West Texas Energy Institute

William Burford

Partner, Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP

William B. Burford is a partner in the Midland, Texas, office of Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975, and is a 1978 graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he was a member of the Texas Law Review.  He has practiced in Midland since his graduation, primarily in the area of oil and gas title and transactional matters.  He has served, since its inception, on the editorial board for the development of title examination standards established by the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law (REPTL) and Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law (OGERL) Sections of the State Bar of Texas and is a past chair of the OGERL Section.  He is the Texas reporter for the quarterly Mineral and Energy Law Newsletter published by the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (formerly the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation) and has served as a trustee of the Foundation. 

Jerris Johnson, CPL

Landman and Technology Advocate

Jerris Johnson, CPL, has more than 20 years of practice as a land professional in the oil, gas, and renewable energy industries. He advises companies on blending traditional workflows with improved data systems, technological advancements, and AI to help land departments and professionals maximize productivity and efficiency. He is grateful for opportunities to present and educate at regional and national conferences and corporate events. Jerris also co-hosts the Real Deal Landman Show podcast, available on all major streaming platforms.

Kyle Reynolds

President, AAPL

Kyle Reynolds, CPL, is a managing member for RBG Permian LLC. He previously worked for Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City in the Permian, Eagle Ford and New Ventures groups as well as led a number of cross-functional steering committees. He then moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to lead Energen Resource Corp.’s business development team and served as manager over Permian and mineral assets.

He also co-owns several companies: Benjamin Lee Bison, a direct-to-consumer meat business; Fair-Weather Friend, an Oklahoma City brewpub; and Greenway Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm.

Reynolds holds a Bachelor of Arts in writing from the University of Central Arkansas and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He is an active member of the American Bar Association, Arkansas Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association, Permian Basin Landmen’s Association, Fort Smith Association of Professional Landmen and Urban Land Institute. Over the years he has served in many AAPL leadership roles, including first vice president in 2024-25, treasurer in 2020-21, Black Warrior Association of Professional Landmen director and chairman of the Marketing Committee, the Sustainability Taskforce, and  the Bylaws, Policy and Procedures Rewrite Taskforce. He also has served as a member of the Blankenship Student Awareness Initiative, Finance Committee, Investment Advisory Committee and NAPE Operators Committee.

Reynolds and his wife, Amy, have three beautiful children: Lila, Anne Douglas and Hardin. He enjoys cooking, traveling, reading, and all things Razorbacks sports, including writing weekly articles for The Pig Sty.

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Vincent Whisker

Senior Director, Commercial Development, Crusoe Energy Systems

Vincent Whisker is Senior Director of Commercial Development at Crusoe, the Denver-headquartered AI infrastructure company, where he leads origination and execution of AI data center campuses representing tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment. His focus is energy and power: structuring gas-fired generation, grid interconnection, utility and independent power producer partnerships, and long-term power supply agreements that unlock hyperscale compute sites across North America.

Vincent began his career in upstream oil and gas before pivoting to digital infrastructure, where he applies that energy background to the power-first logic of modern data center development. He holds a B.S. from the Colorado School of Mines and an M.B.A. from Regis University, and lives in the Denver area with his family.