Cody Campbell
On Double Eagle’s portfolio: Assets are primarily Permian Basin, all nonop. Last November, sold a large position in the Anadarko Basin in the Scoop play with rights to Springer to Aubrey McClendon for $225 million. ‘It was a good deal for us and for Aubrey.” Recently acquired a significant position in the Rockies and, in the past, “we’ve done a lot of work in the Eagle Ford. But the majority of what we’ve done and what we do revolves around the Permian.”
On the Scoop, Springer and Aubrey: “We followed the play from the early stages and were able to accumulate some good acreage.”
He and co-CEO John Sellers had done business with McClendon in the Permian and the Rockies and enjoyed working with him. Talked in passing with him about the Scoop position and came to terms. “Aubrey has made a lot of people a lot of money and is probably one of the industry’s greatest innovators when it comes to land and finance.”
On studying finance: His grandmother started giving him bits of stock in public companies as Christmas and birthday presents when he was about eight years old. “She was part of an investment club with a group of ladies in Plainview, Texas. She and I would talk about each of the stocks she gave me and the conversations piqued my interest.”
On the Tech legacy: Was recruited to play football at several other schools, but Texas Tech was always first choice. “My dad played football at Tech in the ’70s and my great-grandfather was on the first Tech football team back in the 1920s. My brother also played baseball there. I was the 13th or 14th person in my family to become a Red Raider.”
On playing for the Indianapolis Colts: Signed as a free agent and played offensive guard for the ’05 season and part of ’06. “There are a lot of good things about the lifestyle, but it’s pretty tough and high stress. I was there just the right amount of time to experience the lifestyle and broaden my horizons. But I got out soon enough to get my business career started and do other things I wanted to do.”
After being injured and being released, focused full-time on real estate for developer Paul Kite, “a great guy and a great mentor. I learned a lot by working for him and real estate was good training for what John and I ended up doing with Double Eagle.”