2% Better. Across Every Decision.
Trellis Energy Partners was not built around a new idea. It was built around a proven one, executed by people who had already done it at scale, and structured for an investor who never before had access.
The People Behind the Portfolio.
Trellis is a deliberately small operation. Jake and Brayden bring over 30 years of combined experience to every acquisition, underwriting decision, and investor. The specialized team brings financial, engineering, and distribution depth to the execution of our strategy, without losing that personal touch.
Jake Bailey
Founder and ceoJake Bailey has spent more than 17 years in oil and gas, working across operated and non-operated assets. He's covered basins from the Bakken to the Gulf of Mexico.
Before founding Trellis, he served as CFO at Tana Exploration, managed non-operated assets for Crestline Investors across the Bakken and DJ Basin, and founded Split Rock Resources in 2019 with an initial commitment of $25 million. That commitment grew to over $100 million through North Hudson Resource Partners. Split Rock eventually closed in 2024 and in total returned $300 million in distributions on $86 million of equity raised.
Jake knows how to build a non-op portfolio, manage it through commodity cycles, and when to sell. That judgment is what runs every fund Trellis manages.
Brayden Hudson
Co-Founder, VP and CFOBrayden Hudson, a licensed CPA in the state of Texas, brings more than 16 years of oil and gas experience to the team. Before joining the Split Rock team in 2021, he served as part of the core management team at Fairway Resources, an Anadarko Basin operator based in Southlake, Texas. At Split Rock, he secured a reserve-based lending facility and closed a $100 million transaction within his first 60 days.
Relying on that experience and knowledge, Brayden oversees the financial architecture of the funds, from acquisition underwriting through distribution and exit.
Ricky Gornek
Ricky Gornek joined Trellis in 2026 with over a decade of experience in capital markets, private placements, and alternative investments. He's now responsible for investor relations, capital formation, and advisor distribution.
His background is specifically in Regulation D offerings, working across oil and gas partnerships and Delaware Statutory Trusts with broker-dealers, registered investment advisors, and individual investors.
Before entering financial services, Ricky served eight years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including multiple deployments to Iraq. He holds Series 7 and 63 securities licenses.
Sales Director
Jake Bakker
Jake Bakker joined Trellis in 2026, bringing more than 15 years of land, acquisitions, and business development experience. Before Trellis, he held leadership roles at Chevron, PDC Energy, Noble Energy, and Petro-Hunt, where he led the identification, evaluation, and negotiation of transactions encompassing more than 63,500 net acres and 510 wellbores.
At Trellis, Jake is responsible for sourcing and executing non-operated working interest acquisitions across major U.S. basins. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Denver Association of Professional Landmen.
Director of Business Development
Caleb Ring brings more than 14 years of oil and gas experience to Trellis. With a career built on the non-operated side of the business, his earlier roles include positions at Noble Energy, Superior Drilling Products, and Baker Hughes across multiple basins. He joined the Split Rock team in 2019, where his work communicating with operators about development timing and program design became central to the underwriting process.
Today, Caleb’s experience building operator-to-operator relationships make him invaluable to how Trellis sources and evaluates deals.
Asset DevelopmentCaleb Ring
Michael Moore
Michael Moore joined Trellis in April 2026, bringing four years of oil and gas financial experience to the team. Before Trellis, Michael was a Financial Analyst at Urban Oil and Gas Group, where he supported forecasting, budgeting, and strategic planning while working closely with senior leadership on asset performance and investor reporting.
Michael is responsible for financial modeling, investment underwriting, and analysis of upstream opportunities across the Trellis portfolio.
Senior Financial Analyst
Wally Saad
Wally Saad brings more than 12 years of reservoir engineering experience to Trellis.
Before joining in March 2026, Wally served as Reservoir Engineering Manager at UpCurve Energy, overseeing development planning, reserves evaluation, and technical underwriting for acquisitions and divestitures. Prior to that, he held successive reservoir engineering roles at ConocoPhillips, supporting development planning and asset optimization across multiple basins.
Wally leads the team's underwriting process and manages reservoir performance across the firm's active funds.
Engineering Manager
Christina Gragg
With more than 19 years of oil and gas experience, Christina Gragg joined Trellis in 2026. Previously, she held accounting roles with increasing responsibility at both private and family office operators, including Fairway Resources where she and Brayden Hudson crossed paths. During her tenure there, Christina was promoted three times.
At Trellis, Christina is responsible for accounting, financial statement preparation, and reporting for existing assets, while also supporting the underwriting of new acquisitions. She holds a BS in Supply Chain Management from the University of Texas at Dallas and an AA in Business from Collin College.
Accounting ManagerInvesting with Trellis means knowing exactly who's managing your capital. If you're ready to learn more about the current fund or to connect with the team directly, reach out to us through the button below.