Management & Board
Trio Petroleum has an exceptional team with a history of raising capital, building companies, generating prospects, drilling wells, and economically producing discovered oil.
Management & Advisors
Michael L. Peterson
CEO & Director
Michael Peterson is the CEO of Lafayette Energy Corporation, and Director of Indonesia Energy Corporation (NYSE:INDO). From 2011 to 2018, Michael served in several executive officer positions – initially as CFO and then as CEO – at PEDEVCO Corp. (NYSE American: PED), which is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of oil and gas shale plays in the US.
He is an independent Director of TrxAde Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDS), a web-based pharmaceutical market platform, and Director of Ocean Biomedical (NASDAQ: OCEA). From 2006 and 2012, he served in several executive positions – Interim President, Director and Executive VP – at Aemetis, Inc. (formerly AE Biofuels Inc.), a California-based global advanced biofuels and renewable commodity chemicals company.
From 2005 to 2006, he served as a managing partner of American Institutional Partners, a US-based venture investment fund. From 2000 to 2004, Michael served as a First Vice President at Merrill Lynch, where he helped establish a new private client services division to work exclusively with high-net-worth investors. From 1989 to 2000, he was employed by Goldman Sachs & Co. in a variety of positions and roles, including as a Vice President.
Michael received his Master degree of Business Administration at the Marriott School of Management and a Bachelor’s degree in statistics/computer science from Brigham Young University.
Stan Eschner
Executive Chairman & Director
Stan Eschner is a registered geologist, an honorary lifetime member of the Pacific Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a current and long-time Director of the California Independent Petroleum Association, and member of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. Importantly, he is a proven resource finder and developer.
From first employment as independent micropaleontologist, Stan became a Production Geologist with Shell, where he discovered and developed the prolific Belgian Anticline PML Oceanic sand oil pool. He soon after joined Occidental where, in the mid-sixties, he discovered the East Beverly Hills and Sawtelle oil fields in the Los Angeles Basin which together have produced over 170 million barrels of oil. During his tenure with Oxy, Stan, as Vice President of Domestic Operations, was involved in the commercial exploration and development of 50 domestic oil and gas fields comprising 500 million barrels of oil and 2.5 TCF of gas. Prior to his early retirement with Oxy in 1983, he was promoted to Vice President, Chief Geologist, worldwide.
In 1983, he left Oxy and co-founded Trio Petroleum LLC, of which he is still Chairman. The South Salinas Valley Project represents the latest and largest of many successful Trio opportunities.
Stan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Geology and a Master of Arts in Geology from UCLA.
Frank C. Ingriselli
Vice Chairman
Frank Ingriselli is a seasoned leader and entrepreneur with wide-ranging oil exploration and production experience spanning more than 42 years in the international energy industry.
He is currently the President of Indonesia Energy Corporation (NYSE: INDO), engaged in the exploration, development and production of strategic, high-growth energy projects in Indonesia.
Frank is the former founder, Chairman and CEO of PEDEVCO Corp. (NYSE: PED), which acquires and develops energy assets in the US, and is the former founder, Chairman and CEO of Pacific Asia Petroleum, Inc., a NYSE publicly traded energy company with operations in Africa and China.
Earlier in his career, he spent 23 years at Texaco, Inc. in senior executive positions involving E&P, merger and acquisition activities, pipeline operations, and corporate development, including serving as President of Texaco International Operations and President of Texaco Technology Ventures where he was responsible for over several billion dollars of investments.
Frank currently sits on the Board of NXT Energy Solutions Inc. (TSX:SFD), sits on the Board of Trustees of the Eurasia Foundation, and is the founder and CEO of Brightening Lives Foundation Inc., a public charitable foundation.
He graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in business administration, earned an M.B.A. from New York University, and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.
Terry Eschner
President
Terry Eschner is a registered geologist, highly skilled and productive in identifying oil and gas opportunities and guiding them to fruition. He has played key roles in significant new field discoveries and in increasing production and reserves in mature fields.
He started his career at Occidental for 2 years, primarily doing geologic field work in Bolivia and Argentina. After earning his M.A. in geology, he was with Chevron for 10 years as an exploration and production geologist, geophysicist and project manager.
Since leaving Chevron in 1992, he has been the owner and President of Sarlan Resources Inc. and the owner and manager of Core Description LLC.
Since 2014, Terry has been an integral part of Trio Petroleum LLC’s oil and gas exploration and development operations while being deeply involved in matters pertaining to regulatory compliance.
Terry earned an M.A. in geology from the University of Texas, Austin, and a B.S. in geology from San Diego State University.
Steve Rowlee
Chief Operating Officer
Steve Rowlee entered the oil industry in 1980 as Manager of Leasing for Bakersfield-based Fuller Oil Company, supervising lease brokers in the negotiation, acquisition, payment and transfer of thousands of oil and gas leases.
He later worked as a West Coast Division Land Manager for Hanna Petroleum Company, coordinating and implementing division policy while being accountable for division land operations and status reporting.
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Steve joined Trio Petroleum LLC in 1984 as Manager of Land. In 2008 he became Vice President and is deeply involved in the development and implementation of the company’s projects, including coordinating land acquisition and procurement and administration of oil and gas leases.
He is a member of the Bakersfield Association of Petroleum Landmen and the American Association of Petroleum Landmen.
Steve holds a B.A. from Azusa Pacific University and an M.A. from California State University Bakersfield.
Gregory L. Overholtzer
CFO
Greg Overholtzer is an experienced Chief Financial Officer with a strong background in publicly traded oil and gas companies, including serving as part time CFO of Indonesia Energy Corporation (NYSE: INDO) since 2019.
Since November 2019, Mr. Overholtzer has served as a Consulting Director of Ravix Consulting Group. From December 2018 until November 2019, Mr. Overholtzer served as a Field Consultant at Resources Global Professionals. From January 2012 until December 2018 Mr. Overholtzer served as the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller of Pacific Energy Development (NYSE:AMERICAN PED).
Mr. Overholtzer holds a BA in Zoology and an MBA in Finance at the University of California, Berkeley.
Gary Horace
Operations and Drilling Superintendent
Gary Horace has spent 48 years in the oil industry, beginning as a roustabout in 1970, followed by 42 years in drilling operations at the supervisory level.
He has been involved in the drilling of ~4,000 wells and has taken extensive special education courses regarding drilling and completions, drilling fluids and well control. He has vast experience and great expertise in organizing and supervising drilling operations.
Gary has provided drilling supervision services for majors such as Occidental, Texaco and Chevron as well as for several independent oil and gas companies.
He is a co-owner and Operations & Drilling Superintendent at Trio Petroleum LLC where he is deeply involved in all matters related to the drilling of oil and gas wells and in remedial procedures on existing wells and operations in producing fields.
Board of Directors
William J.Hunter
director
William Hunter represents over 20 years as an Industrial and Natural Resources Investment Banker with $20B in overall transactions, significant experience in public capital markets, M&A and restructuring, and tenure on multiple boards.
He currently serves as Executive Chairman and Interim CEO of Tonogold Resources, Inc. From 2015 to 2022 he has also served as the Managing Partner of Hunter Resources, LLC, a Strategic and Financial Consulting firm, where he has provided guidance on multiple acquisitions and financings with an aggregate value in excess of $1.0B.
William is a former Board Member and Chairman of the Audit Committee for The American Battery Technology Company; former President, CFO, and Board Member for Advent Technologies post-merger with AMCI Acquisition Corp.; and former Chairman for Ridley Terminals Inc. and multiple AMCI Boards.
From 1991-2015, he worked as an Investment Banker, most recently at Nomura Securities, where he advised Mitsui in a $3.1B merger. He previously worked at Teneo Capital, Dahlman Rose and Company, Jeffries and Company, TD Securities, BMO Nesbitt Burns, Natwest Markets, and KPMG Peat Marwick, across the Aerospace, Defense, Private Equity, Industrials, Transportation, Metals, Mining and Energy sectors.
William received his B.Sc. from DePaul University in Chicago and an MBA with distinction from the Kellstadt School of Business at DePaul University.
John Randall
director
John Randall is a California Licensed Professional Geologist (PG), Texas (PG), Louisiana (PG), Mississippi (RPG) and President of John Randall Geological Services, LLC.
His career of proven success in sustaining profitability and delivering reliable high- performance in the oil and gas industry includes roles as former Geology Operations Manager for Chevron (NYSE: CVX), he performed all geological tasks as expatriate in Kazakhstan for the first Chevron drilled well in the enormous Tengiz Oil Field EUR 6 to 9 Billion barrels. Exploration & Development Geologist for Union Oil where he worked the West Cat Canyon Field and the Orcutt Field.
These are believed to be analog fields to the South Salinas Project. At the time this work sought to explain and exploit offshore Monterey Formation opportunities for sales of Federal Outer Continental Shelf leases in the Santa Barbara Channel. As California Development Geology Manager for Chevron-acquired Gulf Oil developed as partner with Union The Point Pedernales Monterey Formation discovery; next assignments as District and Division Geologist for Chevron developed the Point Arguello Monterey discovery, naturally fractured reservoir production first year 26 completed wells 46,575 BOPD and 20,000 Mcfgpd, and offshore development of Sockeye Monterey and Sespe-Vaqueros. Senior Geologist for Freeport-McMoRan Oil and Gas (NYSE: FCX) evaluated Monterey-Nodular shale play at LA Basin Inglewood Oil Field.
John earned Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees, Geology, from Southern Illinois University.
Thomas J. Pernice
director
Thomas Pernice is an entrepreneur and corporate executive with more than 25 years of experience working in the White House as a Presidential appointee under three U.S. Presidents, in the C-Suites of Fortune 500 companies, and as a senior advisor to the Family Offices of billionaire businessman David H. Murdock where he was a member of the Chairman’s global leadership team and an executive officer of Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE: DOLE).
He was formerly appointed Senior Policy Advisor and Executive Director of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), the highest-level external advisory board at the U.S Department of Energy where he advised the Secretary on issues ranging from economic and national security policy to applied research and DOE operations.
Thomas is currently the President of Modena Holding Group, which provides strategic advisory services and executive counsel to Fortune 500 companies. He is also a member of the board of directors of Panvaxal Corp., a biotechnology company privately held by the Murdock family.
As a financier and founder of multiple companies, he has served as a partner, board advisor and board director for private and publicly traded companies in the energy, biotech, and technology sectors as well as non-profits.
Mr. Pernice holds a BA from the University of Southern California.
