Who We Are

MANAGEMENT

Ben R. Weber, Jr.  Ben R. Weber, Jr. is the founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and sole Manager and Member of Texas Republic Management, LLC and the General Partner of Texas Republic Minerals. Mr. Weber has been actively involved in the crude oil and natural gas industry for 38 years under the companies of Weber Energy Corporation, Conquest Resources Corp., STI Corp and Synfuels International Corp. During this 38 years, Mr. Weber has successfully drilled and completed over 300 oil and gas wells as president of Weber Energy Corporation and has participated in and caused to be drilled by way of his exploration efforts over 2,000 oil and gas wells by partner and successor operators. 

Mr. Weber is a member of the Chancellors Council at The University of Texas, Austin and as an alumnus he also established the Ben R. Weber, Jr Energy Management Scholarship Endowment at the McCombs School of Business. Additionally, he serves on the McCombs advisory council. With Synfuels International, he formed a strategic research and technology sub-licensing partnership with Texas A&M University’s Department of. Chemical Engineering. Weber served for 7 years on the advisory council of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX., and during this relationship 3 patents were granted by the US Patent Office to TX A&M Univ. and over 32 Chemical process patents for gas to liquids technology were granted to Synfuels International.

Mr. Weber has served on the advisory board of UT Southwestern Medical Children’s Hospital, Dallas, TX, Baylor Healthcare Systems Dallas TX, The United Cerebral Palsy Guild, The Dallas Fair Park Science Place, Dallas Heritage Society and Heritage Park, Dallas TX.

Rene Elgersma, VP of Operations. Rene Elgersma comes from a background of real estate, land and mineral title verification, acquisition and sales. As a liaison with personnel in both office operations and field activity, Ms. Elgersma reviews, negotiates and prepares business agreements, contracts, and presentations for the Partnership. Additionally, Ms. Elgersma maintains marketing materials and land maps for daily business use, client conferences and presentation. Through her research, Ms. Elgersma keeps the Managing Partner’s personnel updated on all oil and gas exploration and production and related issues in areas of interest which aid the Partnership’s decisions to move forward on targeted mineral acquisitions. Her management abilities assist Ben Weber in the daily operations of the Partnership and in the planning and strategizing required for future projects.

Jeremiah R. Trythall, Reservoir Engineer. Mr. Jeremiah (Jerry) Trythall has worked as a petroleum engineer since 1969. Mr. Trythall is currently retained by the Partnership as an independent consultant responsible for review of reservoir characteristics and reservoir quality within the high graded areas of interest for mineral acquisition.

Mr. Trythall’s experience working for many of the largest and most successful oil and gas companies, both public and private, provides the expertise of engineered reservoir quality for the Partnership.

Kenneth Bowdon, Geologist/Geophysicist. Kenneth Bowdon graduated in 1978 from Centenary College of Louisiana with a BS in geology. Mr. Bowdon worked for Core Laboratories, performing sidewall core analysis, whole core analysis, and special core analysis. Mr. Bowdon began evaluating horizontal drilling technology in 1986 and in 1987 was responsible for recommending the first exploratory horizontal wellbore in the lower 48 states of the USA. Mr. Bowdon was Austin Chalk team leader for the Horizontal Taskforce for two years. Mr. Bowdon continued to develop horizontal geo-navigation technology while working for independent oil companies for the next six years. Mr. Bowdon’s company, Horizontal Solutions International (“HSI”), was founded in 1996 to provide geo-navigation services to the industry. Mr. Bowdon conceived and developed Lat-Nav, the proprietary software utilized for geo-navigation. HSI has performed geo-navigation for more than 8,000 lateral wells in the US, Canada and throughout the world. Mr. Bowdon was part of the Weber Energy team that discovered the Eagle Ford Shale "Blackhawk"  field in Dewitt County, Texas extending the Eagle Ford Shale play hundreds of miles beyond the previously known extents. Mr. Bowdon’s geologic expertise and insight to reservoirs drilled horizontally will aid in the evaluation of “sweet spot” mineral acquisition for Texas Republic Minerals, Ltd

Bruce Berlin, Supervisor of Land Services. Bruce Berlin is the Principal/Co-Owner of Alpha-Omega Partners, a land services company incorporated in 1989 and has provided expert landmen and a variety of land services for Weber Energy for over 20 years. Mr. Berlin is a senior manager with extensive experience in all aspects of oil and gas land management, including project and site development and damage settlements. Skilled in securing oil, gas and mineral leases, pipeline easements and researching surface and mineral titles, Mr. Berlin is experienced in all aspects of mineral and royalty buying, trading and assessments. Mr. Berlin is a trusted and expert land and mineral acquisition coordinator and will  continue to pass this expertise on for the Partnership’s acquisitions just as he has  done for many years for Weber Energy Corporation.