Chris Bentley
Chris Bentley, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran, started and grew his company, Bellatorum Resources, after injuries sustained during his service forced him into early retirement from military life.
Bentley’s military career includes six tours in support of the global war on terrorism, including both Iraq and Afghanistan. He ended his service as a Gunnery Sergeant, or ‘Gunny’ as it is more commonly known.
“I’m surprised I made it as long as I did in the Marine Corps,” he said. “I did a total of six deployments in less than nine years and was lucky to come home pretty much in tact with only a few minor injuries. So many of my comrades weren’t as lucky.”
Bentley founded Bellatorum—a mineral rights acquisitions and land services firm—in 2016, and said the company experienced ‘hockey stick growth.’ In the three years since its creation, Bellatorum has gone from having only one small project to 14 full-time employees and 26 contract employees working on a number of projects across the U.S. It now has $28.7 million worth of assets under management.
“I just feel blessed that I was given a chance to work in the land acquisition space of the oil and gas industry,” he said. “It’s so niche and inefficient and I couldn’t have asked for better exposure. It’s rare that an entrepreneur gets exposed to an inefficient market where he or she has the skillsets to immediately add efficiency and value.”
Bentley credits the Marine Corps for teaching him to be resourceful and strive for maximum efficiency.
“The quote from Seneca, ‘Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,’ is so relevant in my life,” he said. “I spent my entire adult life preparing for this opportunity and just didn’t know it. I love this segment of the oil and gas industry.
Bellatorum consists primarily of veterans from the top of the organization to the bottom. Whenever the company is looking to hire, one of the first places it looks is NextOp Inc., a nonprofit that specializes in career placement for veterans.
“I think one of the biggest military lessons I’ve applied to the business is dedication to the mission at all costs,” Bentley said. “It is our goal to build a real sustainable company that actually trains and employs veterans and doesn’t just pay lip service to it. The inherent character traits of tenacity and grit required to spend months at a time in hostile and austere environments while trying to accomplish missions that often were assigned with vague or ambiguous guidance or reasoning lends themselves well to the energy industry, and business in general.”
Bentley has found numerous things to keep him busy since retiring from the military. At the same time as growing his company and balancing this with family life, he also earned his MBA from Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. In addition, he co-founded Crossbar Academy, a faith-based school focused on providing underprivileged children with sports and educational opportunities that they may have otherwise never received.
The success of Bentley’s company became a springboard for launching a charity—the Bellatorum Foundation—which focuses on helping those just coming out of military life to transition to civilian life. The organization has helped many veterans already and Bentley hopes to greatly expand that reach in the coming years.
Bentley is a strong believer in the core values of the Marines, and the military in general, and has weaved these into every facet of his life. A desire to lend a hand to fellow veterans drives much of what he does in his life, including building the culture of his growing mineral rights business.