Gastar Exploration has elected John Cassels, a 30-year veteran in the Canadian oil and gas industry, to its board of directors. He replaces John Rooney, who resigned from the board on March 8 due to commitments with his current employer.

Cassels is currently a partner and chief financial officer of Purdy Partners, a private equity/merchant bank in Calgary, Alberta, a position he has held since December 2009.  Prior to joining Purdy, Cassels was a financial consultant to a Canadian oil and gas exploration company operating in both Argentina and Canada. Earlier, he was a founding shareholder, chief executive officer and director of Highview Resources, a publicly traded firm that built a significant inventory of natural gas and oil prospects in Alberta and Saskatchewan.