About Us

After beginning a career at Conoco, Beato has over thirty years of domestic and international oil and gas experience where he held various leadership positions with major and independent oil & gas companies while developing assets in over 42 different countries. Beato founded Exaro Energy in 2005 and has been focused on pioneering the redevelopment of oil condensate plays using new technology. Beato has invested ~ $1 billion in upstream E&P assets since founding Exaro, over $600 mm of which has been invested in Wyoming where at one point Exaro controlled the development of over 175,000 net acres held by ~85 mmcfe/d of production. Previously, Beato served as the Director of Baker Hughes Singapore and Managing Director of Baker Hughes Solutions for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Beato has authored 26 industry professional papers and articles and has 16 U.S. patents applied/issued, including a tender assist deep-water development technology that has been used to develop over 1 billion boe since 1999. Most recently, Beato developed the patent pending “Effective kh” 3D seismic processing technology that integrates fracture stimulation data with seismic to map natural fractures in a shale reservoir to optimize the placement of horizontal wells. Beato graduated from Colorado School of Mines in 1986 with a degree in Petroleum Engineering and was later trained as a geologist while working at Conoco Inc. Beato recently co-founded Rocking WW Minerals which is focused on acquiring royalty interests in the Rockies. Rocking WW is also based out of Sheridan Wyoming.

Mr. Clark is a registered petroleum engineer with over 35 years experience in oil and gas exploration. Mr. Clark joined Exaro as a result of its most recent Jonah development project, which he played a key role in identifying and brining to fruition. Mr. Clark’s responsibilities at Exaro include all aspects of reservoir management and development of our Jonah asset. He has worked in various engineering and management capacities with independent oil and gas companies, where he was responsible for drilling and completion recommendations, budget preparation, project coordination and asset management on projects throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. In March 1993, Mr. Clark founded Odyssey Exploration, Inc., and worked in collaboration with Stanley Energy, Inc. to develop very large, new, unconventional projects in the Rocky Mountain Region. Significant discoveries of gas were made and for much of this time Mr. Clark served as Stanley’s President directing its exploration activities. During his tenure with Odyssey and Stanley, Mr. Clark partnered with many large independent oil and gas exploration companies, including EnCana Oil and Gas, Occidental, Anadarko, Samson Resources, Petroleum Development Corporation, Cabot Oil and Gas and Forest Oil. Mr. Clark has authored and presented technical papers on secondary-tertiary recovery and on unconventional tight gas projects and has served as an expert witness in multiple cases. Mr. Clark received a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1985 and a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Colorado in 1990. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Colorado. He is a member of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers and Society of Petroleum Engineers, where he has held several elected positions including Denver section Chairman and Director. He is an active member and past Director of the Colorado School of Mines Alumni Association.

Mr. Atwood has been associated with the energy industry since 1975, serving in various management capacities since 1981. Mr. Atwood has managed Exaro’s business development, banking / accounting, land, and regulatory functions since the company’s inception. Working closely with Mr. Beato, he served as Director of Business Development and Land for Fidelity Exploration & Production Company of Texas, LLC. The FEPC of Tx Joint Venture was founded based on three mature fields that Mr. Atwood played a key role in identifying and acquiring. Previously, he served as Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Finance for Blue Dolphin Energy Company and its affiliate Drillmar, Inc. from 1991 to 2005. During his employment with Blue Dolphin/Drillmar, Mr. Atwood identified and closed on the acquisition of eight producing fields and thirty four non-producing blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, participated directly in the identification and acquisition of three mid-stream pipeline acquisitions and directed the successful purchase and resale a $120 million major natural gas storage project in the Northeast. He co-founded and served as Senior Vice President of Land and Administration for Glickenhaus Energy Corporation from 1987 to 1991, was Area Land Manager for CSX Oil & Gas Corporation from 1984 to 1987 and Division Land manager for Volvo Petroleum/Hamilton Brothers from 1981 to 1984. He served in various land capacities for Tenneco Oil Company from 1977 to 1981 and as an independent landman from 1975 – 1977. Mr. Atwood holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Oklahoma City University and a Master of Business Administration Degree from Houston Baptist University.

Ms. Wickes is an energetic and passionate oil and gas professional with an interdisciplinary understanding uncommon among modern landmen. Idolizing the original generation of landmen that knew how to “do it all,” Wickes has always been determined to be a master of her craft. Her keen ability to answer high-stress problems with creative solutions led her to become the youngest female to sit on the executive team of a publicly traded oil and gas company. In 2016, Wickes was named VP of Land at Emerald Oil, Inc., a Bakken operator whose market cap reached nearly $1B at its peak. Following Emerald Oil, Wickes worked for an E&P focused on the SCOOP/STACK of Oklahoma before being hired by Mr. Beato to help close the $200M acquisition of Linn Energy’s assets in southwest Wyoming and form XRO Energy LLC. Wickes subsequently became the VP of Land at XRO, where she oversaw the land and regulatory teams managing an asset base of 175,000 net acres and 1,400 wells. Most recently, Wickes co-founded Sheridan based Rocking WW Minerals with Beato, a PE-backed mineral and royalty acquisition company focused on Wyoming and the surrounding Rockies region. Wickes graduated from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado with a degree in Finance and earned 3 certificates from the University of Denver within the field of Petroleum Land Management. Wickes has been named to Forbes Magazine’s 2020 top “30 Under 30” list for the energy sector.