-based consulting firm focused on energy and landwork. Her more than three decades of experience managing and leading acquisitions, divestitures and negotiations stretches across the Barnett, Haynesville, Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, Eagle Ford, Permian, San Juan, Fayetteville and Anadarko basins. McCaskell has served as a liaison with state oil and gas associations and regulatory bodies. She counts working with the Louisiana Office of Conservation to create new policies allowing for cross unit wells as a career highlight. Among her honors, she was named the Dallas Association of Petroleum Landmen’s 2023 Landman of Year and received AAPL’s 2020 Blankenship Family Horizon Award, which recognizes an exceptional female land professional and role model. Additionally, McCaskell serves on the DAPL board of directors and is an advisory member to the University of Oklahoma College of Law MLS and LLM programs in energy and natural resources.

“As I focus on AAPL’s strategic path forward, it’s with an awareness of both our challenges and opportunities and a commitment to listen and to serve our organization with my whole self so that at the end of the day we can all say we did our best for our beloved AAPL,” McCaskell said.

McCaskell is joined on the 2024-2025 AAPL Executive Committee by a slate of exceptional energy industry leaders:

First Vice President Kyle B. Reynolds, CPL, is a managing member for RBG Permian LLC in Midland, Texas. He also is co-owner of Benjamin Lee Bison, a direct-to-consumer meat business; Fair-Weather Friend, an Oklahoma City brewpub; and Greenway Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm. Over the years Reynolds has served in many AAPL leadership roles, including treasurer, Black Warrior Association of Professional Landmen director and chairman of the Marketing Committee, the Sustainability Taskforce, and the Bylaws, Policy and Procedures Rewrite Taskforce. He currently is a member of the NAPE Operators Committee.

Second Vice President Mark Caponegro, CPL, is a senior landman at Faulconer Energy in Tyler, Texas, where he is responsible for all land-related matters for assets located in East Texas and the Texas Gulf Coast, including overseeing lease maintenance and curative efforts, A&D work, land guidance for operations, surface owner response and business development. He has volunteered on AAPL’s Accreditation Committee since 2019 and served as its chair in 2020-21. He also is a member of the NAPE Operators Committee.

Third Vice President William E. “Bill” Hackett, CPL, is the managing member of WCM Resources LLC and Portal 2 Energy LLC in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is involved with providing remote/on-site broad spectrum land management services involving fee, state, tribal and federal lands across the Delaware Basin and San Juan Basin in New Mexico. Additionally, he is a licensed commercial real estate broker associate in New Mexico and supports the development of utility scale and community solar garden renewable energy projects across the state. Hackett has served as an officer in the San Juan Basin Landman’s Association and the New Mexico Landmen’s Association and as chairman of the Santa Fe Land Institute and San Juan Basin Land Institute. 

Treasurer Amy L. Gwyn, CPL, is manager of land data and minerals at Devon Energy in Oklahoma City, where she has supported rig lines in Texas and Mid-Con assets and has considerable experience in leading multidisciplinary teams, including surface and subsurface landmen, land analysis, regulatory, data management and GIS professionals. Through evaluation, negotiations and title due diligence, she and her teams support leasehold and producing property transactions and energy addition projects and investments. Gwyn has served AAPL and the Oklahoma City Association of Professional Landmen on various committees, including Legislative Affairs, Membership and Certification. She is a past chair of the AAPL Certification Committee and a current member of the NAPE Operators Committee.

Secretary Christine J. Touchstone, CPL, is land manager at LeFrak Energy, the oil and gas division of the LeFrak Organization, a privately held real estate and investment company based in New York City. She manages LeFrak Energy oil and gas assets in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas and works with its acquisitions and divestitures team. She serves on the Houston Association of Professional Landmen’s Gala and Saturday Seminar committees, is active in the Mentor Program and is a past Executive Night chair and past HAPL Region IV AAPL director. She has served on multiple AAPL committees, is a Mentor Program participant and held the appointment of education czar for 2023-2024. She also is a member of the NAPE Operators Committee. 

Immediate Past President Brooks Yates, CPL, is senior vice president of A&D/land at Peregrine Petroleum Partners Ltd., an oil and gas exploration and production company with offices in Dallas and Houston and operations in Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Louisiana. A member of AAPL since 1985, Yates served as president, first vice president and treasurer; spent three terms as a director; and chaired multiple committees, including the NAPE Advisory Board, NAPE Operators Committee, Southwest Land Institute, Publications Committee and Marketing Committee. He also served as president of the Dallas Association of Petroleum Landmen in 1992 and again in 2008 and was its Landman of the Year in 2009 and 2021. Among his other industry leadership roles, Yates has served as Dallas Producers Club president, Dallas Wildcatters board member and Southwest Land Institute chairman.

ABOUT AAPL

Founded in 1955, AAPL is the land profession’s trusted resource for support, ethical standards of practice, career advancement and legislative advocacy. With close to 12,000 members, AAPL serves as a guiding resource to support landmen as they continue their education in our ever-evolving world. To stay connected with AAPL, visit landman.org and follow AAPL on X @AAPLlandman, Facebook @AAPLAmericasLandmen, Instagram @aapllandman and LinkedIn.

ABOUT NAPE

The largest energy prospect expo in the world, NAPE was founded in 1993 by the American Association of Professional Landmen and also includes the Independent Petroleum Association of America, Society of Exploration Geophysicists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists as partner hosts. The annual NAPE Summit brings together prospects and all the key players needed to evaluate, facilitate and execute deals across all sections of the energy industry. The 2025 NAPE Summit will be held Feb. 5-7 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. To stay connected on all things NAPE, please visit NAPEexpo.com and follow NAPE on X @NAPE_EXPO, Facebook @NAPEexpo, Instagram @napeexpo and LinkedIn.