Luke Essman
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Luke Essman

President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Essman currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Canyon Creek Energy Operating, LLC and is President, CEO and Board Member of Canyon Creek Energy Arkoma. CCEA is a Joint Venture between Vortus Investment Advisors a Fort Worth, TX private equity firm and private investors to develop Oklahoma Arkoma Basin assets. Prior to CCEA, Mr. Essman partnered with ArcLight Capital Partners, a Boston, MA private equity firm, to form Canyon Creek Energy Partners and successfully divested the company’s assets to BP-America in the fall of 2015.

In 2012 Mr. Essman founded Canyon Creek Resources focusing on exploiting undervalued properties within the Mid-Continent region of the United States generating value to company investors until its sale in 2014.

Prior to founding his energy companies, Essman spent ten years in commercial banking with Bank of Oklahoma and Summit both operating in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He left banking in 2012 as a Senior Vice President and shareholder of Summit Bank specializing in oil and gas lending.

Mr. Essman was named a Top 20 New Leader in Tulsa in 2008, a top 40 Under 40 professional in Oklahoma by Oklahoma Magazine in 2014 and a top 30 Under 40 by Oil and Gas Investor Magazine in 2016. Mr. Essman is a graduate of Leadership Tulsa Class 49. Mr. Essman currently serves on the Board of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA) and he is currently the Board President of The Indian Healthcare Resource Center a non-profit serving the medical needs of Oklahoma’s Native American population. Mr. Essman graduated from Oklahoma State University with a B.S. in Finance. He and his wife, Ann, have three children.