Our Team

Travis Thompson has 20+ years of experience in the oil and gas industry and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at FireBird Energy. In 2019, Thompson founded FireBird Energy, an upstream oil and gas company focused on the acquisition and responsible development of assets in the Midland Basin. As a result of his leadership, the company has grown significantly in a short period of time and currently operates over 1,000 vertical and horizontal wells in the Basin. Prior to his work at FireBird Energy, Thompson capitalized on his entrepreneurial spirit as a co-founder of Torch Operating, LLC in 2010. He focused on building strong teams and asset acquisition and divestiture strategies, which led to a private equity investment.

Earlier in his career, Thompson worked for Bank One and Hallwood Petroleum before co-founding Norwood Land Services and Norwood Natural Resources. Thompson holds a B.B.A. degree in Petroleum Land Management from Texas Tech University. Thompson serves as a board member on the Rawls Advisory Council at Texas Tech. In addition, he serves as the President of the School Athletic Booster Club at Lake Country Christian School in Fort Worth, Past Director of the Fort Worth Petroleum Club, and a member of the Fort Worth Wildcatters. Thompson resides in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife, Lexi, and their three children, Trevor, Troy, and Piper. He enjoys traveling, attending games at Texas Tech, golfing, and visiting the ranch in his spare time.

Ben joined FireBird at it’s founding in 2019 as COO. Prior to joining FireBird, Ben was the VP Reservoir Engineering for Black Mountain Oil & Gas. Previously Mr. Lucas held a variety of roles at RSP Permian in both Dallas and Midland including Subsurface Projects Team Lead, Business Development Engineer, Production and Facilities Engineer and Reservoir Engineer. Ben started his career as a Reservoir Engineer with XTO Energy in the Arkoma Basin. Mr. Lucas graduated from UT-Austin with a BS in Petroleum Engineering and a BS in Geosystems Engineering and Hydrogeology.

Steven Loh joined FireBird Energy at it's inception in 2019 and currently serves as our CFO. Prior to joining FireBird, Steven was a Vice President at RedBird Capital Partners, a principal investing firm focused on providing long-term growth equity. Steven was previously the Director of Finance and Treasurer of RSP Permian, a publicly traded upstream company, where he managed a broad range of financial responsibilities including M&A, capital markets, credit facility, hedging and treasury. Steven has also worked at Aethon Energy, Lime Rock Resources and Deutsche Bank in a variety of energy finance-related roles. He received a B.A. in Mathematical Economic Analysis and Classical Studies from Rice University, where he graduated Cum Laude.

Charles Moltz joined FireBird Energy in August 2019. Currently he serves as our CDO. Prior to joining FireBird, Charles served as a Reservoir Engineering Supervisor and a Senior Reservoir Engineer at Concho Resources. Charles served as the Lead Reservoir Engineer at RSP Permian where his responsibilities included reserve estimation, planning, acquisition evaluation and production monitoring. He began his career at Chesapeake Energy serving in various engineering roles. He holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Aaron Shields joined FireBird Energy in August 2022. He currently serves as our VP of Marketing and Midstream. Prior to joining FireBird, Aaron served as Commercial Services Manager at Medallion Midstream. He has over twenty years of experience in the Permian basin serving in various commercial roles for MorningStar Partners, XTO Energy, BOPCO, LP and Southern Union Gas Services. He currently serves as a board member for the Dallas-Fort Worth Crude Association and holds a B.B.A. degree in Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University.

Chris Gardiner joined FireBird Energy in July of 2019. Currently he serves as our VP of Operations, coordinating and implementing completions, production, and infrastructure expansions. Prior to joining FireBird, Chris served as a Reservoir Engineering Supervisor at Concho Resources. His experience includes Reservoir and Operations experience on the technical and management sides of the business in the Permian, Bakken, and Anadarko Basins while working for RSP Permian and ConocoPhillips. He holds a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College.

Wade Purtell joined FireBird Energy at its founding. He serves as VP of Legal and Business Affairs, acting as the company’s in-house attorney and managing various aspects of the company’s business operations. Prior to joining FireBird, Wade was an attorney and shareholder at the Harris, Finley & Bogle, P.C. law firm for 17 years and later served as President of Norwood Land Services, LLC, a full-service petroleum land management company based in Fort Worth. He holds a BBA degree from Tarleton State University and a Juris Doctor from the Texas Tech University School of Law.

Braden White joined FireBird at it's inception in 2019. Currently he serves as our VP of Land, overseeing the land aspects of company asset development and A&D transactions. Prior to joining FireBird, Braden served as Land Manager for Torch Operating and Senior Landman with XTO Energy as a company operated asset landman and later in the Land Acquisitions and Divestitures group. He has overseen A&D transactions and the preparation of company operated positions for development in several states across the US. Braden holds a BBA in Energy Management from the University of Oklahoma, graduating in 2009 and received his MBA from Texas Christian University in 2014.

Christy Kolbye joined FireBird Energy at it's inception in 2019 and currently serves as our Controller. Prior to joining FireBird, Christy was Controller of Torch Operating where she designed and implemented all the accounting policies and procedures and managed all aspects of accounting for the company. In the past 10 years, she has worked on the acquisition and divestiture of several oil and gas portfolios and has worked with private equity groups in New York and Houston. She started her career in public accounting and private company valuations. She received her degree in Accounting from Texas Tech University and is a certified public accountant.

John Martin Anthony joined FireBird Energy in March 2023. Currently he serves as our VP of Geology. Prior to joining FireBird, John Martin served as Lead Business Development Geologist at Permian Resources, formerly Colgate Energy, where he was responsible for helping guide the technical underwriting process in A&D efforts across the Permian Basin. His experience includes asset evaluation, planning, and execution while working for Concho Resources. He holds a B.S in Geology from Louisiana State University and a M.S in Geology from Texas Christian University.

Stephen Ordoyne joined FireBird Energy in December of 2019. He currently serves as our VP of Drilling. Prior to joining FireBird, Stephen served as a staff Drilling Engineer at Concho Resources. He is a very well-versed Drilling Engineer with horizontal and vertical experience in the Permian basin, Delaware basin as well as South Texas while working for RSP Permian and BOPCO, LP. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Finance and Petroleum Engineering from the University of Louisiana Lafayette.