Our Team
The Eagle River Advantage
Eagle River has a team of industry professionals with diverse backgrounds in finance, land, business development, engineering and geology. Our team continuously evaluates and develops direct relationships with the dynamic groups of buyers and sellers in the oil and gas industry and provides a platform for competitive marketing processes yielding premium valuations for our clients.
Mike Stolze
Senior Managing Director
Mike Stolze is based out of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Mr. Stolze has over 20 years of finance and investing experience, with 15 years focused exclusively on the energy sector
Prior to joining Eagle River Energy Advisors, Mr. Stolze was Vice President of Origination at SFC Energy Partners where he led the firm’s business development function including the origination, evaluation, negotiation, structuring and closing of new investment opportunities. While at SFC Energy Partners, Mr. Stolze originated over 475 investment opportunities, closed $350 million of capital commitments to new portfolio companies and was a board member at Armor Energy, Frostwood Energy and Sedalia Energy.
Prior to joining SFC Energy Partners, Mr. Stolze was a Director with Northwestern Mutual Capital where he focused on private debt and equity transactions in the energy sector. During his tenure with Northwestern Mutual Capital, Mr. Stolze closed 42 transactions across the energy markets, representing $1.9 billion of capital commitments. Prior to joining Northwestern Mutual Capital, Mr. Stolze was an equity research analyst with a boutique equity research and investment banking firm in Austin, Texas covering micro-cap oil and gas companies. Mr. Stolze began his career with Ernst & Young in their mergers & acquisitions advisory practice where he concentrated on private equity transactions.
Mr. Stolze is a Certified Public Accountant and received his BBA in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.
Austin McKee is based out of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Prior to founding Eagle River Energy Advisors, Mr. McKee began working for Transcontinent Oil Company in 2008. He later accepted a position as a Landman for Golden Eye Resources, LLC in 2009 where he spent the majority of his focus acquiring and managing operated and non-operated working interests in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana.
Mr. McKee was later promoted as Vice President in 2012. Mr. McKee played an intricate role in the acquisition and leasing of nearly 120,000 gross acres in North Dakota and Montana in all of the major counties prospective for the Bakken/Three Forks shale development.
Mr. McKee has an extensive energy background in property evaluations, including land, economics, reserve report analysis, and numerous other acquisition parameters.
Mr. McKee attended the School of Business at the University of Montana where he received a double major in Management and Marketing.
Chris Martina is based out of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Mr. Martina has 16 years of oil and gas experience working in numerous engineering and management roles with operators and service providers, across multiple U.S. oil and gas basins.
Prior to joining Eagle River, Mr. Martina worked at Whiting Petroleum Corporation for 8 years in various engineering positions before being promoted to Joint Interest Operations Manager in 2017. In this role, Mr. Martina led a multi-discipled technical team of 8, creating maximum shareholder value and sustained financial performance by effectively managing Whiting’s joint interest assets and high grading the company’s non-op portfolio. Under Mr. Martina’s leadership, the group generated over $150 million dollars in positive free cash flow during the three years he held this position.
Prior to joining Whiting in 2011, Mr. Martina began his career in 2007 working for Hess Corporation in their new engineer development program. During this time, he held positions as Bakken Operations Engineer, Production Engineer, and Reservoir Engineer, while also completing an international drilling assignment in Equatorial Guinea on the West Africa Drilling Team.
Mr. Martina has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Montana Technological University.
Blake Nance
Director
Blake Nance is based out of Denver, Colorado. Prior to joining Eagle River Energy Advisors, Mr. Nance began working for Bearcat Land, a Land Brokerage in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, working as a Landman. He later went on to intern for Whiting Petroleum Corporation in Denver, Colorado, also working as a Landman. Most recently, Mr. Nance had worked for Vertafore, Inc. as an Account Executive, providing multiple solutions to Independent Insurance Brokerages and Agencies across the United States.
Mr. Nance has a background in land, title analysis, business development, and an extensive background in sales.
Mr. Nance attended the Michael F. Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma where he received a BBA in Energy Management.
Lisa Gusek is based out of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Ms. Gusek has over 30 years of exploration, exploitation and development experience as a petroleum geologist, primarily focused on the Rocky Mountain region. During her career, Ms. Gusek has specialized in evaluating potential acquisitions, drilling prospects and leasehold opportunities.
Prior to joining Eagle River, Ms. Gusek was a contract geologist with NP Energy Services where she evaluated multiple acquisition opportunities in the Powder River, San Juan, Uinta, Green River and DJ basins.
From 2015 to 2017, Ms. Gusek worked for Caerus Oil & Gas as their lead geologist over the DJ basin. She was responsible for evaluating acquisitions in the DJ, Williston, Powder River and East Texas basins. Ms. Gusek was a senior geologist with Castleton Commodities International prior to joining Caerus Oil & Gas. Here she was responsible for evaluating potential acquisitions throughout the Rocky Mountain region and East Texas. From 1998 to 2012, Ms. Gusek was based in Farmington, New Mexico where she worked as a senior geologist for DJ Simmons, Inc. and Synergy Operating identifying and evaluating potential acquisitions in the San Juan, Paradox and Green River basins.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Gusek worked for Basin Exploration, Gerrity Oil & Gas and Martin Exploration with a primary focus on the DJ and Powder River basins. She played an integral part in the early development of the Niobrara and Codell in Wattenberg Field and along the western flank of the DJ basin.
Ms. Gusek received her BS in Oceanography from Humboldt State University and her MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Kari Bleyle is based out of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Ms. Bleyle has 26 years of experience in financial management, accounting, land, legal, and corporate organization. She has managed all financial aspects of McKee-related entities in the oil and gas industry, real estate industry, and investments.
Mrs. Bleyle received both her BSBA and MBA in General Business from the University of Denver.
Kaitlyn Gilbert
Reservoir Engineer
Kaitlyn Gilbert is based out of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Ms. Gilbert is a seasoned petroleum engineer with over a decade of experience in the oil and gas industry.
Throughout her career, Ms. Gilbert has contributed to various facets of the industry, including reservoir engineering, operations, production, and land management. In her current role with Eagle River Energy Advisors, she provides technical analysis and comprehensive reviews of oil and gas assets, leveraging her extensive knowledge of reservoir engineering, asset evaluation, and industry trends. Her prior experiences include managing CBM field operations for Cowboy Clean Fuels, assisted in organizing the RTP program at Crowheart Energy, and implementing data-driven solutions at Ultra Petroleum.
Ms. Gilbert has demonstrated expertise in evaluating oil and gas deals, managing field operations, and implementing advanced technologies to optimize production. Her technical proficiency spans a wide range of tools and software, as well as a strong background in interpreting diverse data sets for complex projects. She combines this technical acumen with a robust work ethic, taking on challenges with a focus on risk versus reward decision-making.
Ms. Gilbert has a Bachelor of Science Degree and Master of Engineering Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.
OUR TEAM’S PAST EMPLOYERS INCLUDE
