Mr. Prentice is the Chairman and CEO of Meridian Energy Group, Inc., and is directing its design, construction and operation of a high-conversion crude oil refinery in North Dakota. Mr. Prentice began his career as an engineer for Fluor Corporation, where he participated in major refinery, petrochemicals and other energy projects worldwide. Mr. Prentice has served in management positions at a range of firms including Askew, Kabala & Co., Competisys, Mesquite Lake, Western Power Group, Inc. and Ultrasystems, Inc., where he either headed up major divisions of firms designing, building, owning and/or operating major energy facilities or where he was the founder and CEO of such firms. He holds a Master’s Degree from UC Irvine, Graduate School of Management, and two B.S. Degrees in engineering from Arizona State University….

Mr. Coppola previously served as the Energy Equity Portfolio Manager for RCH Energy/RR Advisors, LLC. He graduated from Fordham University in 1992 as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Economics.  From 1992-1995 he served as a Lieutenant in the United States Army and later began a 12-year career with Morgan Stanley starting as an analyst in investment banking covering energy and transportation. In 1997, he transitioned to Energy equity research covering the Integrated Oils, Independent Refiners and Exploration and Production companies along with responsibility for the crude oil, natural gas and refined products markets. From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Coppola lived in London and New York as the Energy Specialist for Morgan Stanley managing the day to day operations of the energy sales, trading and institutional client platform globally. In 2008, Paul was hired by Satellite Asset Management to run the energy fund and in 2010 transitioned to Houston to run the energy fund at Arrowhawk Capital Partners and in 2012 ran the energy equity business at Global Hunter Securities, a boutique investment bank focused on energy and infrastructure investment and his responsibilities included being the energy specialist along with managing many of the key asset management and client relationships for the Firm.

Mr. Baptista has held senior managerial positions at several energy companies including Industrias Venoco, C.A., Exxon Americas and Exxon Chemicals de Venezuela, the MEDIDO, C.A. Group, Phoenix Internacional, the Energy Capital Group, Star Chemical Development Company, and Centro Venezolano-Americano. Mr. Baptista is a Chemical Engineer, and a graduate of the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the Indiana campus of Purdue University-West Lafayette. Mr. Baptista has also attended several management and graduate level training programs in Venezuela and abroad.

Mr. Fonda has over 40 years of experience in process engineering, plant operations and management, having worked for such firms as Mobil Oil Co., Amerada Hess Corp., and Sunoco, Inc. He currently directs the internal engineering process for all the facilities including technology selection, process design, EPC oversight and on-going technical support. Mr. Fonda is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a graduate of Duke University with a Masters in Business Administration.

Mr. Gjolme has over 25 years of experience in capitalization of emerging growth firms. Mr. Gjolme served in executive positions at The Ibis Group and the Private Investors Equity Group. Mr. Gjolme maintains affiliations with several global financing groups including Venture Capital Private Equity Funding, European Private Equity, Global Private Equity Venture Capital, and Advanced Energy Economy.

Mr. Pungitore brings extensive experience in the area of business development, having spearheaded power development projects under his own firm, as well as for ABB Power Generation, Alpine Energy Group, LLC, and MasTec Power Corp. Mr. Pungitore is responsible for securing the commercial supply and offtake arrangements for Davis and Meridian’s future refineries.

Mr. Risquez brings over 40 years of experience in energy industry project execution, business development and strategic planning to the Meridian team. Mr. Risquez has worked in executive, management, and design engineering positions at CB&I, Fluor, Vepica, Tecnoconsult, Stearns Catalytic and Bechtel. Mr. Risquez has led power, oil & gas projects in the refining, petrochemical, nuclear power, fossil, gas and infrastructure industries from project development to completion, including conceptual design, technology selection, project finance, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning for projects ranging from $250,000 to over $4 billion in the US and other countries around the world, primarily in Latin America. He holds a BS degree and MBA from California State University, Long Beach.

Mr. Schwenck has more than 40 years of experience in the development, financing construction and operation of energy, infrastructure and natural resource projects and facilities and a broad range of commercial transactions relating to the energy and natural resource industries. He has served in executive positions and as a board member at Ultrasystems, Inc and LG&E Power and as General Counsel at Fluor Corporation and Division Counsel for one of the largest divisions of the Bechtel Group. Mr. Schwenck has also had a distinguished career in the private practice of law, including as a partner in international law firms K&L Gates, Morrison & Foerster and Greenberg Traurig, where he was Co-Chair of the firm’s Energy and Natural Resources Practice. Mr. Schwenck earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Juris Doctor from Berkeley’s School of Law (Boalt Hall). He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Mr. Solsbery began his career in natural gas trading and logistics at Tenneco before embarking on 25 years of employment in private wealth management and energy institutional equity sales across several investment banks including Morgan Stanley and UBS. Mr. Solsbery holds a BBA in Business from Texas A&M University and MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Mr. Uraimov has over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, due diligence, commercial and financial management of downstream and upstream sectors. Mr. Uraimov worked for Petrofac through most of his career in various capacities both internationally, and in the U.S., had been a key part in successful completion of major EPC projects, has helped build a U.S. branch from ground up to a multi-business hub to provide plant asset management, operations readiness, training and competency, and engineering and design services in Houston, TX. Mr. Uraimov joined Meridian in July 2018 and is responsible for establishing and running business services, refinery economics modeling, project controls, information management, IT and telecommunications infrastructure, design and implementation of ERP. Mr. Uraimov holds two Bachelor degrees majoring in Computer Science, and Computer Information Systems for Business, with minor in Math and a Master of Finance degree.

Mr. Whitt began his career in public accounting with a focus on the financial services, venture capital, and manufacturing and distribution industries. He then spent four years working as a finance and accounting consultant. Mr. Whitt has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and is an active Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.

Mr. Nocker is a registered professional engineer with over 35 years’ experience in oilfield upstream, midstream and downstream, Power, and Petrochemical Engineering and Construction projects. Jay has managed numerous successful multi-office Greenfield and Brownfield design/build programs and has led continuous improvements in project execution processes and procedures. Jay studied at Texas A&M University where he received a BS in Petroleum Engineering. Jay’s diverse background has encompassed onshore drilling programs, brought refineries and power plants into environmental compliance, and most recently led design teams engineering and fabricating arctic environment process modules for North Slope use.