Mr. Faulkner has served as Chief Accounting Officer since December 2022. Prior to joining Empire, Mr. Faulkner was the Chief Financial Officer of the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation since February 2022. From November 2014 to March 2021, Mr. Faulkner served as Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of WPX Energy Inc., a publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production company with approximately $10 billion in assets prior to its merger with Devon Energy Corporation in 2021. He served as Accounting Director of WPX from January 2012 to November 2014. From September 2008 to December 2011, he was an accounting director within the E&P Business Unit, of The Williams Companies, Inc., which ultimately became WPX Energy Inc. after a spinoff from Williams. Mr. Faulkner also worked for Williams from April 1999 to May 2004 in several roles including as manager of financial reporting. Mr. Faulkner served as an accounting director at Vanguard Car Rental (National and Alamo) from May 2004 to May 2008. Mr. Faulkner began his career with Ernst & Young LLP in Tulsa. Mr. Faulkner has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants. He also serves on the Oklahoma State University School of Accounting Advisory Board and serves on the board of the Foundation for Tulsa Schools.