Board of Directors

Chair
Member
David E. Johnson

David E. Johnson

Independent Non-Executive Chairman

Mr. Johnson has enjoyed a long and successful career in the investment sector. He has worked at a number of leading City investment houses, as both an investment analyst and a manager, and more recently in equity sales and investment management. During his career he has worked for Sun Life Assurance, Henderson Crosthwaite and Investec Securities, where he became Head of Sales and Executive Director of Investec Investment Bank. Mr. Johnson joined Panmure Gordon & Co in 2004 where he worked until 2013, including as Head of Sales from 2006 and then Head of Equities from 2009. Mr. Johnson joined Chelverton Asset Management in 2014 where he had responsibility for the Group’s private equity investments. Mr. Johnson is also a non-executive director of Chelverton Equity Partners, an AIM listed holding company. 

Committees

Martin K. Thomas

Martin K. Thomas

Independent Non-Executive Director*

Mr. Thomas is a consultant in the corporate team of the law firm Wedlake Bell LLP in London.  During a legal career of over 35 years, Martin has specialized in advising on IPOs and secondary offerings of equity and debt on the London capital markets, corporate governance requirements for U.K. listed companies, corporate finance and M&A work (including cross-border transactions). Previously named one of The Lawyer’s “UK Hot 100 Lawyers” and ranked by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500, Martin has advised clients operating in a variety of sectors, including oil and gas, renewable energy, natural resources and mining, climate change, financial services and early stage technology.  Martin has also held senior management positions including 7 years as the European Managing Partner of a global law firm headquartered in the United States.

*As of January 1, 2023, Mr. Thomas is considered an Independent Non-Executive Director under the UK Corporate Governance Code as he has not had a material business relationship with the Company within the last three years.

Committees

Rusty Hutson, Jr.

Rusty Hutson, Jr.

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Born and raised in West Virginia, Rusty Hutson, Jr. is the fourth generation in the Hutson family to immerse himself in the oil and gas industry, with family roots dating back to the early 1900s. Rusty spent many summers of his youth working with his father in the oil fields of West Virginia. The first in his family to pursue higher education, Rusty graduated from Fairmont State University (WV) with a degree in accounting. After college, Rusty spent 13 years steadily progressing into multiple leadership roles within the banking industry at well-known institutions such as Bank One and Compass Bank, prior to concluding his time within banking as CFO of Compass Financial Services.

Building upon his experiences in the oil & gas industry and the financial services sector, Rusty established Diversified Energy in 2001 as a cash flow model supported by mature, predictable long-life assets. After years of refining this strategy, Rusty and his team quietly took the company public in 2017 on the AIM growth market of the London Stock Exchange. Since going public, DEC has acquired approximately $2.7 billion in upstream and midstream assets with net daily production of approximately 150,000 barrels of oil equivalency. Since its public debut, the rapid growth of DEC’s asset portfolio led to a move up to the premium listing on the London Exchange and a FTSE250 inclusion. Rusty continues to lead his team and expand the Company’s footprint throughout the United States while remaining focused on operational excellence, financial discipline and shareholder value creation.

Brad Gray

Brad Gray

Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Prior to joining the Company in October 2016, Mr. Gray held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Royal Cup, Inc., a United States based commercial coffee roaster and wholesale distributor of tea and other beverage related products. Prior to Royal Cup, Inc., from 2006 to 2014, Brad worked in the petroleum distribution industry for The McPherson Companies, Inc. and held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before McPherson Companies, he worked for over a decade in various financial and operational roles with the previously listed NYSE retail group, Saks Incorporated. Brad received a Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Alabama and earned his CPA license (Alabama).

Committees

Sylvia Kerrigan

Sylvia Kerrigan

Independent Non-Executive Director
Ms. Kerrigan provides a wealth of experience in the energy, industrial and transportation sectors where she has engaged in environmental, social and governance (ESG), merger and acquisition, regulatory, risk management, cybersecurity and information privacy matters. She currently serves as the Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary for Occidental Petroleum. Prior to working at Occidental, Sylvia served as the Executive Director of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Energy Center for Business, Law and Policy at the University of Texas where she also earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree and served in a number of roles with Marathon Oil Corporation over the course of more than 20 years , including as an Executive Level Risk Committee member. In her time with Marathon Oil Corporation, she held a number of roles overseeing public policy, legal and compliance, corporate positioning and external communications before retiring in 2017 after eight years as the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Prior to working at Marathon, Sylvia served in various domestic and international corporate, government and legal roles, including an appointment to the United Nations Security Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Sylvia holds a NACD Directorship Certification through the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Committees

Kathryn Klaber

Kathryn Klaber

Independent Non-Executive Director
Ms. Klaber possesses more than 30 years of industry experience, with a focus on energy development and environmental, health and safety ("EHS"). Kathryn currently serves as the Managing Director of The Klaber Group, which provides strategic consulting services with an emphasis on financial, operational, and reputational risk advisory, including climate and supply chain considerations, and on business and energy development in the United States and abroad. Prior to founding The Klaber Group, Kathryn launched and led the Marcellus Shale Coalition as its first CEO, growing the organization to be the premier regional trade association for the gas and oil industry in the Northeastern United States, while helping to advance the responsible development of the Appalachian Basin. Kathryn's career history also includes serving as the Executive Vice President for Competitiveness at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Economy League where her work focused on advancing key policy and regulatory matters. Earlier in her career, Kathryn accumulated significant experience in EHS strategy and compliance with the international consulting firm Environmental Resource Management. Kathryn holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science from Bucknell University and a Masters in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

Committees

Sandra (Sandy) Stash

Sandra (Sandy) Stash

Independent Non-Executive Director

Ms. Stash accumulated more than 35 years of international experience in the oil and gas and hard rock and coal mining industries, beginning her career as one of the first female drilling engineers in North America and most recently served as Executive Vice President for Tullow Oil until her retirement April 1, 2020. During her time in these industries, Sandy developed deep business and operations experience across six continents and is recognized for her unique capabilities in bridging the extractive sector to external stakeholders – in government, civil society and at the community level. Her distinguished professional career also included roles at ARCO, TNK-BP, BP, Anaconda Company and Talisman Energy, and spanned top leadership positions in general management, commercial negotiations, operations and engineering, supply chain management, government and public affairs, sustainability and HSE. Sandy holds a degree in petroleum engineering from the prestigious Colorado School of Mines where she also serves as a Governor at the School. Sandy holds a NACD Directorship Certification through the National Association of Corporate Directors and also serves on the Boards of Trans Mountain Company and Chaarat Gold.

Committees

David J. Turner, Jr.

David J. Turner, Jr.

Senior Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr. Turner serves as Regions Financial Corporation’s Chief Financial Officer where he leads all finance operations, including mergers and acquisitions, financial systems, investor relations, corporate treasury, corporate tax, management planning and reporting and accounting.  Mr. Turner joined Regions in 2005 and led the Internal Audit Division for Regions before being named Chief Financial Officer in 2010. Prior to joining Regions, he served as an audit partner of KPMG LLP and previously served Arthur Andersen LLP in a number of positions, including audit partner, audit manager, senior auditor and staff auditor. Mr. Turner earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and attended Tulane University in Louisiana.

Committees

The Company has established an Audit and Risk Committee, for which the main functions include, inter alia, reviewing and monitoring internal financial control systems and risk management systems on which the Company is reliant, considering annual and interim accounts and audit reports, making recommendations to the Board in relation to the appointment and remuneration of the Company’s auditors and monitoring and reviewing annually their independence, objectivity, effectiveness and qualifications.

The Company has established a Nomination and Governance Committee, which will meet as often as needed to enable the Committee to fulfil its obligations to the Company. The Nomination and Governance Committee has responsibility for reviewing the structure, size and composition of the Board and recommending to the Board any changes required for succession planning and for identifying and nominating for approval of the Board candidates to fill vacancies as and when they arise. The Committee will also be responsible for reviewing the results of the Board performance evaluation process and making recommendations to the Board concerning suitable candidates for the role of senior independent director and the membership of the Board’s committees and the re-election of Directors at each Annual General Meeting. In addition, the Committee oversees the Company's governance structure and monitors trends and compliance with governance best practices.

The Company has established a Remuneration Committee, which will meet as often as needed to enable the Committee to fulfil its obligations to the Company. The Remuneration Committee is responsible for reviewing the performance of the Chairman and the Executive Directors and for setting the scale and structure of their remuneration, paying careful regard to the interests of shareholders as a whole and the performance of the Group. The Remuneration Committee also approves the design of and determines targets for any performance-related pay schemes operated by the Company.

The Company has established a Sustainability and Safety Committee. The Committee shall oversee and provide input to management on the Company's policies and strategies related to matters of sustainability and safety. The Committee shall consider and provide perspective and input to management on social, political, safety and environmental trends in public debate, public policy, regulation and legislation and consider additional corporate actions in response to such issues. It will receive periodic reports from the Company's management regarding relationships with key external stakeholders that may have a significant impact on the Company's business activities and performance. The Committee shall oversee and provide input to the Audit Committee on the Company's management of risk associated with sustainability and safety to the Remuneration Committee for performance targets for the same.