PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

My responsibilities were not as depicted on the television show, “Landman”.  During my 44 year career, I was responsible for obtaining mineral rights, oil and gas leases, surface access, negotiating joint ventures and trades with other energy companies, negotiating and drafting contracts, settling surface damages, marketing oil and gas to third parties, entering into financial derivatives (or hedging) contracts, testifying before regulatory commissions, conducting due diligence, approving mineral title in order that my employer could drill wells and produce oil and gas.  Additionally, my team was responsible for maintaining the company’s land and title records and paying royalty owners.  This was achieved on a personal level or through my dedicated staff.  I currently provide part-time consulting services to Rockcliff Energy III LLC. 

I was born in Shreveport, LA.  My family has lived in Shreveport since approximately 1895.  I lived there until I left for college.  My family ran specialty retail stores in North Louisiana and East Texas. My father was part of the third generation in the clothing business. My parents met at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.  I was raised on Crimson Tide football.  I attended Babson College (outside Boston, MA) and earned an undergraduate degree in Finance and minor in Accounting.  During the summer of my junior year of college, I worked for a Wall Street investment bank (in NYC).  Before I graduated from Babson, I knew that my family intended to sell the family business so I elected to pursue a a different career.  Subsequently, I matriculated to the University of Texas at Austin and earned a Petroleum Land Management degree.  After graduation from Texas, I began a career in oil and gas that is described in the prior section.  I am married and have 5 children and ten grandchildren; the grandchildren range in age from 3 to 9 years and eight of the grandchildren live in Texas.  We spend ~ 8 months of the year in Houston.  We bought a home in Breckenridge, CO and took possession in August 2025. We intend to spend 3 to 4 months in the summer in CO.  I hope to ski with my children and grandchildren for part of the winter in CO. It has been 25 years since I skied with my children. I retired in the spring of 2024.  Since August 2025, I work (in Houston or remotely) several days a week consulting for  Rockcliff III-assisting my former staff.

 enjoy volunteering and helping others.  I have been impressed with the social and volunteer opportunities that I have observed with the Summit County Rotary Club. Joining the Summit County Rotary Club would help fill my days and provide a worthwhile purpose.  In Houston, I volunteer 3-4 times a month, which is the maximum per volunteer, with a non-profit group called Second Servings.  Second Servings distributes food to food impoverished citizens in Harris County and Fort Bend County, TX. every day.  Over a month, Second Servings volunteers will visit approximately 40 different locations.   Grocery stores provide Second Servings (free) food that is approaching its "best buy date".  We receive dairy, produce, starches, meat/fish, prepared foods, drinks, deserts, and miscellaneous products. We don't know what we'll receive each day.  As volunteers, we sort and distribute the food and assist shoppers (as if they were in a grocery store) at YMCAs or other community centers; we also carry their groceries to their cars.  Depending on the location, 30 to 200 people will show up for free groceries.  Additionally, I have served on two university scholarship committees for the past 7-8 years and volunteer as a officer representative at University Alabama football viewing parties.  My father told me that my grandfather and great uncle were Rotarians in Shreveport, LA for 40+ years.  
  

 I also drove for Meals on Wheelsfor 3 years once a week deliveringmeals to homebound clients sometimes assisted by my 2 children. 
  

 I rode 7 years in the Austin MS 150 bike ride ans raised over $40,000 for multiple sclerosis research.

I graduated high school in 1978 and started as an underground laborer in a Wyoming coal mine.  After about a year, I went to college completing my BS in Mining Engineering in 1983 - this was the era of the OPEC oil embargo, and the US was looking to gain energy independence.  I was able to get through school with the strong support of my parents, working in the mines and scholarships.  I had an amazing and supportive family.  

Out of college, I started my career in Southern Illinois and worked in coal mines in West Virginia, Virgina, Kentucky, Colorado and Wyoming as well as major projects in Indonesia, South Africa and Australia.  I am licensed engineer in six states.  My last operating position was running one of the largest coal mines in the world.  In 2006, my employer offered me the opportunity to take a sabbatical and go to business school on a full-time basis.    

When I returned from business school, I worked my way through the usual corporate management roles, domestic/international marketing (mainly Europe, South America and Asia) and finished as CEO of the company the last five years of my career.  In September 2024, we merged the company with another large publicly listed producer, and I left in late 2025 after transition was effectively complete.  In total, I was with the same company for almost 42 years.    

Outside of my direct professional career, I also served as the chairman of the National Mining Association (the advocacy group for most of the US mining companies) as well as other public company boards over the last ten years.  On public advocacy, I served on the Wyoming Healthcare Commission as well as the Chairman of the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Recourses.  Kathy and I have been very active supporters of various charities, universities and scholarships including the American Red Cross, St. Judes and College Club of St. Louis (providing college scholarships for disadvantaged young women).  

I now serve on the board of a large aggregate and construction company as well as the vice president of the Board of Trustees for the Missouri University of Science & Technology (my undergraduate alma mater).  

Kathy and I have been married almost 37 years and have two daughters.  Our oldest daughter has a business degree/MBA and lives in Boston doing fraud/cyber security work while our younger daughter is a civil engineer doing hydrology work and lives in Phoenix.  We split our time between Scottsdale and Breckenridge.

I am originally from Louisville, Kentucky. I attended Transylvania University. (Yes, that's a real place, in Lexington, KY.) I graduated in 1975 with a degree in biology at age 20. I went from there directly to grad school at Colorado State. I received a master's degree in zoology in 1978. After spending a couple of years as a ski bum and river guide, I got married and started work on a Ph.D. at the University of Wyoming. However I tired of the academic grind after a couple of semesters. I went to work with my wife in a business called Kinko's. As I often say, I married into Kinko's and divorced out of it.  

When I got divorced, I moved back up to Summit County. I was fortunate enough to have some money to invest, so I was looking for a business to either start or buy. I realized one day that I knew the copy business, and there was no one doing that in Summit County. So I made the leap and opened Copy Copy in Frisco in October 1989. I opened my second store in Avon almost exactly one year later. I opened stores in Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction during the 1990s.  

I met my second and current wife in 1995. We were married in 1997. Our daughter, Kaylin, was born in February 1998.  

I sold my business and retired in March 2019.