Diamond has an experienced team with 100+ years in the oil and gas industry. This experience includes all aspects of the business, so decisions can be made with clear understanding of each particular situation.
This experience, combined with an extensive network of industry insiders, gives the team insight as to what is happening throughout the country. Team members actively travel to areas of interest in order to see first hand what is happening and to understand the royalty and mineral procurement laws from state to state and county to county.
William Darling,
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Bill is the Chairman of the Board and the CEO of Diamond Energy. In addition, Bill has been an active member of the Woodstock Corporation Board of Directors since 1992 and was elected chairman in 2003. He is also affiliated with several other private wealth management firms. He is a principal member of Agawam Trust & Management, LLC, which provides trustee, accounting and tax services to various family and unrelated trusts, individuals and business entities in coordination with Woodstock Corporation. He is also the chairman and CEO of Coal, Energy Investments & Management, LLC, the managing general partner of Big Sandy Company, L.P., and has been associated with the company since 1984.
Bill recently retired as treasurer of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary as well as chairman of its Investment Committee. He also serves on the board of directors of College Bound Dorchester, for which he is the treasurer.
Bill holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard University and an M.B.A and M.S. in Accounting from Northeastern University. He also received his M.S. in Applied Psychology from the University of Aston in Birmingham, England.
John Roberts, President
At Diamond Energy, John brings over 30 years of experience targeting and negotiating oil and gas minerals and royalties to get the best value for money. In the past, as Owner and President of Gas and Oil Properties, LLC., John has been responsible for researching mineral title ownership, including verification of chain of title (surface and mineral) loans, tax assessor’s records, and lease checks. His high impact negotiations ensure that mineral owners receive their entitled procurement of leasehold rights to their property. John is active in civic affairs in his hometown of Brookhaven, MS, including being elected to the City Council as well as co-founding and acting as president of the Brookhaven Trust for the Preservation of History, Culture and the Arts. John is a graduate of the University of Mississippi.
Chauncey S.R. Curtz,
Secretary and Board Member
Chauncey is Secretary and on the Board of Diamond Energy, bringing with him over 30 years of industry experience. As a Managing Partner for Dinsmore & Shohl, he handles a wide variety of issues, including mineral rights and leases, mergers and acquisitions, real property and asset transactions, coal sales agreements, contract mining agreements and more. He has extensive relationships within the industry, both domestically and abroad, enabling him to stay abreast of new developments within the constantly evolving energy industry.
Since 1997, Chauncey has been a partial owner, President and General Counsel of Coal, Energy Investments and Management, LLC, enabling him to bring a practical perspective to helping surmount both business and operational challenges in the most economic and efficient way. Currently he is on the Board of Trustees of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation, the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Coal Association, and the Board of Trustees of the National Council of Coal Lessors.
Chauncey was graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada with a BS in Honors East Asia Studies/Chinese Language and from the University of Wisconsin College of Law with a JDD in 1981.
Mimi Zeini,
Vice President of Lease Administration
Mimi oversees acquisition operations for Diamond Energy. She has established a system of employing technology along with ground level networking to locate potential acquisition targets in desired areas. Mimi has more than 20 years experience in the development, leadership and direction of strategic revenue opportunities and business operations management of small-but-powerful companies in the oil & gas and real estate industries.
As President and owner of Merritt Oil and Gas, Inc., today, Mimi led a successful company specializing in buying oil and gas royalties or mineral rights directly from landowners; exclusively purchasing minerals or oil and gas royalties under lease with major oil and gas producers, with royalties on or near major US shale plays.
Mimi lives in Brookhaven, MS and is an active member of the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce. Other community involvement includes a role as Chairman and Co-chairman of the Missoula Children’s Theatre, an organization aimed at helping children develop life skills through participation in performing arts, as well as ongoing involvement with local community projects. Mimi studied at the University of South Alabama and earned her Associates degree in Computer Programming at Southeast College in Mobile, Alabama.
Reuven Hollo,
Vice President of Reservoir Engineering
Reuven brings over 35 years of reservoir analysis experience to Diamond Energy. Since 1997, Reuven has held the position of President and Co-Owner of Aries Resources in Houston, Texas. Aries owns, operates, drills and develops oil and gas properties in East and West Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Aries also owns interest and operates over 350 wells. The company was built through a series of acquisitions from Bellwether, Chesapeake, First Reserves Oil and Gas, Gunn, Saba, Lammaco, and others. Since 1997 Aries has transacted over $100MM worth of deals.
Reuven is also President and sole owner of Sigma Energy Corporation in Houston, Texas, a company he founded in 1982. At Sigma, handles reservoir engineering consulting, including appraisal of oil and gas properties, oil and gas fair market analysis, reservoir engineering studies (water flood studies, enhanced oil recovery, pressure analysis, etc., as well as litigation expert witness support, petrophysics, and petroleum economics software.
Prior to Aries and Sigma, Reuven has worked extensively in the oil industry. He started out with Beta Management in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where he supervised the installation of a natural gas pipe line in Eastern Alberta, Canada. Supervised a crew of 50 people. The size of the project was $20 million. After that, he worked for Dresser Atlas, also of Edmonton, where he Operated and supervised electric logging truck in northern Alberta, Canada, as well as interpreted and evaluated well logs to determine the success of drilling venture. Moving to Houston in 1978, Reuven worked for Keplinger & Associates as Reservoir Engineer, where he Determination of oil and gas reserves and economics. The work included: reservoir studies, log analysis, future net cash flow calculations, profitability analysis and fair market determination. In addition, he worked for Chenevert Engineering in Houston as a Vice President, responsible for the Appraisal and evaluation of oil and gas properties for private and public companies.
Reuven received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He received a Master of Science (Petroleum Engineering) from the University of Houston. While at the University of Houston, he went on to complete his M.B.A. He later attended the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, where he received a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering. Continuing education includes the Harvard University Executive business education program for Owner President Manager, as well as the Rice University Business Valuation program.