Management Principals

Ursa's management principals have extensive experience in the full range of technical functions required to identify, develop, and produce oil and gas, and have a successful track record of finding oil and gas, closing A&D transactions and managing the development and production of oil and gas assets..


Matthew B. Steele – President & CEO

Mr. Steele is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ursa Resources Group II LLC, a Denham Capital Management fund company. Mr. Steele previously served as President and founding partner of Ursa Resources Group LLC, also a Denham backed company focused on the exploration and development of the Bakken/Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin. Prior to forming Ursa Resources Group, Mr. Steele was an independent consultant and founding partner of several oil and gas prospect generating companies. Mr. Steele began his career at Shell E&P and also worked for Southwestern Energy on the company's Fayetteville Shale project. Mr. Steele is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and holds a B.S. Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston.



Steve Skinner – Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Skinner is Chief Operating Officer of Ursa Resources Group II LLC. Before joining Ursa Resources Group, Mr. Skinner worked for Edge Petroleum where he was the Shale Team Leader & Staff Reservoir Engineer in the company's South Texas & Arkansas assets. While at Edge, he was responsible for reservoir engineering functions throughout South Texas and Arkansas, including technical evaluations, project economics, oversight of third-party reserve audits, and integrated field studies. He also coordinated evaluations of asset acquisitions & divestitures and regulatory interaction with the Texas RRC. Prior to joining Edge, Mr. Skinner worked for Southwestern Energy where he focused on the optimization of horizontal multi-stage completions for the Fayetteville Shale team. Mr. Skinner began his career at ConocoPhillips where he served in a variety of engineering capacities including reservoir, production, and drilling engineering in San Juan Basin, North Louisiana, and East Texas. Mr. Skinner earned a B.S. Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.



Tyler Crabtree – Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Crabtree joined Ursa Resources Group in November 2011 and serves as CFO. Prior to joining Ursa, Mr. Crabtree was a Director in the Oil and Gas group at Denham Capital Management, a $4.5 Billion private equity firm. At Denham Mr. Crabtree was responsible for origination, valuation, structuring and oversight of investments within the Oil and Gas group. During his tenure at Denham Mr. Crabtree served on the boards of MS Energy Services, Cadre Services Inc., Greene's Energy Group and NGL Supply. Prior to joining Denham, Mr. Crabtree was an Investment Banking Associate in the Oil and Gas group at Randall & Dewey, a division of Jefferies & Co focused on exploration and production structured finance and mergers and acquisitions. Before Jefferies, Mr. Crabtree was an associate in the Merchant Energy Group at El Paso Corporation after serving as an Investment Banking Analyst at First Union Bank. Mr. Crabtree earned a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University.



Kennon Doyal – Vice President Operations

Prior to joining Ursa Resources, Mr. Doyal was a Sr. Staff Completions/Production Engineer for NFR Energy LLC, where he managed operations in East Texas. Production responsibilities included managing >150 producing wells, facilities, pipelines, and gas marketing. Completion responsibilities included multi-stage horizontal completions in the Cotton Valley Sand and Haynesville Shale. Prior to NFR Energy LLC, Mr. Doyal spent 3 years at Edge Petroleum as a Sr. Petroleum Engineer managing all aspects of drilling/completion/ workover/pipeline/facility operations in South Texas and Mississippi. Mr. Doyal began his career at Unocal, where he spent 3 years in all engineering disciplines and served as a drilling engineer for their Gulf of Mexico shelf asset. Mr. Doyal earned a B.S. Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2002.



Matt Hackworth – Vice President New Ventures

Mr. Hackworth joined Ursa Resources Group II LLC in January 2012 and serves as Vice President of New Ventures. Before joining Ursa Resources Group, Mr. Hackworth served as a Senior Geologist for Shell Exploration and Production. Most recently, Mr. Hackworth was responsible for field development planning in Shell's North America shale gas assets. Mr. Hackworth spent several years in Shell's Unconventional Gas Technology group as part of a team implementing new and advanced technology to unconventionals. Mr. Hackworth coordinated R&D projects across Shell's domestic and emerging international gas business on 5 continents with specific emphasis on geomechanics and structural geology. Mr. Hackworth also worked as a Production Geologist for Shell's South Texas assets where he was responsible for production and exploration geology in the Wilcox, Vicksburg, and Frio trends. Mr. Hackworth Started his oil and gas career in Gulf of Mexico exploration with Agip Petroleum. Mr. Hackworth earned a Ph.D. in Deepwater Sedimentology from Louisiana State University and a B.A. in Geology/Astronomy from the University of Virginia. Mr. Hackworth is a member of the Geological Society of America and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.


Dan Wrona – Vice President Subsurface

Mr. Wrona is an experienced oil and gas finder. He was most recently Vice President of Geology for Ursa Resources Group LLC. Before joining Ursa Resources Group, Mr. Wrona served as a Senior Geologist for Newfield Exploration. While at Newfield, he was responsible for production and exploration geology in the Wilcox trend of South Texas. Prior to his work at Newfield, Mr. Wrona worked for Shell Exploration and Production in various geological and geophysical capacities. At Shell, Mr. Wrona was responsible for several major discoveries, including an extension to McAllen Ranch Field estimated in excess of 70 BCF recoverable. He also served as a subsurface team leader for Shell's entry into Barnett Shale. Mr. Wrona earned a B.S. Geological Engineering from Michigan Technological University.


Don Simpson – Vice President Business Development

Mr. Simpson currently is Vice President of Business Development for Ursa Resources Group II LLC and was formerly VP of Land for Ursa Resources Group LLC, which was one of the largest privately held E&P Operators in the Williston Basin, before it divested its wells and assets in 2011. Immediately prior to joining Ursa, Don retired from Shell after 25 years of service, where he had most recently held a Business Development position charged with growing Shell's holdings in all of the major shale plays of the continental US. For the seven years prior to his US assignment, Don was a Contracts Negotiator for Shell International, working on projects located in numerous countries spanning 6 continents. Prior to this International Assignment, Don oversaw land and joint venture contract activities in Texas, as well as worked on projects in 10 different states. Don is a Certified Professional Landman in the American Association of Professional Landmen; is a past member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, where he was Co-chair of the Drilling and the Well Service Model Contract Committees; and held all Officer Positions, including President of the West Houston Association of Professional Landmen. Mr. Simpson also Co-chaired Shell's International Contract Database of Agreements and Best Practices and trained and presented to contract negotiators across the globe. Don graduated with a B.S. in Petroleum Land Management & General Business from Louisiana State University, earned an Executive MBA from the University of Houston and was blessed with attending the Masters Programme in Mergers and Acquisitions at INSEAD, The Business School for the World located in Foutainebleau, France.



Tim McGhee – Vice President Land

Mr. McGhee is a seasoned land professional with 29 plus years of industry experience in onshore, offshore, and international operations with both major and independent oil companies. Before Joining Ursa Resources Group LLC, Mr. McGhee worked for AleAnna Energy, LLC where he was a partner overseeing AleAnna Energy's oil and gas operations in the USA and the country of Italy. Prior to joining AleAnna Energy, Mr. McGhee worked for Shell Exploration & Production Co. where he was a member of the management Team for the company's Perdido Development project, Gulf of Mexico, being the deepest development and production system in the world. While at Shell he held various positions where he was responsible for managing all phases of land work. Mr. McGhee graduated from the University of Houston DC with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Land Management. He is an active member of numerous industry organizations including the Association of International Negotiators, American Association of Professional Landmen, Houston Association of Professional Landmen and the West Houston Association of Professional Landmen, where he is currently serving as AAPL Director-WHAPL.



Kerry Mullin – Controller

Mr. Mullin joined Ursa Resources Group LLC as controller in March 2010 from UHY Advisors TX, LLC where he managed a variety of accounting projects for oil and gas clients including acting controller, due diligence, audit and accounting software implementations. Prior to joining UHY Advisors TX, LLC, Mr. Mullin worked on long term assignments for a major independent as a Jefferson Wells consultant primarily involved in its North Slope and Cook Inlet hydrocarbon delivery systems. During this time he participated as an outside consultant on the Sox implementation team documenting the operational accounting area. Before starting his consulting career, Mr. Mullin worked at Quintana Petroleum Corporation for fourteen years in the accounting department of the oil and gas division. Mr. Mullin earned a BBA in Finance from Texas A&M University and is a licensed CPA in the State of Texas.