Freehold Royalties Ltd. recently appointed energy industry veterans Sylvia Barnes and Valerie Mitchell to its board of directors.

“We are very excited to have Sylvia and Valerie join our Board. Both individuals have a wealth of knowledge and experience to complement the skills and experience of our current board members,” Marvin Romanow, the chair of the Freehold Royalty board, commented in a company release on June 1.

Freehold Royalties Adds Sylvia Barnes, Valerie Mitchell to Board
Sylvia Barnes (left) and Valerie Mitchell (right)

Freehold’s focus is on acquiring and managing oil and gas royalties. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, the company’s land holdings totaling more than 6.2 million gross acres in Canada and 800,000 gross drilling unit acres in the U.S., according to its website.

The addition of Barnes and Mitchell to the Freehold board brings the number of directors to 10.

Barnes is a seasoned board director and business leader with over 30 years’ experience in energy investment banking and a background in engineering. She currently serves as co-founder of Tanda Resources LLC, a privately-held energy advisory firm focused on upstream investments and consulting based in Houston, where she resides.

Mitchell has over 25 years of experience in the energy industry, most recently as CEO of Corterra Energy, a Midcontinent operator. She currently serves as president and COO of Troy Energy, a private independent oil and gas acquisition, development, and exploration company based in Oklahoma City. She resides in Tulsa, Okla.

On the Freehold board, Barnes will serve on the Governance, Nominating and Compensation committee and Mitchell will serve on the Reserves committee.

According to the company release, Barnes’ board expertise includes ESG, audit, compensation, risk management and conflict committee matters. She currently serves as a board member at StoneBridge Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: APACU) and has been a board member at Teekay LNG Partners LP, Ultra Petroleum Corp., Pure Acquisition Corp., SandRidge Energy Inc. and Halcón Resources Corp.

Meanwhile, at Troy Energy, Mitchell oversees all aspects of company strategy and growth including operations, reserves, acquisitions, human resources, IT and ESG programs. Prior to Corterra, she was vice president with Newfield Exploration. Leading the Midcontinent division, she developed and executed a STACK and SCOOP acquisition, exploration, and development strategy.

Mitchell currently is a director and member of the Audit committee of NCS Multistage Holdings Inc., a publicly traded oilfield service company with offices in Calgary and Houston.