YPE Dallas

John is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Before starting at Chicago Booth, John served as Director of Finance at PCORE Exploration & Production, a portfolio company of NGP Energy Capital, and prior to PCORE, John spent five years at Pioneer Natural Resources specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

John graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2013 with a B.S. in Economics and is also an alumnus of Culver Military Academy.

Kyla Coker is a Geologist and Gemologist. As a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a B.S. in Geology, she is Founder and CEO of her Dallas – based company.

Kyla began her career in 2004 as a Geologist with Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City, where she worked Gulf Coast, South Texas, and West Texas fields. She moved to Dallas and was employed by Denbury Resources in 2010 where she worked as a Geologist in the company’s Louisiana and Mississippi fields specializing in Enhanced Oil Recovery with CO2.

Having a passion for geology and gemstones, she decided a true geologist should also fully understand gemstones straight to the mine source. She began training under the world’s top Gemologists and then in September 2014, she received her Graduate Gemologist diploma at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Carlsbad, CA.

She seamlessly blends her expertise with Geology and Gemology, advising and curating her clients’ collections of gemstones, diamonds, jewelry and minerals while also designing one of a kind jewelry pieces. In addition, she advises and connects investors to gemstone mining groups for supplying gemstones to the market and oil and gas projects. She works with clients and travels extensively sourcing gemstones directly from the mines.

Kyla is proud to serve on the board of the Dallas Young Professionals in Energy.  In addition to her involvement with Dallas YPE, Kyla is an active member of the Oklahoma State University Geology Department Advisory Board, OSU Women’s Alumni of Dallas, Women’s Jewelry Association, and member of the Association of American Petroleum Geologists. In her free time, Kyla practices yoga and travels the globe for gemstones.

Will McCraney is the Business Development Manager for Producers Midstream active in Permian Basin and Bakken with experience in gas EPC projects and equipment.  Will previously served in various roles on the YPE Midland Board of Directors including Fundraising and Communications from 2016-2019.  Will currently lives in the DFW metroplex, is a native Midlander, and returned to Midland in 2016 after earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.  While at UT, Will was a member of the UT Men’s Swimming and Diving team where he was the Academic MVP and Captain of the Diving team. After graduation, Will worked in various engineering roles at Valerus (now SNC-Lavalin) including Major Projects Engineer, Project Manager, and Account Manager.

Connor O’Reilly is an Assistant Vice President with the Energy Finance group at LegacyTexas Bank. Connor’s responsibilities include client management, loan underwriting, and financial statement analysis for the E&P and midstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. Connor received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with an Energy and Accounting minor from Texas Christian University in 2014. Connor joined the Dallas chapter of YPE in 2015 and was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2017.

Brett Davis works as a Senior Management Consultant with Strive Consulting, a business and technology consulting firm in Dallas. Prior to joining Strive, Brett was an engineering consultant with Jacobs in Houston, where he served oil and gas clients to build downstream facilities. Brett graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. Brett joined the board of the Dallas Chapter of Young Professionals in Energy in 2020.