Definitive Agreement
Abacus Life
East Resources Acquisition Co
- Registration2020-07-02 Filed S1
- IPO2020-07-24 IPO, search begins
- Definitive Agreement2022-08-30 Agreement for merger
- CompletedNot yet completed
- Raised
- $300M
- CIK
- 1814287
- SPAC Ticker
- ERESU
- Merger
- Abacus Life
- Focus
- Energy
SPAC Team
Leadership
Terrence (Terry) M. Pegula, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President
Mr. Pegula currently serves as our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. Mr. Pegula is one of the most experienced Chief Executive Officers in the Appalachian Basin, with over 40 years of success forming multiple oil & gas companies. Mr. Pegula has a proven operating and investing track record in the energy sector. In 2010, he sold assets of East Resources, Inc. to Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) for $4.7 billion. In 2014, he was the majority owner of assets sold by HG Energy, LLC (“HG Energy”) to American Energy Partners, LP (“American Energy Partners”) for $1.75 billion. At the respective times that both divestures occurred, East Resources, Inc. was not burdened with significant debt. Mr. Pegula has experience operating all segments of the value-chain, including upstream, midstream, processing and local distribution company assets. Mr. Pegula is currently the Owner and Vice President of East Management Services, an affiliate of our sponsor. Mr. Pegula also currently owns entities operating small assets in Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. Mr. Pegula is married to Kim Pegula, who currently serves as a Director. Mr. and Ms. Pegula also own the Buffalo Sabres professional hockey team and the Buffalo Bills professional football team.
Mr. Pegula graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1973 with a degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. In 2007 he was the recipient of the University’s prestigious C. Drew Stahl Distinguished Achievement Award in Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering. In 2011 he was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to his Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission and was also named Penn State’s Philanthropist of the Year in recognition of his past support and for the gift that provided the funds for the University to construct the Pegula Ice Arena and develop an NCAA Division I hockey program. In 2014 he received Penn State’s Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2018 he was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to Penn State’s Board of Trustees, on which he still serves. Finally, in 2020 he was appointed by the Department of Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to serve on the National Petroleum Counsel. Mr. Pegula is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive experience in investment and management of oil and gas companies.
Gary L. Hagerman, Jr., Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Director
Mr. Hagerman currently serves as our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and is a Director. Mr. Hagerman joined East Management Services, an affiliate of our sponsor, in August of 2015 as the Chief Accounting Officer after spending the prior twelve years at Pittsburgh-based accounting firm Sobol Veltum & Associates working as the manager overseeing all audit and assurance, tax, and advisory services provided to the entities owned by Terrence and Kim Pegula. In January of 2018, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer of East Management Services, JKLM Energy and all the other companies owned and operated by the Pegulas. Mr. Hagerman holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from West Liberty State College and is a licensed CPA in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Mr. Hagerman is well-qualified to be a member of our Board due to his extensive accounting and management experience.
John P. Sieminski, General Counsel and Secretary
Mr. Sieminski currently serves as our General Counsel and Secretary. Mr. Sieminski joined East Resources, Inc. in April of 2008 as the company’s first General Counsel after spending over seventeen years in private law practice with two law firms in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. Sieminski played key contract negotiation, due diligence and overall transactional administrative roles in East Resources, Inc.’s issuance of convertible debt instruments to Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co. (“KKR”) in 2009, with a deal value of $330 million, the sale of East’s Pennsylvania, New York, and Greater Rocky Mountain assets to Shell in 2010, and the sale of West Virginia and Ohio producing assets to affiliates of American Energy Partners in 2014 with a deal value $1.75 billion. Mr. Sieminski has been involved in the formation and management of multiple entities owned by Terrence and Kim Pegula in the areas of oil & gas, professional sports, investments, real estate, and entertainment. Mr. Sieminski is currently the General Counsel and Secretary of East Management Services, JKLM Energy and East Asset Management, all affiliates of our sponsor. Mr. Sieminski received a B.A. in psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctor from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the Law Review. He is actively involved in JKLM Energy’s activities as an executive board member of the Marcellus Shale Coalition.
Adam Gusky, Chief Investment Officer
Mr. Gusky currently serves as our Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Gusky has served as the Chief Investment Officer of East Management Services, an affiliate of our sponsor since the inception of East Management Services in 2010. At East Resources, Inc., Mr. Gusky was responsible for all financial due diligence for acquisitions, and he was in charge of the reserve-based lending facility. He also developed and implemented the corporate hedging strategy. Mr. Gusky currently serves on the Board of Directors of Rand Capital Corporation, a publicly traded business development company, where East Asset Management made a control investment. Mr. Gusky received his B.A. in History and his MBA from Duke University.
Ben Wingard, Vice President, Business Development
Mr. Wingard currently serves as our Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Wingard has extensive experience across upstream oil and gas and has served as Mr. Pegula’s main oil and gas advisor since 2013. As Vice President of Business Development at East Management Services, an affiliate of our sponsor, Mr. Wingard put together three drilling partnerships and led acquisition and divestiture efforts. Mr. Wingard joined East Resources, Inc. in 2008 and worked in both operational and corporate strategy capacities, culminating in the 2010 asset sale to Shell. Following the sale, Mr. Wingard worked at Shell for two years in asset development and midstream roles before returning to the East portfolio of companies in 2013. Mr. Wingard has experience in drilling and reservoir engineering in offshore Gulf of Mexico. He holds a B.S. degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the Schreyer Honors College of the Pennsylvania State University.
Jacob Long, Vice President, Operations
Mr. Long currently serves as our Vice President of Operations. Mr. Long has served as Operations Manager and Vice President of Operations for JKLM Energy, an affiliate of the Company, since January 2016, overseeing the development of 38 deep, high-pressured Utica wells in north-central Pennsylvania. Mr. Long concurrently managed the West Texas exploration program and legacy oil production in Colorado. Prior to JKLM Energy, Mr. Long worked at HG Energy in various management roles related to production, reservoir, and A&D evaluation for conventional and unconventional assets. He was also a part of the team for the 2014 sale to American Energy Partners. Mr. Long holds a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College.
James S. Morrow, Director
Mr. Morrow currently serves as a Director. Mr. Morrow is a veteran portfolio manager with over 20 years of experience. Mr. Morrow has served as Chief Executive Officer of Callodine Capital Management, LP (“Callodine”) since founding Callodine in 2018. Prior to this, Mr. Morrow spent 19 years at Fidelity Investments Inc. (“Fidelity”) where he managed $40 billion of assets across multiple equity-income strategies, including a $3-5 billion energy portfolio. Prior to Fidelity, Mr. Morrow worked in distressed debt for Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Morrow received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Buffalo and his MBA from the University of Chicago. Mr. Morrow’s extensive experience as an investment manager makes him well-qualified to serve on our Board.
Kim S. Pegula, Director
Ms. Pegula currently serves as a Director. Ms. Pegula has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of East Management Services, an affiliate of our sponsor, since 2011. She is also the President and Chief Executive Officer of Pegula Sports and Entertainment and President of both the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres. A native of Fairport, NY, she attended nearby Houghton College and graduated in 1991 with a degree in communications. She began her professional career with East Resources, Inc. in 1991 and was involved with the company until its sale in 2010. She has served as an independent director of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG) since 2017. Ms. Pegula is married to Terry Pegula, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. Ms. Pegula is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to her extensive management experience and experience in the oil and gas industry.
William A. Fustos, Director
Mr. Fustos will become a director upon the effective date of the registration statement. Mr. Fustos has worked in the oil and gas industry for more than 35 years, first with Texaco as a reservoir engineer, and then with several independent oil companies. In 1994, he formed Fustos Energy Services, an engineering firm whose work included reservoir engineering consulting along with a contract well servicing business. In 1998, he joined East Resources, Inc. as Vice President of Operations, eventually holding the position of Chief Operating Officer. As COO, Mr. Fustos’s duties included supervision and oversight of all the operational and strategic activities of East Resources, Inc. He was elected a Director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition in 2009, an industry organization founded to lead the oil and gas industry’s regulatory and political efforts in Pennsylvania. He has served as chair of Penn State’s Corporate Relations Subcommittee the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Development Council and in 2012 was the recipient of Penn State’s prestigious C. Drew Stahl Distinguished Achievement Award in Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering. Since 2017, Mr. Fustos has served as a member of the Board of Directors for HG Energy II, LLC, a large independent upstream oil and gas company based in Parkersburg, WV. Also since 2017, Mr. Fustos has served on the board of Penn Hills Resources, LLC. He graduated from Penn State in 1979 with a degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and has been licensed as a Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Mr. Fustos is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive experience in the oil and gas industry and his service on the boards of several other oil and gas companies.
Allen F. Sobol, Director
Allen F. Sobol will become a director upon the effective date of the registration statement. Mr. Sobol is and has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1974 and a member in good standing of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Sobol was the principal member of the accounting firm, Sobol Veltum & Associates, located in Western Pennsylvania, for over 35 years beginning in 1980. In 2018, Sobol Veltum & Associates merged into H2R CPA, one of Pittsburgh’s largest accounting firms. Over the course of his career, Mr. Sobol has provided a wide array of financial services in various industries, including energy resources. He graduated from Point Park University in 1970 with a degree in Accounting and has been licensed as a certificate public accountant since 1974. Mr. Sobol is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his accounting and financial expertise.
Thomas W. Corbett, Jr., Director
Mr. Corbett will become a director upon the effective date of the registration statement. Mr. Corbett has been the principal member of Corbett Consulting, LLC since 2015 and, from 2011 to 2015, served as the Governor of Pennsylvania. He has also served as the state’s Attorney General and as the US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Corbett received a B.A. in political science from Lebanon Valley College and a Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University Law School. He was a member of the board of directors for Composites Consolidation Company LLC from 2015 to 2016 and was a member of the board for Animal Friends of Pittsburgh until 2019. He currently serves on the board of the Variety Club, The Children’s Charity Pittsburgh. Mr. Corbett is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive leadership and risk management experience, as well as his service on other public company boards.