Management Team

Mark G. Papa has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a director since October 2016.  Prior to that, Mr. Papa served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Run Acquisition Corp. before its business combination with Centennial Resource Production, LLC.  Mr. Papa is also a Houston-based advisor to Riverstone Holdings, LLC, a private equity firm specializing in energy investments.  Prior to joining Riverstone in February 2015, Mr. Papa was Chairman and CEO of EOG from August 1999 to December 2013. Mr. Papa served as a member of EOG’s board of directors from August 1999 until December 2014. Mr. Papa worked at EOG for 32 years in various management positions. Mr. Papa was retired from December 2013 through February 2015. Prior to joining EOG, Mr. Papa worked at Conoco Inc. for 13 years in various engineering and management positions. Mr. Papa also serves on the board of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB), the world’s leading oilfield services company since August 2018 and Casa de Esperanza, a non-profit organization serving children in crisis situations since November 2006. From February 2001 to August 2018, Mr. Papa served on the board of Oil States Industries (NYSE: OIS), an international field services company.  In February 2010 and 2013, the Harvard Business Review cited Mr. Papa as one of the 100 Best Performing CEOs in the World; both times Mr. Papa was the highest ranked Global Energy CEO. Additionally, Institutional Investor magazine repeatedly ranked him as the Top Independent E&P CEO.  He received his B.S. in petroleum engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from the University of Houston. We believe Mr. Papa’s significant experience in the energy industry makes him well qualified to serve as a member of Centennial’s board of directors.

Mr. Smith has served as our Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since October of 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Smith served as Vice President, Geosciences of Centennial Resource Production, LLC (“CRP”) and has served in such capacity since May 2014. Prior to joining CRP, from February 2013 to May 2014, Mr. Smith worked at QEP Resources, where he served in several roles, including as a General Manager, leading the geoscience, regulatory and reservoir engineering departments for the Williston, Powder River, and Denver Julesburg Basins. Prior to QEP Resources, from 2005 to February 2013, Mr. Smith worked at Resolute Energy Corporation as a Manager and Geologist. He has also worked in various geotechnical roles at Kerr-McGee and Sanchez Oil & Gas. Mr. Smith earned his B.A. in Geology from Lawrence University. He is licensed with the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists and is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Mr. Glyphis has served as our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since October of 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Glyphis served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Centennial Resource Production, LLC (“CRP”) since July 2014. Prior to joining CRP, Mr. Glyphis served as a Managing Director in the Oil & Gas Investment Banking practice at J.P. Morgan where his client base comprised primarily upstream and integrated oil & gas companies. In his 21 years at J.P. Morgan, Mr. Glyphis led the origination and execution of transactions including initial public offerings, equity follow-on offerings, high yield and investment grade bond offerings, corporate mergers and acquisitions, asset acquisition and divestitures, and reserve-based and corporate lending. Mr. Glyphis earned his B.A. in History from the University of Virginia.

Mr. O’Connor has served as our Vice President and General Counsel since October of 2016. Prior to that, Mr. O’Connor served as General Counsel of Centennial Resource Production, LLC (“CRP”) on a contract basis since May 2014. Prior to joining CRP, Mr. O’Connor served as Vice President and General Counsel of Berry Petroleum Company (NYSE: BRY) until Berry merged with LinnCo, LLC and Linn Energy, LLC in December 2013. After earning his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School, Mr. O’Connor joined the Denver office of Holland & Hart LLP as an associate attorney. In 1985, he was promoted to partner and later served on the firm’s Management Committee and chaired its Minerals Practice Group. In 2010, Mr. O’Connor left Holland & Hart LLP and joined Berry. Mr. O’Connor has been a member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and Western Energy Alliance, and serves on the board of a privately held oil and gas company with operations in Colorado.

Mr. Jensen has served as our Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer since March of 2017. Prior to that, Mr. Jensen served as Vice President, Finance and Treasurer of Whiting Petroleum Corporation (“Whiting”) from March 2015 to March 2017.  Mr. Jensen joined Whiting in August 2005 as Controller and became Controller and Treasurer in January 2006, and he was the designated principal accounting officer at Whiting from 2006 until his departure in 2017.  Mr. Jensen was previously with PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. in Houston and Los Angeles, where he held various positions in their oil and gas audit practice since 1994, which included assignments of four years in Moscow, Russia and three years in Milan, Italy.  He has over 24 years of oil and gas accounting experience and is a Certified Public Accountant inactive.  Mr. Jensen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mr. Garrison has served as our Vice President of Geosciences since October 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Garrison served as Division Exploration Manager for EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) in their Midland Division from 2014-2016. His primary responsibility was focused on the Exploration and Development of the Delaware Basin assets, which primarily consisted of the Avalon, Bone Spring, and Wolfcamp Shale. Prior to that, Mr. Garrison was the project geologist responsible for the development of EOG’s Delaware Basin assets. He worked in the Delaware Basin for EOG from 2011-2016. Prior to that, Mr. Garrison worked in EOG’s Fort Worth Division from 2007-2011, where he worked both the Barnett gas play in Johnson County, and the Barnett combo play in Montague and Cooke County as a project geologist. In total, Mr. Garrison worked for EOG for 9 years prior to joining Centennial. Mr. Garrison received his B.S. in Geology from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and his M.S. in Geology from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Mr. Marshall has served as our Vice President of Land since November of 2016, leading Centennial’s Land and Government Relations efforts. Prior to joining Centennial, Mr. Marshall held the position of Director of Land Negotiation for Encana Oil & Gas (USA), leading Encana’s Permian Basin land team in acquisition and divestiture (“A&D”) and land operations support efforts since June of 2015. From August of 2013 to June of 2015 Mr. Marshall served as Vice President of Land and Legal for Source Energy Partners, LLC, and he was responsible for land, A&D and corporate governance efforts related to Source’s assets in the US and Latin America. From May of 2010 to August of 2013 Mr. Marshall served in land and business development roles at Resolute Energy Corporation related to their Bakken, Powder River and Permian Basin assets. From January of 2005 to May of 2010 Mr. Marshall provided land and legal services to Hawkeye Oil and Gas, Inc. From June of 2008 to May of 2010 Mr. Marshall was engaged in the private practice of law as a partner with the firm of Marshall and Todd LLP. Throughout his career, Mr. Marshall has been actively involved in land and business development activities throughout the lower 48 and South and Central America. Additionally, Mr. Marshall serves on the board of the Texas Oil & Gas Association (“TXOGA”), the oldest and largest group in Texas representing oil and gas interests.  He also currently serves as a committee chairman serving the American Association of Professional Landmen (“AAPL”), having previously served as a board member for the AAPL.  He is a Certified Professional Landman (“CPL”) and an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, Alabama and Colorado. Mr. Marshall earned a B.S. in Journalism and Business from the University of North Texas and his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law.

Ms. Phillips has served as Vice President of Human Resources since August of 2017 after having joined Centennial as the Director of Human Resources in October of 2016.  Ms. Phillips was previously employed by QEP Resources, Inc. from 2010 to 2016, where she held several positions including the Director of Training, Development and Recruiting and the Director of Benefits.  Prior to joining QEP, Ms. Phillips worked in the Human Resources department at Suncor Energy from 2006 to 2010.  Before moving to Suncor Energy, Ms. Phillips worked as a benefits consultant for Marsh & McLennan from 1998 to 2005, serving a number of clients within the energy industry.  Ms. Phillips began her career in the national accounts division of Prudential HealthCare where she worked from 1996 to 1998.  Ms. Phillips earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Christian University and a Masters of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Policy at The University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Smith has served as Vice President of Operations since November of 2018.  Mr. Smith joined us in April 2017 as Sr. Completions Engineer and was promoted to Completions Manager in January 2018.  Prior to Centennial, he served for two years as a Sr. Completion Engineer for EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) in the Midland Division working on EOG’s completion activities in Reeves County, Texas and Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico.  Prior to that, Mr. Smith worked in EOG’s Corpus Christi Division in production, drilling and completion engineering roles, with a focus on South Texas conventional assets.  Mr. Smith received his B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.  He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Mr. Thompson has served as our Vice President of Reservoir Engineering since July 2017.  Prior to that, Mr. Thompson served as General Manager at QEP Resources leading the reservoir engineering, geoscience, and regulatory teams focused on the Williston Basin from 2016 to 2017.  Mr. Thompson also served as the General Manager of the Greater Green River Basin Team from 2015 to 2016.  Prior to that, Mr. Thompson worked as the Reservoir Engineering Manager of QEP’s Williston Basin assets from 2012 to 2015.  Mr. Thompson originally joined QEP Resources (formerly Questar E&P) in 2005 as a member of the Mid-Continent asset team functioning in various engineering roles before managing the Mid-Continent Reservoir Engineering Team in 2012.  Mr. Thompson earned his B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.  He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Oklahoma and member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.