Wayne Walker

Background

About Wayne Walker

Wayne is the Principal of Common Ground Capital LLC (CGC), which he founded in April 2012. Throughout his career, Wayne has collaborated with talented individuals, companies, universities, and organizations in the energy and wildlife conservation sectors in the Southern Plains Region of the United States. His work has been shaped by family ties to Southeast and West Texas. Wayne's vision for CGC stemmed from observing inadequate solutions to conflicts between energy development and wildlife conservation. These solutions often compromised conservation efforts and disadvantaged responsible energy companies. After exploring better alternatives and forming mentoring relationships with experts in natural resource mitigation, Wayne pursued his vision of establishing a company that would create common ground for stakeholders. CGC's business model values ecosystem services under an approved regulatory framework based on free market economics and offers commercially reasonable mitigation solutions to responsible energy developers. This approach ensures wildlife conservation achieves a net benefit, while industry development interests secure efficient and permanent liability transfer to CGC, reducing litigation risks. Wayne leads the Business, Strategy & Policy Development, Regulatory, NGO, and Landowner Interface functions at CGC. He holds a BBA in Petroleum Land Management from the University of Oklahoma and a Masters in Environmental Science from Baylor University. In Fall 2012, CGC executed its first species credit transaction by collaborating with Dr. Amy Smith, USFWS staff, Preston L. Smith of Wildwood Credits, LLC, and TransCanada, along with their counsel Brad Raffle of Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw. This project secured a mitigation site for the American Burying Beetle in Oklahoma, aiding the Keystone Gulf Coast Pipeline's progress. Before founding CGC, Wayne was Director of Strategic Business Development at Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OGE). At OGE, he managed new business development for renewable and traditional power generation, including acquisitions, power purchase agreements, and turbine supply negotiations. He also facilitated the company's exit from the wholesale business and implemented new pilot programs for renewable energy products. Notable achievements include securing CEO support for voluntary conservation offsets for Lesser Prairie-Chicken habitat, totaling acres and $9M for two wind farms, and regulatory approval for the $450M, 227MW Crossroads Wind Project in 2010 and the Oklahoma State University Project Cowboy Wind Farm in 2012.