Broe Affiliate Hires Three Former Samson Resources Company Executives

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rich Frommer, Jay Smith and Steve Stacy, three successful oil-and-gas executives, each of whom has worked in the industry for more than 25 years, were today named as President and Chief Executive Officer, Senior Vice President Engineering, and Senior Vice President Land, respectively, of the Great Western Oil & Gas Company, a firm that has grown in recent years to become a top producer in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin. The former Samson Resources Company executives join Great Western after completion of the successful sale of Samson assets for $7.2 billion to KKR.

“We are excited to have retained such a talented and experienced leadership team who will replicate at Great Western Oil & Gas Company the tremendous growth in assets realized at Samson”

“We are excited to have retained such a talented and experienced leadership team who will replicate at Great Western Oil & Gas Company the tremendous growth in assets realized at Samson," said Pat Broe, founder of The Broe Group in 1972. “Rich, Jay and Steve will drive the continued growth of our Denver-Julesburg oil assets as well as identify new strategic opportunities.”

Great Western Oil & Gas Company, based in Denver, is an affiliate of The Broe Group.

Rich Frommer will be leading Great Western as President and Chief Executive Officer. Rich brings valuable leadership skills and extensive experience, having worked at Samson Resources Company and HS Resources. Most recently, Rich held the position of Senior Vice President in the Rocky Mountain division at Samson, where he devised and developed an organization starting from a four-man startup with an initial $200 million acquisition, into a $4 billion asset that was part of the largest private equity oil and gas buyout by KKR. He was responsible for the planning and implementation of annual capital budgets of $450 million, structured to provide a maximum rate of return. Rich managed more than 200 employees in the Denver headquarters and four field offices. Rich's educational background consists of a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from New York State University and attendance at various executive programs through the SMU Cox School of Business.

Jay Smith, Senior Vice President Engineering, has more than 28 years of engineering experience. He has worked with well-known companies such as Conoco and Samson Resources Company. Jay has a proven history of growing assets and building motivated, high performance teams. He has a strong technical background in reservoir and production engineering. Most recently he managed a 25-person staff focused on the Powder River and Green River basins in Wyoming for Samson Resources Company. Jay was responsible for scheduling and profitability of a four-rig drilling program across both basins. In the span of Jay’s career, he has managed teams of geologists, engineers, geophysicists, and support staff. He is known for his expertise in evaluating deals and acreage purchases. Jay earned his Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Steve Stacy, Senior Vice President Land, has more than 25 years of Landman experience and has worked with well-known companies such as Amoco and Samson Resources Company. Steve has extensive land transaction experience, including acquisitions, divestitures, leases, swaps, JOAs, joint ventures, farm-ins, farm-outs and easements. He also has strong command over the land administrative function, having built the land function at Samson during a period of tremendous growth during the past several years. Steve has experience in multiple basins across the United States including Mid-Continent, East Texas, South Texas, the Anadarko Basin, the Denver-Julesburg Basin, Wyoming and the Williston Basin. An example of the growth that Steve has led is illustrated in Samson’s Bakken/Williston Basin acreage where he started from zero acres, growing it to more than 400,000 net acres (800,000 – 900,000 gross acres, including business partners) over the past several years. Steve earned his BBA degree in petroleum land management from the University of Oklahoma.

The Great Western leadership team will be located at 1700 Broadway, Suite 650. It will report directly to The Broe Group Ownership Board.

About Great Western Oil & Gas Company

Great Western Oil & Gas Company is a privately held independent exploration and production company with principal operations in the Colorado Denver-Julesburg Basin. Great Western is engaged in the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas resources. For more information, see www.gwogco.com.

Great Western Oil & Gas Company was founded by The Broe Group, based in Denver, which also, on behalf of its affiliated ownership group, manages a broad portfolio of real estate holdings throughout North America and OmniTRAX, Inc., a leading transportation-services firm with railroad, port and terminal operations throughout North America. For more information, see www.broe.com,

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