Meet The Team
Mr. Noble founded NRI in November 1997 and has more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Noble is a third generation oil man and began his energy career in 1985 by joining his father’s exploration company. He worked in all phases of the upstream company for 12 years and eventually managed the E&P company just prior to his founding of Noble Royalties, Inc. in 1997. NRI is a niche energy company that does not drill or operate. Instead, NRI specializes in acquiring valuable mineral, royalty and overriding royalty properties. Since 1997, NRI has acquired Royalties into an impressive 9 million acres across 30 states and 669 counties, with ownersh
Mr. Noble joined NRI in 2019 as a Petroleum Engineer and has since acted as SVP, Corporate Strategy for Compass before moving into his role as President. Mr. Noble’s roles include oversight of the Financial, Asset Management, and Operations of Compass, as well as developing and implementing strategies for the benefit of Compass’ clients. Prior to NRI, Mr. Noble gained experience as a Reserve’s Analyst for Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. His experience also includes evaluations, from both an engineering and financial perspective, of large-scale royalty transactions in both the Private and Public markets at Anderson King Energy and NRI. Across his various roles, Mr. Noble has a variety ofexperiences in mineral and Royalties investments, building a key understanding of the underlying assets prior to developing vision and strategy for Compass. Mr. Noble received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California, and has since guided Compass’ clients and assets through multiple oil and natural gas investment cycles without disruption.
Mr. Karras joined NRI in 2018 and has since acted in various engineering, finance, and management functions for NRI and Compass. Mr. Karras plays a key role in acquisitions, divestitures, asset management, business analytics, and operational excellence activities within the three entities. He is a founder and Board member of a private equity-backed joint venture mineral and royalty acquisitions company, which has deployed over $150 million to date. Before joining NRI, Mr. Karras had over a decade of experience in multiple petroleum engineering and finance disciplines for public and private equity-backed operators and acquisitions firms. His history includes managing world-class assets, evaluating hundreds of deals totaling over $4 billion in successful A&D transactions, and designing, implementing, and managing the engineering and acquisitions departments for multiple companies. For these achievements, Mr. Karras was honored as one of the Oil and Gas Investor Magazine’s “Forty under 40” in 2020. Mr. Karras received his Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Master in Business Administration in Corporate Finance from Southern Methodist University.
Mr. King joined NRI in 2022 as Chief Financial Officer and manages the finance, accounting and forecasting processes for an institutional partner. Mr. King previously served in a variety of management roles including President and Vice President of Finance at High Road Resources, an Appalachia-focused upstream and midstream company that received a $400 million equity commitment from funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management. Mr. King led all finance, accounting and administrative functions for High Road Resources from the company’s inception through the sale of its operating subsidiaries. Mr. King holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Texas Christian University.
Mr. Nihem joined NRI in 2005 and has since acted as General Counsel and Secretary for both NRI and Compass. Mr. Nihem plays a key role in the structuring, launch and operations of NRI’s investor focused vehicles. Since joining NRI, Mr. Nihem has been involved in over $1 billion in issuer-sponsored transactions syndicated through the independent broker-dealer network, over $500 million in private equity backed transactions and over $100 million in private transactions. He also provides oversight on governance and compliance policies, employment law matters, intellectual property issues, securities law, state and federal tax and corporate filings and other corporate issues. Mr. Nihem also supervises and directs outside counsel on legal matters as needed. Prior to joining NRI, Mr. Nihem served as Assistant Vice President and Officer of the compliance group for the Private Banking department of Comerica Bank, overseeing various anti-money laundering, privacy, business contingency planning, tax, fiduciary, security and audit-based initiatives. Mr. Nihem received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Michigan, a Juris Doctorate from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School and has been licensed to practice law since 1999.
Mrs. Doherty joined NRI in 2020 and has since acted as SVP Corporate Asset Management for both NRI and Compass. Mrs. Doherty plays a key role in the management of corporate reserves, revenue and land activities. Since joining NRI, Mrs. Doherty has leveraged her multi-discipline Oil & Gas industry experience to standardize processes and manage key projects related to reserves, revenue and land. Prior to joining NRI, Mrs. Doherty served in multi-discipline roles at Pioneer Natural Resources. During her 21+ years with Pioneer, Mrs. Doherty served as Deepwater Geophysicist, Director of Geoscience Applications & Data, Onshore Development Geologist, Manager of Corporate Reserves, Manager of Permian Well Planning and Manager of Corporate Geoscience Development. In these various roles, Mrs. Doherty managed numerous multi-million-dollar projects leading multi-discipline teams. Mrs. Doherty was also acting Vice President of Corporate Reserves for year-end 2015 & 2016. Mrs. Doherty received a B.S. in Geophysics from Texas A&M University and a M.S. in Geophysics from Stanford University. Mrs. Doherty has over 30 years of experience in the Oil & Gas Industry working across 20+ hydrocarbon basins for various companies, including, NRI, Pioneer Natural Resources, Inc., 3DX Technologies, Inc., and Exxon Exploration Company.
Mr. Frakes is a highly accomplished executive and leader in the field of royalty management. He holds senior leadership positions at NRI and Compass. Mr. Frakes’ expertise lies in all aspects of royalty management, including ownership relations, technology implementation and strategic planning. With over 40 years of sales and marketing experience, he has held senior positions at Panasonic Corporation, American Gramaphone Records and IM3, where as President and CEO, created brand strategies, packaging development, distribution planning, and more. His current roles as Senior Vice President at Compass and NRI have seen him help both companies maximize their potential through effective management practices. A proud father of three sons with his wife in Frisco, Texas, David also loves being a grandfather to his three grandchildren. His family runs several entities together as a team which makes them extremely close-knit.
