Panhandle Oil and Gas approves new CEO

OKLAHOMA CITY – Panhandle Oil and Gas announced that Chad L. Stephens was approved as CEO of Panhandle, effective Jan. 16, 2020. Stephens was previously interim CEO and currently serves as a member of Panhandle's board of directors.

Mr. Stephens has nearly 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He was the senior vice president of corporate development at Range Resources from 2002 until his retirement on Dec. 31, 2018. Mr. Stephens joined Range Resources in 1990 as senior vice president – Southwest. While at Range Resources, he was responsible for the origination, valuation and acquisition or divestiture of over $6.0 billion of oil and gas producing properties. Mr. Stephens served on the internal hedging committee and was responsible for the oversight of all gas, oil and NGL marketing and sales for Range Resources. Mr. Stephens holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance and Land Management from the University of Texas.

Panhandle's lead independent director Mark T. Behrman stated, "We are excited to have Chad leading the company and our senior management team going forward. Chad is a very capable executive with proven leadership and operations expertise gained from his decades of experience in the oil and gas industry. We are confident that our executives, employees and stockholders will benefit greatly from Chad's skills and expertise as he successfully executes our business strategy."

Stephens stated, "I am honored to be elected by the Board to lead Panhandle's talented team of executives and employees. My focus will be on furthering Panhandle's strategic decision to focus on perpetual oil and natural gas mineral ownership and growth through mineral acquisitions and development of Panhandle's significant inventory of mineral acreage to increase value to our stockholders."