COIL Management
Armen Nahabedian, 32, President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director: Mr. Nahabedian is a fourth generation oil and gas explorer in the state of California. In 1999, Mr. Nahabedian joined the United States Marine Corp as an infantryman and reached the rank of Corporal (E-4) before serving in operation Iraqi Freedom and receiving an honorable discharge in 2003. Mr. Nahabedian immediately thereafter went to work in the oil fields of the South San Joaquin Valley for his family’s oil company, The Nahabedian Exploration Group. After early success in his exploration efforts Mr. Nahabedian became a regional supervisor and managed the drilling operations for some of the deepest exploratory wells drilled in the state of California from 2004 through2007. In 2007, Mr. Nahabedian then joined The Nahabedian Exploration Group as a partner and supervised land acquisition efforts (over 750,000 acres leased or optioned) and prospect generation. Mr. Nahabedian continued to act as an operational supervisor and in 2009, he became involved in business development and finance. Acting as the company’s primary fund raiser Mr. Nahabedian educated himself on public financing and securities and with the assistance of an experienced legal team formed Citadel Exploration Inc in 2011.
Daniel L. Szymanski, Chairman of the Board: Dan Szymanski comes to the board of Citadel Exploration Inc. with over 20 years of industry experience, including exploration and production assignments with Tenneco and Chevron, and worldwide exploration with Occidental. Dan served as Manager of Business Development, then Manager-Financial Planning and Analysis at Oxy’s Headquarters in LA. His final role at Oxy was Asset Manager for 42 oil and gas fields producing in California’s San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. Since 2008, Dan has been a consultant to the oil and gas industry and partner in a seismic data firm. Mr. Szymanski has a Bachelors in Geology from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters in Geophysics from Purdue.
Christopher M. Whitcomb, Chief Financial Officer and Director: Mr. Whitcomb has been in the Oil and Natural Gas Business for over 10 years. He has held the position of CFO of the Nahabedian Exploration Group, as well as manager of multiple Limited Liability Companies, involved in many aspects of Oil and Gas exploration, production, services and land acquisition. Mr. Whitcomb was critical to the formation of a number of small market cap oil and gas exploration companies over the last 7 years. He has worked in the public sector as a Certified Public Accountant, and has worked in the lease and land acquisition field as a licensed Real Estate Broker. Mr. Whitcomb holds Bachelors of Science degrees in both Accountancy and Business Administration -focusing on Corporate Finance. Mr. Whitcomb has also attended a number of programs for lease management and is highly capable with accounting and lease maintenance software programs.
Jacob L. Barnhart, Director: Mr. Barnhart has been working in the financial sector for the last four years as a financial advisor for Ameriprise. Prior to receiving his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Seattle University, Jacob served four years in the United Sates Marine Corps and reached the rank of corporal. Mr. Barnhart has a tremendous work ethic and prides himself on the leadership traits he obtained while serving his country.
James Borgna, Director: Mr. Borgna is a third generation oil and gas industry supplier and producer. Mr. Borgna currently owns and operates KVOS LLC which supplies production facilities and process equipment in California. Mr. Borgna specializes in scalable facilities that are fabricated work in-house. Mr. Borgna has supervised the fabrication of oil and gas facilities for many of the major operators in the San Joaquin Basin. Mr. Borgna gained valuable experience with project management, facilities design, and gained familiarity with permitting guidelines and restrictions. Prior to joining his family in the oil and gas industry Mr. Borgna served six years in the United States Navy and achieved the rank of E-5.
