Robert L. Thomas, Jr. is president and chief executive officer of Paradigm Exploration LLC, an independent private energy exploration, production and consulting company he formed in 2001. For the past 25 years, Mr. Thomas has been the president and principle owner of a number of oil and gas production companies and a drilling company. His initial training in the energy industry came with Phillips Petroleum Company where he served in a number of operations consulting capacities in both the headquarters office in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and a regional office in Denver, Colorado from 1977 to 1886. Mr. Thomas has also served for the past 12 years as President of Thomas & Associates Consulting, a boutique consultancy. Mr. Thomas holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from Oklahoma State University. He also serves on the board of directors of France-Advance, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting youth in France.