Meet the Team
Zavanna Resources was formed in 2018 in an effort to take advantage of the 100+ years of combined exploration experience that the founding members of Zavanna, LLC hold. A team of internal employees and external consultants with a combined experience level of over 300+ years of exploration experience was formed to explore for oil and gas throughout the United States. This team is referred to as the Z Team with key members listed here:
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David Hodges - CEO, Zavanna Resources
David Hodges has been the Chief Executive Officer of Zavanna since 2018. David joined Zavanna in August of 2012 as the Senior Vice President of Operations and in August of 2015, he became Chief Operating Officer. During this time, David helped Zavanna grow its gross production base from 3,000 boe/day to a peak of 25,000 boe/day.
David spent the first six years of his career on the service side of the industry. In 2005, he made the switch from service to operator and joined Ultra Petroleum as an Operations Engineer. David grew with Ultra from 2005 through 2012 in various roles with increasing management responsibilities.
David now has over two decades of experience in the energy industry and extensive field-level operations experience in multiple basins, including the San Juan, Green River, Marcellus, DJ, and Bakken. He has provided executive-level leadership, guidance, and vision for 60,000 acres of Bakken development, deploying over $1.2 billion in gross capital. That work culminated in a successful sale of the asset, generating multiples of return on invested equity.
David has successfully led companies through multiple industry downturns, always finding creative ways to deliver returns during those times.
David obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Buffalo and his Executive MBA from the University of Denver.
Michael Dolan — Dolan Integration Group
While at Mobil and ExxonMobil, assisted during exploration phases for Thunder Horse (BP Operated) billion barrel field discovery in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Among many other exploration projects, responsible for the original model to confirm a petroleum system in the Kara Sea (Russian Actic Sea). This resulted in the drilling of University #1 well and the discovery of the Pobeda (Victory) Field. Reserves are estimated at 9 billion barrels of oil.
Work in North America onshore involves supporting EOG Resources during expansion into Bakken, Niobrara, Mowry, EagleFord, Wolfcamp and many other liquids-rich unconventional plays.
Michael Hofmann — AIM GeoAnalytics
After earning his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Montana, he worked as a senior geologist for ConocoPhillips’ Subsurface Technology, Sedimentary Systems, and Shale Stratigraphy groups in Houston, TX. Before forming AIM GeoAnalytics in 2012, he worked as an independent consultant, providing geological expertise to energy industry. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Montana. Michael supervises and manages AIM GeoAnalytics’ technical and business operations.
Steve Hoye — Blue River
Amanda Wynn-Bidgood — Elevation Resources
She has led/managed several (land) teams in a variety of engagements including but not limited to; conducting title and leasehold research, leasing campaigns, software data integrations and due diligence evaluations. She has represented several operators, mineral owners and law firms with assets primarily located in the Rocky Mountain and Mid-Con Regions.
Denver Business Journal award for 2014 Top 40 Under 40
Denver Business Journal award for 2016 Top Women in Energy
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Graham McClave — Exploration Manager, Zavanna Resources
Graham McClave has been the Exploration Manager of Zavanna Resources since November 2025.
Graham spent his first decade in the industry as an operations and exploration geologist with Endeavour International and Augustus Energy Partners, working basins including the Piceance, Appalachian, and Big Snowy Trough. He was a key geological contributor to two Niobrara discovery and delineation wells in the Piceance Basin, including Augustus’s BHR Fed J22-2RH horizontal step out (IP: 1,200+ BOPD, 1.3 MMCFG/D) and Endeavour’s Wiley Unit discovery well (IP: 800+ BOPD, 1.4 MMCFG/D).
In October 2021, Graham took on a Petroleum Geologist role on Zavanna’s Exploration Team. In that role, he helped lay the groundwork for the company’s Western Wyoming leasehold — identifying prospect leads across Paleozoic through Cretaceous rock in the Bighorn, Wind River, and Greater Green River basins, and helping steer Zavanna’s approach to data analytics, prospect review, seismic licensing, and leasing.
What drives Graham technically is a search for value where others haven’t yet looked: passed-over conventional reserves, higher-risk untested unconventional plays, and the rigorous subsurface work required to turn either into a real drilling opportunity. He holds firmly to the idea that it’s disciplined technical rigor, and a little luck too, that turns a promising prospect into actual production.
With more than 15 years in the oil and gas industry, Graham leads exploration at Zavanna — growing the company’s Western Wyoming leasehold around ideas generated in-house, scouting opportunities outside the current footprint, and positioning the company for both conventional and unconventional development in 2027 and beyond.
Graham obtained a B.A. in Geology from the University of Colorado Boulder and an M.Sc. in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines, where he researched the Heath Formation in central Montana.
Timothy Lane — Rainbow Consulting LLC
Experience in Powder River, Williston, DJ, Pennsylvanian and Mississippian of Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas, Appalachian, Gulf Coast (onshore and offshore), Pannonian/Carpathian Basins of Romania, and Cheshire Basin, UK.
Extensive experience in integrated 2D/3D seismic and geologic interpretation, project management, onshore drilling operations, and seismic data processing. Broad based knowledge of seismic acquisition and permitting, production and development engineering principals, land management, contract/lease negotiations, and state and federal regulatory issues. Excellent presentation, organization, and planning skills.
Brian Bussie — Blue River
William Coleman — Prairie Petroleum, Inc.
to market oil and gas prospects in the Williston and Powder River
Basins.
Prairie formed the foundation for Zavanna. Bill received his BA in Economics from Duke University in 1973 and his MBA from Tulane
University in 1978. He began his career as a Landman with Atlantic
Richfield in 1975, working in its Denver, Dallas and Midland offices.
In 1979, he moved to Aminol USA in Houston to work the offshore Gulf
Coast and moved on to become a Division Land Manager for the Rocky
Mountains.
Zavanna has always forged strong strategic alliances, joint ventures, and joint exploration agreements with partners throughout the industry. Zavanna Resources is dedicated to building and maintaining relationships with contractors and consultants whose values align with our own to increase the scope of what we can accomplish in North Dakota and beyond.
If you are interested in partnering on exploration projects, or have prospects you would like to show please contact us.