Our Company

About Our Company | FEEC Leadership

LEADERSHIP:

Michael R. McElwrath
President and Chief Executive Officer, Director
Mr. McElwrath, before joining Far East Energy, was Vice President of TMP/Hudson Global Resources, the parent company of Monster.com. He served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy in the first Bush Administration, charged with development of the nation’s coal, oil, and gas policies and with management of $2.1 billion in programs including the Clean Coal Program, the National Oil and Gas Research Program, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He was an International Negotiator and Policy Advisor in the Reagan administration. Upon leaving the Bush Administration he served as Director of the National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research and Director of British Petroleum’s outsourced exploration and production lab for the Americas. Mr. McElwrath holds a JD from the University of Texas School of Law, as well as a BA Honors Program.

Bruce N. Huff
Chief Financial Officer
On April 19, 2010, Far East Energy Corporation appointed Bruce N. Huff as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Huff previously served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer from May 2004 until his resignation in September 2007. Prior to joining the Company in 2004, Mr. Huff spent 13 years at Harken Energy Corporation, an oil and gas exploration, development and production company, beginning as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and eventually becoming the President and Chief Operating Officer in 1998. From October 2007 through October 2008, Mr. Huff served as Chief Financial Officer of Opal Energy Corp, an oil and gas exploration company focusing on natural gas exploration in the Gulf Coast of Texas. He then served as an independent consultant for various oil and gas companies from October 2008 until rejoining the Company in April 2009. Since April 2009, Mr. Huff has served as the Company’s Vice President – Capital Development, assisting the Company in raising funds for its drilling and exploration programs. He is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and a Certified Public Accountant.

Garry Ward
Senior Vice President, Engineering
Mr. Ward’s career spans 23 years in the petroleum industry, where his primary focus has been on the evaluation of oil and gas properties throughout the United States. He has been involved in the evaluation of coalbed methane prospects, primarily in the San Juan and Powder River basins, since 1992. In addition, he has over 20 years’ experience in petroleum software development and has written numerous programs for use in the evaluation of oil and gas assets. Mr. Ward previously served as reservoir manager for 3TEC Energy and as Vice President of engineering and production for Floyd Oil Company. He holds a Master of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston, is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas and has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers since 1978.

Alex Yang
Senior Vice President, Geology
Dr. Yang is a well-known geologist, and is recognized as a preeminent CBM expert in China. He received his PhD in Geology from Texas A&M University and has 22 years of working experience in China’s energy industry and universities (teaching and research). He was among the pioneers in introducing CBM exploration and production to China and assisted CUCBM in its early stages of formation. From 1993 to 2001, he worked as Chief Geologist and Senior Consultant for Amoco/Arco/BP CBM projects in the Ordos and Qinshui Basins in North China, and played a leading role in developing their projects and operations. Also, Dr. Yang has established personal/business relationships with numerous key people in the Chinese government and energy industry (CUCBM, PetroChina, Sinopec, China University of Mining and Technology, and China National Administration of Coal Geology), which greatly benefits FEEC’s project execution and business development in China.

DIRECTORS

Donald A. Juckett, PhD was appointed Chairman of the Board in August 2010. Mr. Juckett has served as a director of the Company since May 2004, and currently serves on the Compensation Committee of the Board. He is past Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board. Since November 2005, Dr. Juckett has held the position of Director of the Washington, D.C. office of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Prior to that, Dr. Juckett was self-employed as an industry information consultant. He served at the U.S. Department of Energy from 1988 until his retirement in 2003. At his retirement, Dr. Juckett was Director of the Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Import and Export Activities for Fossil Energy. During his tenure with the Department of Energy, he also served as a member of the Senior Executive Service and held positions as Director of the Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Import and Export Activities, Director for Natural Gas and Petroleum Technology and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Natural Gas and Petroleum Technology. Dr. Juckett managed a portfolio of international projects including bilateral agreements with China, Russia, Venezuela, Ukraine, Bangladesh and Mexico. Dr. Juckett also played an active role in the formation of the United States/China Oil and Gas Industry Forum in 1998. From 1974 to 1988, Dr. Juckett worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, now known as ConocoPhillips, Inc., in management positions including responsibility for the support of worldwide divisions with exploration technologies including geochemistry and satellite imagery. Dr. Juckett earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from the State University of New York-Oswego and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the State University of New York-Albany.

William A. Anderson has served as a member of the Company’s Board since October 2007. Mr. Anderson is the chairman of the Audit Committee and has been designated as an "audit committee financial expert." He also serves on the Compensation Committee of the Board. Mr. Anderson has served as a consultant for Eastman Dillon Oil and Gas Association since 2006. From 1989 through 2005, he was a founder and partner of Weller, Anderson & Co. Ltd., a full-service stock brokerage firm. Prior to founding Weller in 1989, Mr. Anderson held several senior executive positions, including President of HARC Technologies, President of Rainbow Pipeline Company, President of Farmers Oil Company, Chief Financial Officer of ENSTAR Corporation, and General Partner and Senior Vice President of Blyth, Eastman, Dillon & Co. Mr. Anderson has extensive corporate board experience, having served as a director, committee chairman and/or committee member for a number of organizations, including Rancher Energy Corp., Tom Brown, Inc., Equisales, Inc., NationsBank Houston, Northern Trust Bank of Texas, American Income Life Insurance Company, Wing Corporation and Seven J-Stock Farm, Inc. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas.

C.P. Chiang has served on the Board since December 2006. He also serves on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. From 2001 until his retirement in 2006, Mr. Chiang served as the China Project Manager/Country Manager - China of Burlington Resources where he was responsible for managing the operations and activities of Burlington Resources in China and worked closely and negotiated with various Chinese governmental organizations. Throughout his 36 year career in the oil and gas industry, Mr. Chiang has held various engineering and management positions with oil and gas companies including British Gas E&P, Inc., Tenneco Oil Production and Exploration and Exxon Oil Company, now known as Exxon Mobil Corporation. Mr. Chiang earned a B.S. degree in mining engineering from National Cheng Kung University and a M.S. degree in petroleum engineering from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Michael R. McElwrath has served as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer since October 2003. He became a director in October 2003 and served as Chairman of the Board from October 2003 until January 2005. Mr. McElwrath also served as Secretary and Treasurer from October 2003 until March 2005. He was employed as Vice President of Hudson Highland (formerly known as TMP Worldwide) from 1999 until joining the Company in October 2003. He also served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy in the first Bush Administration, as Director of the National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research, as Director of British Petroleum’s outsourced exploration and production lab for the Americas and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for policy for the U.S. Department of Interior in the last year of the Reagan Administration. Mr. McElwrath holds a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, as well as a B.A. from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas. He is also a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association.

John C. Mihm has served as a director since May 2004. He served as Chairman of the Board from January 2005 through June 2007. Mr. Mihm currently serves as chairman of both the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board as well as a member of the Audit Committee. He serves on the board of eProjectManagement and HNNG, and also as HNNG’s Vice-President of Engineering. Mr. Mihm is the owner and President of JCM Consulting, PLLC, which provides services in the engineering, construction, and project management field. From 1964 until his retirement in 2003, Mr. Mihm worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, now known as ConocoPhillips, Inc., in various management positions, finally serving as Senior Vice President of Technology and Project Development. Mr. Mihm’s career includes over 20 years of work experience in China on offshore development and onshore coalbed methane exploration, working closely with China National Petroleum Corporation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and SINOPEC on several joint ventures and employee development programs. He is a past board member of The Society of Petroleum Engineers and the ASME Foundation. Mr. Mihm is a registered professional engineer in Texas and Oklahoma. Mr. Mihm earned a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Texas Tech University and serves on or has served on advisory boards at Texas Tech University, Oklahoma State University, University of Tulsa, University of Texas, Colorado School of Mines, Georgia Tech and University of Trondheim.

Lucian L. Morrison was appointed to the Board in January 2008. He also serves as a member of the Audit Committee of the Board and has been designated as an "audit committee financial expert." Mr. Morrison currently serves as a director, audit committee member and compensation committee member of Erie Indemnity Company. Additionally, Mr. Morrison served as a director of Encore Trust Company from 2005 to 2007 and of Encompass Services, Inc. from 1997 to 2003. He founded Heritage Trust Company in 1979 and served as its CEO until 1990 when he sold it to Northern Trust Bank of Texas. He served as director and chairman of the Trust Committee of Northern Trust Bank of Texas from 1990 until 1992. He co-founded Sentinel Trust Company in 1997 and continues to serve as a consultant to the company and its other founders, and a director and a member of the company's investment committee. From 1998 to 2002, he was chairman of Wing Corporation, a private exploration and production company. Mr. Morrison serves as an independent trustee and consultant in trust, estate, probate and qualified plan matters and also manages oil and gas properties in Texas. He is also a development board member of the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center. He holds a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, a graduate degree from the Southern Methodist University Southwestern Graduate School of Banking, Trust Division and a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Texas School of Business Administration.

Thomas E. Williams served as Chairman of the Board from June 2007 through August 2009. Mr. Williams was appointed as a director in February 2004, and currently serves on the Audit Committee and as Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board. From 2000 until his retirement in 2007, Mr. Williams served as Vice President, Research and Business Development of Noble Technology Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble Corporation, a provider of diversified drilling and other services to the oil and gas industry. Mr. Williams also served as President of Maurer Technology Inc., a leading drilling R&D and engineering technology company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble Corporation. He held senior executive positions at the U.S. Departments of Energy and Interior during the Bush Administration from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 to 2000, he was Business Development Director at Westport Technology Center in Houston, an upstream oil and gas research company. He was a co-founder and served on the Board of Cementing Solutions, Inc., an oil and gas cementing services and technology company based in Houston, Texas. He has been in the oil and gas industry for over 25 years, having owned and operated an oil and gas exploration, production and consulting company prior to joining the Department of Energy. Mr. Williams has authored more than 100 energy publications, presentations and articles and serves on a number of oil and gas organizations, associations and boards including the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council’s Advisory Group, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, American Association of Drilling Engineers, DeepStar Consortium Contributors Advisory Board and Consumer Energy Alliance. He also serves on the Board of the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America consortium. He has a B.S. degree in business from Campbellsville College.

TECHNICAL ADVISORS

Don Gunther
Mr. Gunther currently sits on the Board of Directors for Williams Energy Partners, (NYSE: WEG), which is principally owned by Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB). Mr. Gunther has formerly served as Vice Chairman for the Bechtel Group of companies, served on Bechtel's Executive Committee, and served on Bechtel's Board of Directors. Mr. Gunther was formerly President of Bechtel Petroleum Chemical and Industrial Company and President of Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Southwest Asia regions.