Events

Ladies and Gentleman, We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, September 8th at 11:30AM. We are excited to kick off the year with Ken Wisian, presenting "Emerging Energy Sources and Sinks - The Geologic Perspective" at the Enverus campus located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. We will provide a catered lunch to attendees for $25.00. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes. Ken Wisian, Ph.D., Major General USAF (retired), is Associate Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geoscience, The University of Texas at Austin. He is a geophysicist whose main research is in geothermal energy. Other research includes; planetary geology/space exploration, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and international relations. Dr Wisian teaches Life in the Universe and Geothermal Systems. Previously, Dr. Wisian was a senior state executive responsible for disaster recovery, oil spill prevention and response, and coastal infrastructure and environmental protection for Texas. Militarily, General Wisian, a navigator/bombardier, flew bombers, transports and fighters, and commanded the Texas Air National Guard and the 147th Reconnaissance Wing flying the MQ-1 Predator (drone). General Wisian is a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School and has more than 70 hours of medium and high-risk test flights as well as combat time in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia. His combat medals include the Bronze Star and Air Medal. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ladies and Gentleman, We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, October 6th at 11:30AM. John Bennett will be presenting "Legislative Update: Oil, Gas, and Energy Resource Bills Enacted by the 88th Texas Legislature" at the Enverus campus located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. We will provide a catered lunch to attendees for $25.00. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes. John is a partner in the law firm of Osborn & Bennett LLP in Austin, Texas, where he represents clients in litigation, before the Railroad Commission of Texas, and at the Texas Legislature. John formerly served as Committee Director for the Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development in the 85th Regular and First Called Sessions of the Texas Legislature and as General Counsel to Senator Craig Estes in the 82nd through 84th Regular Sessions. Before working at the Legislature, he clerked for Judge Will Garwood of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. During and after his work for the Legislature, he practiced law as a civil litigator in Victoria, Texas, before joining his present firm in 2019. John is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Virginia School of Law. He has made several CLE presentations on the Legislature’s changes to the Administrative Procedures Act and oil, gas, and mineral law. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ladies and Gentleman, We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, November 3rd at 11:30AM at the Enverus Campus, located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes. Our immediate past president and the 2023 AAPL Landman of the Year, Jimmy Wright, will be presenting “Ethical Negotiations: Ethical Behavior In and Around Oil and Gas Asset Acquisition and Management.” Mr. Wright graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas with degrees in Spanish and Political Science. After a tour with the United States Army, he began his career as an independent landman in 2004. He has served in many capacities since then, including land manager and executive level leadership for multiple oil and gas operators. He holds an MBA with a focus in Land Management and received both his Certified Professional Landman (CPL) and Certified Mineral Manager (CMM) designations in 2011. Mr. Wright has volunteered in various leadership roles within the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL), the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO), the Permian Basin Landmen’s Association (PBLA), and the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association (APLA). A west Texas native, Mr. Wright and his wife, Laura, have two precious teen daughters, Anna and Megan. They enjoy traveling and playing board games as a family. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please mark your calendars. In Lieu of November's happy hour & the December luncheon, the APLA will be hosting a social charity event at Topgolf Austin. Complimentary Topgolf play, food, and beverages will be provided. This year, Topgolf Austin and the APLA are partnering with Toys for Tots Austin and request that you kindly bring a new children's book or toy to be donated at the event. The mission of Toys for Tots is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December of each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to less fortunate children in the Burnet, Llano, Blanco, Hays, Travis, Williamson, Bastrop and Caldwell Counties. During the 2022 holiday season, Toys for Tots Austin distributed 42,831 toys to over 36,100 Central Texas children. What: APLA Charity Event: Topgolf for Tots When: Thursday, November 30, 2023 from 6:00PM to 8:00PM Where: Topgolf Austin, located at 2700 Esperanza Crossing, Austin, TX 78758

Happy New Year Ladies and Gentlemen!    We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, January 12th at 11:30AM at the Enverus Campus, located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes.   Jeb Burleson will be presenting "Trends Across the Upsteam Industry: What We Learned in 2023"    Jeb Burleson is a Senior Product Advisor for E&P at Enverus with over 10 years of industry experience focusing on asset valuations and reserves. His specialties include operational capital efficiency analysis, well database management, economic modeling, decline curve analysis, reserves forecasting, and technical advisory. He obtained his BS in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, has worked for several operators, and was a project manager and lead reservoir engineer for a consulting firm partnered with an international bank before joining the Enverus team.   We look forward to seeing you there! 

Ladies and Gentlemen,   We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, February 2nd at 11:30AM at the Enverus Campus, located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes.   Rob Schultz will be presenting 'AAPL Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice I'. Rob Shultz, CPL graduated from the University of Texas in 1973 and worked briefly for the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. before joining Exxon Co. USA in 1979 as a roustabout in West Texas. Over the next 34 years, Rob filled various professional and supervisory roles for both Exxon and ExxonMobil in Houston, Los Angeles, Tyler and Dallas, Texas.  Before retiring in March 2013, he served as Professional Development Advisor to 200 ExxonMobil Commercial and Land employees worldwide. Rob was involved with property rights and real property interests essentially his entire career.  He’s a longtime member and course facilitator for the AAPL and has been a certified ethics instructor with the International Right of Way Association.  Rob and his wife Cindy have four children, two granddaughters, a grandson, and make their home in Tyler, Texas. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Ladies and Gentlemen, We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, March 1st at 11:30AM at the Enverus Campus, located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes. Susan Hovorka will be presenting 'Carbon capture and storage – an expanding subsurface business.' Susan Hovorka is a sedimentologist who works on fluid flow in diverse applications, including water resource protection, oil production, and waste storage. She has led a team working geologic storage of CO 2 since 1998, with a focus on field studies, monitoring, and capacity estimation. Projects include saline injection at the Frio Test site and Cranfield Field and EOR studies at SACROC oil field, Cranfield, Hastings and West Ranch industrial CO 2 utilization projects and GoMCARB offshore characterization study. She specializes in monitoring to document retention. The Gulf Coast Carbon Center is leading efforts to develop offshore storage capacity in the US and globally. She has a long-term commitment to public and educational outreach. She has a BA from Earlham College and a PhD in Geology from The University of Texas at Austin. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ladies and Gentlemen, We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, April 5th at 11:30AM at the Enverus Campus, located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes. Vincent Cuccerre will be presenting 'The Joint Operating Form'. Vincent Cuccerre is a Landman with XTO Energy, Inc., an ExxonMobil Subsidiary, working as a Commercial & Land Advisor where he has a diverse land experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. At XTO, he manages land assets across the Delaware Basin in New Mexico. Prior to XTO, he worked as a Landman for Energen Corporation. Vincent started his career as a Landman in Midland, TX at Concho Resources, Inc. Throughout his career he has gained a broad experience which includes joint operations and development, acquisitions and divestitures, and exposure to the governing contracts and regulatory issues that differ across the Permian Basin. Vincent received an Energy Commerce degree from the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University and a summa cum laude graduate with a Master of Juris Prudence in Energy Law from the University Of Tulsa College Of Law. He holds a Certified Professional Landman designation from the AAPL. Additionally, he serves as the Vice President on the board of NHAPL and was formerly on the AAPL Public Relations Committee and Vice President Board of Director for the Bush Tennis Center. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ladies and Gentlemen, We are having our next in-person lunch meeting for the Austin Professional Landmen’s Association on Friday, May 3rd at 11:30AM at the Enverus Campus, located on the first floor of Building 6, 2901 Via Fortuna, Austin, TX 78746. Please register HERE so we have an accurate head count for food purposes. Our speaker will be Brooks Yates, President of the AAPL. Brooks Yates, CPL, is senior vice president of A&D/land at Peregrine Petroleum Partners Ltd., an oil and gas exploration and production company with offices in Dallas and Houston and operations in Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Prior to joining Peregrine, he spent over 15 years as vice president of land at Ventex Oil & Gas Inc. During the 1990s, he was land manager for The Rudman Partnership. A native of Mississippi and an alumnus of The University of Mississippi, Yates began his career in the oil and gas business as a landman in various land roles with Hunt Energy Corp. and Placid Oil Co. in the 1980s before being moved to Shreveport and ultimately Dallas. A member of AAPL since 1985, Yates served on the Executive Committee as first vice president during 2022-23, treasurer during 2010-11, spent three terms as a director and chaired multiple committees, including the NAPE Advisory Board, NAPE Operators Committee, Southwest Land Institute, Publications Committee and Marketing Committee. He also previously served on the AAPL Investment Advisory Board, Legislative and Regulatory Committee and Ethics Committee. He currently serves on the NAPE Operators Committee. He earned his CPL designation in 1991. Yates is a longtime member of the Houston Association of Professional Landmen, the Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen and the Dallas Association of Petroleum Landmen, where he served as president in 1992 and 2008 and was named Landman of the Year in 2009 and 2021. The Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association included him among the Texas Top Producers in 2013. In addition, Yates is president of the Dallas Producers Club, a member of the Dallas Wildcatters board and chairman of the Southwest Land Institute, a position he has held since 2014. He also is listed as a Founding Advisory Committee member of the University of Texas Energy Management Program and is a founding member of the Texas Alliance of Landman Associations. Yates lives in Dallas with wife Linda. Married for 36 years, they have been active members of Highland Park Presbyterian Church where he served as deacon and on various committees. They have three children and grandchildren. We look forward to seeing you there!

Event ticket + 2024-2025 discounted dues: CLICK HERE (Bundle) Event ticket only: CLICK HERE (Event Ticket Only)   Event details for the APLA Butler Pitch and Putt event     Dear Members and Guests, The APLA is excited to host a membership drive and networking event on Friday, June 14, 2024, at the historic Butler Pitch and Putt in downtown Austin, located at 201 Lee Barton Dr., Austin, TX 78704. You can find more details about the venue at butlerpitchandputt.com. We have reserved tee times, allowing us to bypass the usual 2-3 hour wait. Additionally, we have a designated area for networking, drinks, and lunch provided by Gimmie Burger. Drink tickets and club rentals are included. We are pleased to announce that members who purchase a ticket to this event will receive their 2024-2025 APLA membership dues included with their ticket purchase. A $25 savings. Individual tickets without the discounted membership dues are also available. Please see the details below. We look forward to seeing you there! Butler Park continues to be an AUSTIN tradition since 1949. Today it serves as a golf course and a heritage piece of Austin lore and life, offering a unique, fun, and easy to place to learn and play golf. The course is a 9 hole, 7-acre par 3 Pitch & Putt just south of downtown with 101 yards as the longest hole. Butler Park Pitch & Putt is adjacent to the Hike and Bike Trail and features large shady pecan and cottonwood trees. They promote a ‘Swing Easy’ approach to the real greens and challenging holes. No clubs, balls, shoes, tee times….. no problem. Gimme Burger is our permanent on-site food truck, serving up cheeseburgers, crispy French fries and fried okra, and more