Speakers
Andrew Cooper
Ella McDonald
Tom Seng
Carl Campbell, CPL
Matthew Smith
Shandy Robl
Mike McConnell
Kyle Reynolds
Education Session
The Emerging Energy Crisis, Securing the Future
If you called your doctor, plumber or mechanic and nobody answered, what would you do? Shortages of critical services have a profound impact on personal and business success. The current workforce providing field land services is at or near retirement age, and recruitment of new talent has been largely unsuccessful.
In this special session, a panel of industry experts assembled by AAPL's 2025-26 Strategic Planning Committee will discuss the challenges of maintaining an adequate, competent field landman workforce, including insufficient incentives, lack of training and professional recognition, and propose potential solutions to the looming issue.
Read "The Emerging Energy Crisis" on landman.org, a sneak peek at a featured article in the upcoming May/June Landman magazine that delves into this important subject.
Andrew Cooper, CPL, is a Co-Managing Shareholder at RAS, Inc. Andrew received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006 and started working for RAS, Inc. upon graduation. The initial years of his career were spent honing his trade as a field landman where he was given the opportunity to travel extensively across Texas and learn the lay of the land in various courthouses across the state. In 2011, Cooper was invited in-house where he served as a Senior Project Manager and Vice President, before becoming a Co-Managing Shareholder in 2021.
A member of the American Association of Professional Landmen, the North Houston Association of Professional Landmen and the Houston Association of Professional Landmen, Andrew obtained his Registered Professional Landman certification in 2011 and his Certified Professional Landman designation in 2013. He currently serves as the AAPL Region IV Director on behalf of the HAPL and is a member of the NAPE Operator’s Committee. In 2020-21, Andrew had the honor of serving on the AAPL Executive Committee. He has also previously served as NHAPL's AAPL Regional Director, President, Vice President, Secretary and Director, Chairman of the AAPL Field Landman Committee, HAPL Director, as well as a member of numerous AAPL education related committees. In 2022, he received the AAPL Presidential Award for Meritorious Service and in 2024, the AAPL Landman of the Year.
Away from the office, Cooper cherishes his time spent with his four children: Andy, Olivia, Harrison and Theodore. A native Houstonian, he enjoys hunting, golfing, and coaching his children's sports teams.
Ella McDonald grew up on a dairy farm outside Mill Creek, Oklahoma, where she learned early on that hard work doesn’t have a gender. Drawn to the oil and gas industry and beginning March 1, 1978, she pushed past skepticism and built a career defined by grit, people smarts, and integrity. After being told by a man that “she could be a landman when pigs could fly”, she pushed forward with grit and discipline, demonstrating what persistence and hard work could achieve.
By 1980, Ella and a colleague formed an Oklahoma brokerage firm. In 1982 she founded McDonald Land Services, which has since grown into a full-service land company operating across the major basins of the continental U.S. Through her collaboration with the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board and Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Ella helped bring a foundational land title research course to the Petro Tech program, expanding pathways into land careers.
In recognition of her leadership and lasting impact, Ella became the first female to receive the Oklahoma City Association of Professional Landmen Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring her 48 years of service in the oil and gas industry. Ella stays actively involved in her community and supports a number of charitable efforts, including the Oklahoma Backpack program for school children. She and her family attend Goldsby Baptist Church, Goldsby, Oklahoma.
As a co-founder and COO of Alamo Resources LLC, Carl D Campbell, CPL, has extensive industry experience in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States and in Canada. Alamo Resources currently has holdings in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford, and the San Juan Basin.
A native of Oklahoma City and an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma, Campbell began his professional career in 1983 as a landman for the newly formed PetroCorp Inc. He became a division landman in 1987 during the company’s aggressive exploration and development program in the Mid-Continent region. In 1991, Campbell moved to Houston as the division landman for PetroCorp’s Gulf Coast region, and from 1993 through 1999, he gained a broad spectrum of experience in varied and prolific petroleum provinces as the company’s division land manager for the newly consolidated Gulf Coast, Rockies and Canada Division.
Prior to co-founding Alamo Resources in July 2004, Campbell formed Concorde Resources LLC in early 2000 and successfully pursued exploration and development opportunities in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent regions. Over the course of his career, he has been directly involved in producing property acquisitions and divestitures totaling more than $850 million.
A certified professional landman since 1995, Campbell has been an active member of AAPL, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landmen, the Houston Association of Professional Landmen, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Association, and the Texas Oil and Gas Association.
Campbell was elected to the HAPL board of directors in 2004 and served as the organization's past president. He served as AAPL president, first and second vice president, and as chairman of several committees, including the NAPE Operators Committee and the NAPE Advisory Board.
In 2011, Campbell was honored as HAPL’s Outstanding Landman of the Year and in 2018 as AAPL’s Landman of the Year. In 2012, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association named him among the Texas Top Producers in the Landman category of awards. In 2013, he was selected as a finalist for the top 100 most influential Houston business leaders in the energy industry. And in 2014, he was named to the Houston Business Journal’s list of Who’s Who in Houston Energy.
Campbell currently serves on the advisory boards of both the Robert M. Zinke Energy Management Program in the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma and the Tulsa University Energy Program. In addition, he is a past vice chairman and a member of the board of directors for Angel Flight South Central. This nonprofit organization provides free air transportation to patients for medical and humanitarian purposes.
Campbell resides in Oklahoma City and Houston with wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Victoria. He is an active member of the First Presbyterian Church and a charter member of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Matthew W. Smith, CPL, is the VP of Land for EOG Resources, Inc. After graduating from Texas Tech University in 1996, Matt began his career as a Field Landman working Texas and Oklahoma. In 2001, Matt took a job with El Paso Production in Houston, Texas as an in-house landman working the Gulf Coast of Texas. He left El Paso Production in 2003 to work as a Field Landman. In 2005, EOG hired Matt as a landman to work in the Fort Worth, Texas Division Office and in 2012 EOG moved Matt to the San Antonio, Texas Division Office to serve as Division Land Manager. In 2018, EOG moved Matt to the Denver, Colorado Division Office to serve as Division Land Manager for the Western U.S. and Canada and in late 2020 EOG moved Matt to the Midland, Texas Division Office to serve as Division Land Manager. In January of 2025 EOG moved Matt to Houston, Texas to serve as VP of Land. Matt has been an active member of American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) since 1998 and became a Certified Professional Landman in 2005.
Shandy Robl is currently the Head of Corporate Land with BPX Energy in Houston, Texas where she manages Land Technology, Division Orders, Land Compliance, Owner Relations, Legacy Assets and Business Development for Land. She has previously held the following positions at BPX: Head of Land Haynesville managing all land aspects in East Texas, Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana (2020-2025), Business Development Land Manager where she managed land for acquisitions and divestitures in the onshore US, including the BHP acquisition in 2018 and numerous divestitures (2018-2020) and South Texas Land Manager primarily focused on the Eagle Ford in South Texas (2016-2018). Before joining BPX in 2016, Shandy worked at Sabine Oil & Gas from 2007-2015, managing their Texas assets in East Texas, South Texas and the Texas Panhandle and she worked with Burlington Resources / ConocoPhillips in their Fort Worth, Midland and Houston offices from 2000-2007.
Shandy received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Petroleum Land Management and Management from Texas Tech University in 2000. She is a member of the American Association of Professional Landmen. She is also a member of the Houston Association of Professional Landmen and is a Past President of the Association. Shandy and her husband, James Conly, stay busy raising their 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. She enjoys reading, cooking and playing mahjong in her free time.
Mike McConnell is the current Director of The Robert M. Zinke Energy Management Program at the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. He is the 7th Director of the program which is the nation’s largest and oldest dating back to 1958.
He was President and a Director of Jones Energy, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange, independent oil and gas exploration company, from 2004 until April 2018. He remained a Director until August 2018. The company was headquartered in Austin, Texas with its Merge activity office in Oklahoma City. Jones Energy focused its horizontal drilling activity primarily in the Texas Panhandle and central Oklahoma. The company was founded in 1989, drilled over 700 horizontal wells, and operated over 1,000 wells. Jones Energy had net production of 22,000 boe/day.
Prior to joining Jones Energy, Mr. McConnell served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Generation and Production Group while Enron was in bankruptcy, until his departure in April 2003. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Enron Global Markets, which included 8-global trading and origination businesses. EGM had revenues in 2001 exceeding $15 billion. Mr. McConnell was also responsible for Enron Japan. He was also on the management committee of Enron Corp. during his various roles as Chairman and CEO of Enron’s Generation and Production Group, Vice Chairman and COO for Enron Net Works, and Enron’s CEO of Global Technology. Prior to that, he served as President of Houston Pipeline, President of Louisiana Resources Company, and held other various gas supply and marketing positions. He began his career in the exploration and production sector as a Landman for Champlin Petroleum Company, before joining Enron (Florida Gas Transmission) in 1987.
Mr. McConnell earned a BBA in Petroleum Land Management with an emphasis on Law from the University of Oklahoma in 1982. For over twenty years, he served as a board member, senior advisor and past chairman of the Price College of Business Board of Advisors. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Price College, the Regents Award from the University of Oklahoma, and the Dean’s Excellence Award for his leadership in the Energy Management Program.
He was also on the Board of IPAA and has served on the Board of numerous businesses and charities in the past. Mr. McConnell also wrote and published a non-fiction book, Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should, which focuses on lessons learned in business and keys to success.
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.
Julie Woodard serves as the senior land manager for Expand Energy in the Northeast Appalachia Business Unit. She assumed this role after leading the land business development and exploration activities for the Mid-Continent region at Chesapeake Energy Corp. She has worked for Expand (formerly Chesapeake) since 2004 and has served the organization in various individual contributor and leadership roles within the Land Department.
Woodard earned a Bachelor of Science in economics, pre-law, from Oklahoma State University and subsequently attended the University of Oklahoma’s Energy Management Program following her acceptance into law school. She currently serves on the University of Oklahoma’s Energy Management board of directors.
Woodard has been a member of the Oklahoma City Association of Professional Landmen and AAPL since 2004.She joined OCAPL’s Executive Committee in 2008 and is a past president of the association. She also has served as a chair and member of numerous AAPL committees since 2007 and has been an active member of their board of directors. Currently she serves as chair of the NAPE Operators Committee, following her service as chair of the Awards Committee, a member of the Executive Committee as third vice president for 2015-16, and president and chair of the AAPL Educational Foundation.
Among her many honors, Woodard was a finalist in the Young Professional in Energy category of the International Oil and Gas Awards, Mid-Continent Division in 2013, included in Oil and Gas Investor’s distinguished list of “20 under 40” in the industry, and named OCAPL’s Landman of the Year in 2014 and AAPL’s Landman of the Year for 2014-15. Most recently, she was an honoree in Hart’s Oil and Gas Investor 2025 Influential Women in Energy.
In addition to her professional association involvement, Woodard is a past president of the Edmond Public Schools Foundation.
Most importantly, she is a dedicated and loving mother of three children: Grayson, Hallie and Henley. She and her husband, Brian, live in Edmond, Oklahoma. She enjoys spending time with family, being outdoors, vacationing and being involved with her church community.