Board of Directors

Michael Blaha – Executive Chairman
John Craven – CEO
Michael Nolan – Finance Director
Frank H Moxon – Non-Executive Director
Dr Stephen Staley – Non-Executive Director
Anthony Golding – Non-Executive Director

Michael Blaha – Executive Chairman

Michael Blaha, is a Petroleum Engineer with twenty nine years industry experience in the Royal Dutch Shell Group (”Shell”). Until he became Executive Chairman of Cove, in October 2009, he was Country Chairman for Shell in Algeria, prior to which he held the positions of Director External Relations for EP Africa from 2003-2005, Vice President EP for Russia (Salym, Sakhalin) from 2001 to 2003 and Vice President EP Iran (Soroosh and Nowrooz) from 1998 to 2001. Earlier in his Shell career he worked at the Shell head offices in The Hague from where he developed business in China, Iran and Russia. He has also held senior roles in the Philippines, Syria, Thailand and the UK. Mr Blaha has an MSc in Chemistry from Universiteit van Amsterdam.

John Craven – CEO

John Craven is a petroleum geologist with thirty five years experience in senior technical and commercial roles in upstream oil and gas exploration and production companies. Prior to joining Cove Energy, he was founder and Chief Executive of AIM and IEX quoted, African and Mediterranean focussed, exploration company, Petroceltic International plc (”Petroceltic”). Petroceltic grew under his direction and stewardship to a business with a diversified portfolio of exploration and appraisal projects in Italy, Algeria and Tunisia. Mr Craven has an MSc in Petroleum Geology from the Royal School of Mines in London and an MBA from Queens University in Belfast.

Michael Nolan – Finance Director

Michael Nolan is a Chartered Accountant and has worked with Deloitte & Touche in Dublin. He is currently executive chairman of Vancouver-based, Rathdowney Resources Limited, a private natural resource company, operating in Ireland and supported by the Hunter Dickinson Group. He acted as chief executive officer of AIM-listed, mining company, Minmet Plc from 1999 to August 2007. He also serves on the board of several resource exploration and investment companies. Mr Nolan was re-appointed to the Board on 13 September 2009.

Frank H Moxon – Non-Executive Director

Frank Moxon is a corporate financier with over 25 years of industry experience. Initially an equities analyst at Capel Cure Myers he has subsequently worked in corporate finance roles at Beeson Gregory, Société Générale, Old Mutual, Williams de Broë, where he was head of corporate finance and head of natural resources, Evolution, where he headed up the mining team, and his own natural resources consultancy Hoyt Moxon Ltd.

He is also a non-executive director of TSX-V quoted Whetstone Minerals Ltd and of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and Chairman of its Corporate Finance Forum as well as a number of UK charities. He holds an economics degree from Loughborough University and is a fellow of the Energy Institute. He has particular expertise in matters of equity finance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.

Dr Stephen Staley – Non-Executive Director

Dr Stephen Staley, FGS, MBA, has considerable experience in the European, African and Asian oil and gas and power sectors. In 1986 he joined Conoco (UK) Limited as a geophysicist and worked on a wide variety of successful European exploration, development and production projects. Subsequently, he joined Midlands Power International Limited, later part of Cinergy Global Power Limited, a large US utility company. In 1997, he was appointed Vice President of Cinergy Global Power Limited. While in this role he led the identification and acquisition or development to commercial operation of oil, gas and power opportunities in Europe, Africa and Asia.

From 2005 to 2009 he was Managing Director of Independent Resources plc whose core activities are the development of a major underground gas storage facility in Italy, together with upstream assets in Italy and North Africa

He is the founder and Managing Director of Derwent Resources Limited, a UK based energy project management and consulting firm, and successfully built, marketed and sold Derwent’s own oil and gas prospect portfolio to a UK listed oil company. He has provided commercial and technical advice to energy companies active in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and China.

He is a Fellow of the Geological Society and a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, the European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers, the Association of MBAs and The Arctic Club. He was co-leader of several scientific expeditions to the high Arctic where he studied local geology and the effects of global warming on glacier systems.

Anthony Golding – Non-Executive Director

Mr Golding, a lawyer is currently a consultant to leading law firm Thompson & Knight LLP.  His practice is focused on corporate, finance and energy law with expertise in negotiations; mergers, acquisitions and disposals; private and public equity; and debt finance He also held the position of Senior Associate, with law firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae from 2000 to 2005.

In addition Mr Golding spent 14 years with the UK Independent and FTSE 100 upstream oil and gas company London & Scottish Marine Oil plc (LASMO) where he held a number of legal posts including Group General Counsel and U.S. Business Manager from 1998 to 1999.