Leadership

Operators and dealmakers with experience across major U.S. basins.

High Ridge Oil & Gas is led by a team with deep roots at XTO Energy and ExxonMobil, more than $500 million in completed acquisitions, and a proven track record of operating, developing, and scaling energy assets.

Executive Team

Meet the leadership.

A focused team accountable for strategy, operations, exploration, finance, and execution at High Ridge Oil & Gas.

Russell English

Co-Founder

Russell English is Co-Founder of High Ridge Oil & Gas LLC. He brings extensive experience in land, acquisitions, and asset development, having previously worked at XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. Over his career, Russell has led and executed more than $500 million in acquisitions and played a key role in building and scaling energy assets across multiple basins. He previously co-founded Trailhead Exploration, where he served as CEO and helped grow a significant operated position across Oklahoma and North Texas.

Industry Experience

Russell built the foundation of his career at XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, where he led land and acquisition efforts across some of the most active oil and gas basins in the United States. His tenure spanned both legacy conventional assets and large-scale unconventional development programs, giving him a deep working knowledge of how operated positions are sourced, structured, and grown.

Leadership & Achievements

Across his career, Russell has led and executed more than $500 million in acquisitions, ranging from individual asset packages to multi-basin transactions. As Co-Founder and CEO of Trailhead Exploration, he assembled and grew a significant operated position across Oklahoma and North Texas, overseeing the full deal cycle from origination to close and post-close development.

Role at High Ridge

At High Ridge Oil & Gas, Russell sets the company's strategic direction, leads capital and acquisition strategy, and manages key partner and investor relationships. His focus is on disciplined growth — pursuing assets where High Ridge can apply its operating capability and create durable, long-term value.

Josh Duvall

Co-Founder

Josh Duvall is Co-Founder of High Ridge Oil & Gas LLC. With a background in engineering and operations at XTO Energy and ExxonMobil, Josh has led drilling, completion, and production efforts across the U.S. and Canada. He has extensive experience in reservoir development, asset optimization, and large-scale project execution, including the development of major shale assets and management of multi-million dollar acquisition strategies.

Early Career

Josh began his career as an engineer at XTO Energy and continued through its integration into ExxonMobil. He worked across drilling, completions, and production engineering groups, developing a hands-on understanding of how field decisions translate into long-term well performance.

Industry Experience

Josh has led drilling, completion, and production programs across multiple U.S. basins as well as in Canada. His work has spanned major shale developments, secondary recovery projects, and conventional production optimization, with a consistent emphasis on capital efficiency and reservoir-aware execution.

Leadership & Achievements

He has overseen reservoir development plans, asset-level optimization programs, and large-scale project execution, and has helped shape multi-million dollar acquisition strategies — evaluating reserves, operations, and integration risk on assets brought into the portfolio.

Role at High Ridge

As Co-Founder, Josh leads day-to-day operations at High Ridge Oil & Gas, including engineering, drilling and completions, production, and field execution. He is responsible for translating company strategy into safe, repeatable, and economically sound operations on the ground.

Brady Sullivan

Co-Founder

Brady Sullivan is Co-Founder of High Ridge Oil & Gas LLC. With over 15 years of hands-on industry experience, he specializes in full-cycle asset management, drilling, completions, and operational efficiency. Known for his leadership in the field and strong vendor relationships, Brady brings a practical, results-driven approach to improving well performance and reducing operating costs.

Industry Experience

Brady brings more than 15 years of hands-on oil and gas experience, built primarily in the field. He has worked across drilling, completions, workovers, and production operations, with direct accountability for well delivery, uptime, and field-level cost performance.

Leadership & Achievements

He has led full-cycle asset management programs — from drilling and completion design through ongoing production optimization — and is recognized for building disciplined field organizations and durable vendor relationships that consistently improve well performance and lower lifting costs.

Role at High Ridge

At High Ridge, Brady leads field operations and execution. He is responsible for drilling and completion delivery, production operations, contractor management, and the operational standards that govern safe, efficient work on every High Ridge location.

R.B. White

Finance Manager

R.B. White is a finance and energy professional with over a decade of experience spanning midstream energy finance, direct lending, and investment banking. He began his career with Frost Bank's Energy Lending group before moving into equity research and later investment banking advising consumer and retail companies on M&A transactions. He later joined ORIX Corporation USA where he underwrote and executed leveraged credit investments across a range of industries.

Industry Experience

R.B. began his career in Frost Bank's Energy Lending group, then transitioned through equity research and investment banking, advising consumer and retail companies on M&A transactions. At ORIX Corporation USA, he underwrote and executed leveraged credit investments across a wide range of industries, building a broad foundation in structured finance and credit analysis.

Leadership & Achievements

R.B. joined Canes Midstream in 2020 as Finance Manager, contributing to financial planning, commercial development, and capital markets activity. His experience includes leading securitization initiatives, recapitalization efforts during the 2023 regional banking crisis, acquisition execution, and maintaining the company's corporate financial model.

Role at High Ridge

At High Ridge Oil & Gas, R.B. leads corporate finance, capital markets activity, and financial planning — partnering with leadership on acquisition underwriting, capital structure, and investor reporting.

Rafael Zelaya

Exploration Executive

Rafael Zelaya is an exploration executive with more than 20 years of experience in upstream oil and gas, including prospect generation, field development, acquisitions and divestitures, and strategic capital allocation. He has worked across many major North American basins including the Permian Basin, East Texas, Appalachia, and the Powder River Basin.

Industry Experience

Rafael has more than 20 years of upstream oil and gas experience spanning prospect generation, field development, acquisitions and divestitures, and strategic capital allocation. His work covers many of the most active North American basins, including the Permian Basin, East Texas, Appalachia, and the Powder River Basin.

Leadership & Achievements

He has held leadership positions at XTO Energy, Gastar Exploration, Terrace Energy, and Burnett Oil Co., with extensive experience leading geology and geophysics operations, exploration planning, acquisitions, and executive-level presentations to boards and capital partners.

Role at High Ridge

At High Ridge Oil & Gas, Rafael leads exploration strategy, prospect generation, and subsurface evaluation — guiding where and how the company allocates capital across the basin portfolio.

Jenny Anderson

Sr. Data Analyst

Energy professional with a strong technical background across engineering, geology, and land disciplines. Experienced in geological and engineering database management, drilling and completions operations, and production analysis across multiple shale basins including Barnett, Permian, Marietta, East Texas, and Williston.

Industry Experience

Jenny brings deep technical experience across engineering, geology, and land disciplines, with hands-on work in geological and engineering database management, drilling and completions operations, and production analysis. Her basin experience spans the Barnett, Permian, Marietta, East Texas, and Williston.

Leadership & Achievements

She has worked with leading operators and independents including UPR, XTO, EOG, Encore Acquisitions, Quick Silver Resources, Jetta Operating, Trailhead Exploration, and High Ridge Oil & Gas — supporting asset evaluation, data integrity, and decision-ready analytics across the full life of the well.

Role at High Ridge

At High Ridge Oil & Gas, Jenny leads data analysis and reporting — building and maintaining the technical datasets, dashboards, and production analytics that support engineering, geology, and executive decision-making.

Why It Matters

High Ridge is built and led by operators who have managed large-scale assets, executed material acquisitions, and delivered for institutional partners and investors.

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