Northwoods Energy LLC said July 2 it appointed Nate Wells as CFO bringing his 19 years of finance and accounting experience to help grow the private equity-backed E&P focused on the Powder River Basin.

Wells most recently served as chief accounting officer and controller at Jonah Energy LLC, a privately-held E&P focused on the development of the Jonah Field in Sublette County, Wyo.

Additionally, Wells worked extensively in both the E&P and midstream segments of the energy industry and has over 11 years of “Big 4” experience at KPMG and Arthur Andersen where he provided consulting and audit services, according to the Northwoods press release.

“Nate will be instrumental in helping Northwoods grow to be a premier Powder River Basin operator,” Tom Tyree, chairman and CEO of Northwoods, said in a statement. “His 19 years of broad-based finance and accounting experience in both private industry and public accounting makes him a great fit for Northwoods.”

Wells will be responsible for corporate functions at the company, including finance, treasury, accounting, tax and legal, in his new role at the Denver-based portfolio company of Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO).

Geoff Strong, senior partner at Apollo, said in a statement, “We look forward to working with Nate as Northwoods seeks to establish financial reporting and supporting processes, as well as debt and equity financing strategies, from which the company can build significant scale in the Powder River Basin.”

In March, Northwoods closed a $500 million acquisition of Powder River Basin assets from SM Energy Co. (NYSE: SM). The acquisition included about 112,200 net acres primarily in Converse County and portions of Johnson and Campbell counties, Wyo., with about 2,200 boe/d of net production.