The Board of Directors

The Board of Directors elects the officers annually. Directors serve for one year and must be re-elected each year by the shareholders.


ROBERT VOGEL – Chairman of the Board

Mr. Vogel became a Director in July 2018. He was recently appointed Chairman in October, 2020. He is a Principal at Lucas Capital Management, a registered investment advisor providing a full suite of financial services to individuals and institutional clients. Mr. Vogel is a seasoned executive with an extensive background in the energy industry. He has served or worked as a principal, director, chief financial officer, trustee, vice president and treasurer, assistant treasurer, manager of corporate planning and control, manager inventory control and process engineer for organizations including Lucas Capital Management, Red Leaf Resources, GTL Energy, Blink Now Foundation, Community Foundation of New Jersey, Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church, Hess Corporation, Max Lotto, W.R. Grace and Co, and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. Mr. Vogel has a BS in chemical engineering and a MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. Mr. Vogel serves on the Board of Royale as an independent director. He also serves the Board as a member of the Nominating Committee, as Head of the Audit Committee and on the Compensation Committee.


MEL G. RIGGS – Director

Mr. Riggs became a director in July 2018. He became Chairman of the Board in 2018 by vote of the Board. Mr. Riggs currently serves on the board of directors and audit committee of NexTier Oilfield Solutions, Inc. INYSE: NEX). He is also affiliated with the Clayton Williams family office. Mr. Riggs previously served as President of Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CWEI) from March, 2015 until April 2017 when CWEI was acquired for $2.7 billion by Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NBL). In prior roles, Mr. Riggs served from March 1991 until December 2010 as the chief financial officer of CWEI and from 2010 to 2015 as the executive vice president and chief operating officer. Mr. Riggs also served as a director of CWEI from 1994 to 2017. Mr. Riggs currently serves Community National Bank of Midland, Texas as a member of the Board of Directors as well as the audit committee. Mr. Riggs is a certified public accountant and received a BBA with a degree in accounting from Texas Tech University in 1977. Mr. Riggs serves on the Royale Board as an independent director.


THOMAS GLADNEY – Director

Mr. Gladney became a director in July 2018. Since 2006 he has served as president of privately held Bodog Resources, LLC, a wholly owned private entity which invests in oil and gas and real estate. Mr. Gladney previously served as executive vice president of Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP) where he helped increase proved reserves from 239 MMEB to more than 400 MMEB while directing various projects to include integration of the merger of two large public companies, work on development and exploration projects in the Gulf of Mexico and on several key engineering projects. Prior to that, Mr. Gladney served as senior vice president for PXP and Plains Resources, president of Arguello Inc. for Plains, project manager for Venoco and Torch, and Offshore Operations Manager and Gulf Coast Development Manager for Sun E&P/Oryx Energy. Mr. Gladney received a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Mississippi State University, in 1975. Mr. Gladney is experienced in operational management, has a broad knowledge of facilities and oil field management and is knowledgeable in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Gladney serves on the Royale Board as an independent director. He also serves the Board as a member on the Nominating Committee, Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee.


JONATHAN GREGORY – Vice Chairman of Director

Mr. Gregory became a director of Royale in March 2014 and served as Royale’s chief executive officer from September 10, 2015, until June 1, 2018. Prior to becoming Royale’s CEO, Mr. Gregory, from March 2014 to July 2015, served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Development Strategist for Americo Energy Resources, a private exploration and production company located in Houston, Texas. Prior to serving as CFO of Americo Energy, Mr. Gregory was CFO of J&S Oil & Gas, LLC, from April 2012 to February 2014. From December 2004 to April 2012, Mr. Gregory was head of the energy lending group in Houston, Texas for Texas Capital Bank, N.A. Mr. Gregory is presently CEO of RMX Resources, LLC (“RMX”), a private Texas based oil and gas company with oil and gas properties primarily located in California, in which, Royale holds an equity interest. Mr. Gregory is also a Credit Advisor to Anvil Capital Partners, a private debt capital provider to upstream energy companies and serves on the advisory board of the Center for Compassionate Leadership. Mr. Gregory graduated from Lamar University in 1986 with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance.


JOHNNY JORDAN – Director and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Jordan was appointed to the board in January 2018 and appointed Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2019. Mr. Jordan also serves on the Board of Directors of RMX Energy, LLC, a TX limited liability company. He is a petroleum engineer with expertise in acquisitions, field economics and reserves analysis, bank negotiations, reservoir and field operations, and multi-team interaction. Mr. Jordan served on the Board of Directors of Matrix. Mr. Jordan has been active in the oil and gas industry since 1980 beginning as a floor hand on a well service rig. He has held various staff and supervisory positions for Exxon, Mack Energy, Enron Oil and Gas and Venoco Corporation. He was the team leader of a multidiscipline team from 1992 to 1996 that added 455 BCF and 79 MMCFD through acquisitions (71 BCF) and field development (365 wells) in the Val Verde Basin in West Texas. Mr. Jordan has managed acquisition evaluations in many of the oil and gas producing basins in the US. He has coordinated field development for various recovery mechanisms that include waterflood, tertiary flood, water drive oil and gas reservoirs, and pressure depletion fields with gas cap expansion or gravity drainage. Mr. Jordan received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1983 and is currently a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the American Petroleum Institute.


KAREN LEIK KERNS – Director

Ms. Karen Leik Kerns became a director in September 2019. Ms. Kerns is an attorney with over 30 years of experience in business, contract and loan negotiation, and real estate law. Ms. Kerns previously served as General Counsel for a private real estate investment trust with over $400 million in limited partner investments throughout the United States. In her early legal career Ms. Kerns practiced business and insurance defense litigation. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming. Ms. Kerns serves on the Board as an independent director. She also serves the Board as a member on the Nominating Committee, Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee.


COMMITTEES

Audit Committee – The board has appointed an audit committee to assist the board of directors in carrying out its responsibility as to the independence and competence of the Company’s independent public accountants. In accordance with the rules of NASDAQ for listed companies, all members of the audit committee are independent members of the board of directors. The audit committee operates pursuant to an audit committee charter which has been adopted by the board of directors to define the committee’s responsibilities. A copy of the audit committee charter is posted on our website, www.royl.com.

From his election in 2018 and in 2019, the board determined Robert Vogel qualified as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in Regulation S-K Item 407(d)(5) of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2019, the members of the audit committee were Robert Vogel, Thomas Gladney and Karen Kerns. The number of meetings held in 2019 were 4.

Nominations Committee – Its purpose is to review and make recommendations to the board of directors concerning the nominees proposed for election of directors at the annual meeting of directors. The Nominations Committee operates pursuant to a committee charter which is posted on our website, www.royl.com. For 2019, the members of the nominations committee were Thomas Gladney, Robert Vogel and Karen Kerns.

Compensation Committee – its purpose is to review and make recommendations to the board of directors on setting the salaries of the company’s officers and the compensation to be paid to members of the board of directors who are not employees of the Company. The compensation committee operates pursuant to a committee charter adopted by the board of directors, a copy of which is posted on our website, www.royl.com. In 2019, the members of the compensation committee were Karen Kerns, Robert Vogel and Thomas Gladney.