Former Continental Resources manager Jeremy Hodges has been named to be the new director of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Oil and Gas Conservaton Division.
The announcement was made April 2 but indicated Hodges actually had joined the commission on March 31, 2025, bringing decades of oil and gas industry experience to his new role.
The position was left vacant in February when Robyn Strickland, who for the past six years served as its director and that of the Commission’s Petroleum Storage Tank Division moved to be director of the Storage Tank Division. This division delivers on its enforcement role of regulating more than 4100 motor fuel facilities and overseeing the safe operation of 10,041 petroleum storage tanks and 49, 913 motor fuel dispensers.
At the time of the announcement, the Commission explained an expansion of responsibilities for the Oil & Gas Conservation Division would require someone to focus totally on the division.
Hodges initially worked as an accountant after earning a degree in that field, with a minor in mathematics, from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in 1998, before establishing his own mortgage business.
He joined the staff of independent oil and gas operator Huntington Energy in 2006, where he oversaw both financial and oil and gas production data as an assistant controller and production analyst.
“I knew oil and gas was a strong driver of the state’s economy and I wanted to get into that,” Hodges said.
He also created and implemented a monthly well economics report for the company, oversaw its human resources and information technology functions and handled Huntington’s fleet management responsibilities.
Hodges joined Continental Resources in 2011 as an engineering specialist, responsible for tracking the daily drilling activities for a fleet of the company’s rigs in North Dakota. In that role, he closed a deal between it and a directional drilling company designed to save Continental Resources millions of dollars in annual costs.
Within a few years, Continental Resources elevated Hodges into a corporate planning role as a senior financial analyst, where he prepared and reviewed budgets and forecast metrics, including operating expenses, capital expenditures and production data for the company’s board of directors and investors.
In late 2014, Hodges was tapped by Continental Resources to be a project manager, working on joint venture projects with overseas partners needing hydrocarbons to serve their customers.
Through that effort, a joint venture was established between the Oklahoma company and SK E&S, from Seoul, South Korea, a global provider of liquified natural gas, power, and district energy solutions.
In 2020, Continental Resources utilized Hodges again in a senior role as a category manager, where he oversaw the business’ operational and strategic sourcing contracts.
Hodges left Continental in April 2024, to reconnect with his wife and four children, coach some baseball and play golf.
He began thinking about returning to a full-time job earlier this year and said this role offers him the chance to give back to the state’s oil and gas industry, mineral-rights owners and other Oklahomans impacted by the state’s leading industry.
“We have a large number of hydrocarbons in the ground here in Oklahoma, and it’s to our benefit to harvest them,” said Hodges. “I just want to be sure it is done the right and proper way.”