Mike is the owner of Orchard Hill Farm LLC, Raphine, VA. Orchard Hill Farm is a small Shenandoah Valley of Virginia farm raising St Croix hair sheep, vegetables, and fruit. Mike also currently serves as a part-time Executive Geoscience Advisor for INNEX Energy. He is a proven oil finder with over 35 years of experience working the Gulf of Mexico, onshore California, and West Africa. He is experienced in the exploration, appraisal, and development phases of the business. He brings project management and technical/business process excellence experience and insights to the endeavor. His primary focus at INNEX is evaluating development and exploration opportunities in the San Joaquin Basin of California where is has worked with others at INNEX to develop and build a stratigraphic framework for the northwestern San Joaquin Valley.Mike has a BS in Geology from Virginia Tech and an MS in Geology from Louisiana State University. After receiving his MS degree, he joined Texaco in New Orleans. He spent over 13 years with Texaco working various offshore exploration and commercial development assignments in the Gulf of Mexico and Nigeria where he was involved with the discovery of several new fields. He also worked with ChevronTexaco after the merger in an offshore West Africa New Ventures Exploration Team.Mike then went to Unocal Corporation where he focused on the offshore Gulf of Mexico Miocene and Paleogene plays. He was the lead geoscientist on Unocal’s large Paleogene St Malo discovery. After the Chevron/Unocal merger, Mike joined Hess Corporation, where he spent over 11 years in roles with increasing responsibility, including the Maturation Director for Hess’ offshore Gulf of Mexico Exploration. He spent over a year with a deepwater Gulf of Mexico start-up oil and gas company as a Senior Vice President and Chief Geologist before joining INNEX in January 2019.Mike is known for his ability to integrate various types of geological, geophysical, and engineering data and for a strong work ethic and core values of trust, respect, and transparency. He is an experienced leader with excellent collaboration/team-building skills and project management expertise.