James Mayer has a broad entrepreneurial background in energy, management, project development, corporate finance, operations, sales and marketing. His diverse, multi-disciplinary background provides a unique platform for innovation, creative problem solving, and wealth generation in the oil & gas business.
Mayer’s previous work experiences have provided unique and valuable background for the development of a large oil and gas company.
While earning his MBA at the Wharton School, in 1980 Mr. Mayer formed an acquisitions, divestiture and financial consulting firm specializing in the coal industry, A. J. Mayer International, Inc. For about a decade he advised on M&A and financial transactions and undertook assignments for a broad array of domestic and international clients, including Fortune 500 companies and privately owned concerns.
In the 1990s Mr. Mayer organized, owned and successfully operated Pennsylvania Coal Company, Inc. In this capacity he was responsible for all facets of a coal exploration and multi-operations surface mining company. Pennsylvania Coal Company’s slogan was “Dedicated to Integrity and Excellence, Concerned for Our Communities and Our Environment,” and Mayer and his staff lived by this creed. The result was that in the company’s history it never had a material environmental or safety violation and made many friends with regulators and members of the communities it operated in—all while achieving high productivity, low cost, and strong profitability. Pennsylvania Coal had its own full-time drilling crew that operated a company-owned mobile rotary air drill rig for coal exploration and for coring coal and rock samples.
In the coal industry Mayer gained valuable experience in geology, engineering, land, operations (including drilling), project development, logistics, and personnel management. All of these coal industry experiences have translated well into the oil & gas business.
In 2005, after selling his coal business, Mr. Mayer returned to the energy consulting business. His emphasis expanded from coal to include gasification, biomass, oil & gas, combined heat and power, and CO2 solutions with emphasis on CO2 EOR. One of Jim’s clients was former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and he continued to act as an energy adviser to Speaker Gingrich through his 2012 Presidential campaign.
Jim Mayer has an MBA with a dual major in finance and accounting from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. in business administration from the University of Maine. In association with his past investment banking activities, he was licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers (the NASD) as a general broker dealer “representative” and as a broker/dealer “principal” for direct participation programs including limited partnerships.