Member of the Board of Advisors

Dennis Tower

Picture to be added soon

Retired President and Chief Executive of First International Oil Corporation Currently residing in Black Butte Ranch in Central Oregon

Mr. Tower graduated from Oregon State University in 1971 with an MSc. in Geology. Mr. Tower had earlier obtained his BSc. in geology at OSU in 1969.

Immediately upon leaving OSU, Denny went to work for the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), where he worked for 28 years, primarily in International oil and gas exploration and development. His work at ARCO, in positions of increasing responsibility, took him to more than 25 different countries. Seventeen years were spent living abroad with his family in diverse places including Indonesia, Chile, England, Singapore and Mozambique.

After retiring from ARCO (soon to be BP) in 1999, Denny joined First International Oil Corporation (FIOC), a privately held Houston based oil company operating exclusively in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan. As President and Chief Executive, Denny directed all the exploration, development and production projects for the company. He also was responsible for shareholder relations and communications. FIOC was sold to one of the Chinese national oil companies late in 2004.

Career highpoints are many but the following stand out:

• The opportunity to participate in and lead geological field mapping projects into some of the worlds most remote areas including East Greenland, Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Islands, the jungles of NE Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia and the offshore islands of southern Chile.
• Direct involvement in the discovery of 35 new oil and gas fields in eleven different countries. These fields hold hydrocarbon reserves of many billions of barrels of oil and oil equivalent.
• The opportunity to be involved in the integration of new cutting edge technologies into routine oil and gas exploration.
• The opportunity to lead a company through difficult financial and political times and then successfully negotiate the sale of that company.
• The chance through my work and family to meet so many wonderful and interesting people from so many different cultures worldwide.

Denny and his wife Sue (OSU 1970) now reside at Black Butte Ranch in Central Oregon where they enjoy golf, skiing, community activities and relaxing. They have two grown children.

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