Our Executive Team brings deep experience across Old North's foundational enterprises
Dallas Salazar, CEO
Dallas Salazar is the CEO an Austin-based family office. Mr. Salazar’s family office primarily acts as venture capital or private credit for natural resource extraction companies. Mr. Salazar has previously invested in a portfolio of energy and commodity startups, including startups extracting oil, natural gas, helium, and carbon dioxide, as well as engaged in the business of large-scale carbon sequestration. Mr. Salazar has recently had large exits in Comstock Resources, Eclipse Resources, Southwestern Energy, Atlas Lithium, Torchlight Energy, as well as numerous privately held natural resource and commodity extraction ventures.
E.F. Hutton Advises Two Texas Presidents in AVKHA Equity Holdings’ Acquisition of Dart Transit Group
Dallas Salazar’s New Family Office Renews Focus On Comstock Resources – Simply Wall St News
Eric Cantwell, CFO
Eric Cantwell is a veteran retail fuel and convenience store leader with more than 15 years of experience within the CHS/Cenex network. He has been central to the strategic growth of Cenex‑branded stores, focusing on acquisitions, market positioning, and operational excellence.
He developed management frameworks that balance disciplined daily operations with long‑term planning, supporting scalable expansion. As an expert in market analysis and site selection, Eric uses traffic modeling, demographic insights, and competitive analysis to identify high‑performing locations.
His operational strengths include optimizing store layouts, refining product assortments, and negotiating supplier agreements that improve margins and customer experience. His leadership has helped Cenex‑branded stores adapt to shifting consumer preferences and industry trends, strengthening the brand’s competitiveness.
Eric is known for turning market insights into practical strategies, combining strategic foresight with hands‑on operational discipline to drive sustained retail performance.
Hans Zietlow, COO
Hans Zietlow is a veteran real estate and development executive with 20 years of experience driving Kwik Trip’s expansion from 280 stores to a leading regional fuel and retail chain. As Director of Real Estate from 1998 to 2018, he led market strategy across six states, identifying, negotiating, and entitling roughly 600 new stores and relocations while evaluating more than two thousand potential sites.
Hans developed Kwik Trip’s proprietary regression‑based site selection model, giving the company a predictive advantage in choosing high‑performing locations. He also built the real estate, engineering, and legal processes that continue to support the company’s growth today.
In addition to retail expansion, Hans worked with Northwest Investments, overseeing development of surplus and adjacent properties and strengthening his expertise in land strategy and value creation. He brings this analytical, operational, and development experience to XBR Ventures as it builds its fuel and retail footprint.