Civitas Resources Inc. on June 29 announced the retirement of Cyrus “Skip” Marter and the appointment of Travis Counts, formerly with Concho Resources Inc., as the company’s new chief legal officer.

Marter, the company’s general counsel and secretary, is retiring effective Aug. 1. In conjunction with Marter’s retirement, the Civitas board of directors appointed Counts as the new chief legal officer and secretary.

Counts comes to Civitas from the law firm of Bracewell LLP, where he is currently a partner based in Midland, Texas. Prior to joining Bracewell, he was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Concho Resources, where he helped to steer Concho through numerous transactions and integrations, including its 2021 acquisition by ConocoPhillips Co.

Hart Energy June 2022 - Civitas Resources New Chief Legal Officer - Skip Marter headshot
Cyrus “Skip” Marter

“Our board of directors and I want to thank Skip for his many contributions to Civitas. He played a critical role in the restructuring of Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. in 2017 and in the multiple mergers and acquisitions that have created the Civitas of today,” Chris Doyle, president and CEO of Civitas, commented in a company release. “We wish Skip the best in his well-deserved retirement.”

“We also want to welcome Travis Counts as our new chief legal officer,” Doyle added. “Travis brings significant transactional, integration, and leadership experience that will be critical to the continued evolution and success of Civitas.”

Civitas Resources is focused on developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and NGL in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg (D-J) Basin.

Formerly known as Bonanza Creek Energy, the company rebranded as Civitas Resources in November 2021 following a slew of acquisitions. Ultimately, the steady string of M&A activity has helped to establish Civitas as the largest pure play E&P in the D-J Basin.

Based in Denver, Civitas also claims to be Colorado’s first carbon neutral oil and gas producer.

As part of his appointment, Counts will be relocating to Denver as he assumes his duties with Civitas, according to the company release.