our team

We are led by a team that has a goal of building the fastest growing supplier of raw materials to the infrastructure marketplace. The executive team, management team and board of directors have over 100 years of combined operating and turnaround experience while also having significant experience navigating the capital markets.

EXECUTIVE TEAM

MARK C. JENSEN

Chief executive officer & chairman of board

Mark has been instrumental in all aspects of acquiring, restructuring and building mining operations over the past decade. Having managed through 2009 and 2015 downturns, he has been able to work with his team to significantly expand the Company’s asset base through strategic acquisitions and organic growth in a very accretive manner. Mark is a graduate from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with Bachelor degrees in Finance and International Studies.

Tom M. Sauve

President & Director

Tom has over 12 years leading and managing mining operations and over 15 years investing, restructuring and building businesses. Having managed the due diligence process and closing, staffing and ramp up of three acquisitions in twelve months, he has a history of successfully identifying mining operations that have the ability to meet the company’s model of cost cutting and efficiency. Tom is a graduate from University of Rochester (Economics degree) and additional business studies from the Simon School of Business.

Kirk P. Taylor, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

Kirk has over 16 years of accounting & auditing work at various national public accounting firms focused on tax advantaged business structuring. While integrating three acquisitions in twelve months, Kirk has implemented a robust and scalable accounting and financial backbone, and has built a finance, accounting and purchasing staff that is streamlined with checks and balances to ensure cost controls. Kirk is a graduate of Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with Bachelor degrees in Accounting and Finance and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne.

tarlis R. thompson

Chief operating Officer

Tarlis overseas all operations at American Resources’ Central Appalachian subsidiaries, which includes McCoy Elkhorn, Deane Mining, and Knott County Coal. In this role he manages the activities at the company’s various processing facilities and loadout, coordinates production at the company’s various mines, manages environmental compliance and reclamation, and is responsible for quality control and shipments to customers. Tarlis has over 15 years of experience with companies that include Commercial Testing & Engineering, SGS Minerals, Massey Energy, and CAM Mining.

Gregory Q. Jensen, JD, PhD.

General Counsel

Greg has over 12 years of legal experience focused on complex case management and litigation in both the public and private sector. He’s an experienced negotiator and litigator of high profile and precedent setting cases while serving on both active and reserve duty as a United States Marine Corps Officer and “JAG” over the past 12 years. Currently promoted to the rank of Major. Greg is a graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with Bachelors degree in Finance. Additional degrees earned from Indiana University with legal focus include: PHD (minor in law), JD (law) and LLM (international and comparative law).

Mark J. LaVerghetta

Operational Partner, Corporate Finance & Communications

Mark has over 15 years of financial market experienceholding various roles with several Wall Street firms. He has a history ofsuccessfully and efficiently translating corporate strategy, benchmarks, andfinancials to the investment community, while also working with members of theexecutive team to evaluate and define corporate strategy and financialdirection. Mark has been successful in assisting in the integration of acquiredassets into American Resources’ business model while analyzing the overallfinancial impact of such opportunities and operations. Mark is a graduated fromthe University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

David M. Sauve

Finance Manager

David manages all data aggregation, organization and analysis for American Resources Corporation including vendor invoicing, permit management, tax calculations, and daily production statistics. Additionally he uses his background in statistics and actuarial mathematics to track key operational parameters, variances, and correlations within the company’s operations in order to provide resources and data for enhanced efficiency gains across American Resources Corporation’s subsidiaries. A graduate of the University at Albany’s department of Mathematics and Statistics, David is now an Actuarial Student of the Society of Actuaries and has successfully completed SOA exams in probability, financial mathematics, models for financial economics, statistics for risk modeling, and short-term actuarial mathematics.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MARK C. JENSEN

Chief executive officer & chairman of board

Tom M. Sauve

President & Director

RandaL v. Stephenson

INDEPENDENT Director, Chairman of Audit Committee, Member of Compensation Committee

Mr. Stephenson brings over 25 years of experience and relationships in the finance, private equity and investment banking sector to assist American Resources as the company continues its path of growth. He is co-founder and CEO of a boutique FINRA-licensed broker dealer focused in the natural resources industry and has started and expanded several successful investment banking platforms at Merrill Lynch, Jefferies, CIT Group and Duff & Phelps. Randal started and managed a mining & metals equity investment subsidiary of a global trading company, acquiring over $1.0 billion in operating businesses and assets starting from just a corporate development plan. He has worldwide relationships with corporations, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments and has closed over 200 transactions valued in excess of $40 billion. Randal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and has a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and his Juris Doctorate (with honors) from Boston College Law School. He is an attorney admitted to practice in New York, and holds the Series 7, 79, 63 and 24 securities licenses.

Michael layman

INDEPENDENT Director, Member of audit Committee

Mr.Layman is a well-established financial industry executive with a track record for driving value and growth for both private and publicly traded companies.Mr. Layman currently serves as General Partner/CEO of Emerald Shoals Targeted Opportunities Fund LP, a hybrid growth fund backed by a network of ultra-high net worth individuals seeking novel opportunities to invest in high-growth catalyst driven companies. Prior to his current role at Emerald Shoals, Mr.Layman served at a large top-four brokerage house where he was co-owner of a private wealth management group where he was responsible for identifying attractive and undervalued investment opportunities. Additionally, he also aided in the development and implementation of various investment strategies based on differing types of needs from conservative to aggressive growth.Additionally, Mr. Layman previously worked for a private equity fund in New York where he established a strong network of relationships with research analysts and investment bankers at a number of Wall Street firms. Mr. Layman obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Otterbein University.

Courtenay O. Taplin

Independent Director, MEMBER OF AUDIT COMMITTEE

Courtenay brings over 40 years of experience of sourcing and supplying iron ore, coke and metallurgical carbon to the steel industry to advise American Resources with their supply chain, logistics, customers, overall corporate strategy. He has a vast knowledge of both the global and domestic marketplace where he works with both suppliers and consumers. Courtenay currently runs his own company, Compass Point Resources, LLC which he founded in 2007. His prior experience includes Crown Coal & Coke Company and Pickands Mather Group out of Cleveland, OH. Courtenay is a graduate of Proctor Academy. He attended Hobart College and received a degree from Case Western Reserve University. Courtenay spent many years as the Division Chairman for United Way of Cleveland and is currently a long-standing member of Waite Hill, Ohio Village Council and Chairman of the Police and Safety Committee.

OPERATIONAL TEAM

Jody H. Baldwin

General manager of underground mining

Jody is the General Manager of the underground mines for American Resources. With several decades of mining experience, Jody has held various production-oriented positions with mining companies throughout eastern Kentucky, including CAM Mining, TECO Energy, and Rhino Resources. A native of the region, Jody brings vast expertise in mining efficiencies, expanding production, sourcing talented team members, and bringing new mines into production.

Joe k. Wright

Head of Purchasing

Joe is the Chief Purchasing Manager at American Resources, overseeing and managing the procurement of supplies, parts and materials for all of the company’s operations. Under this role, he is responsible for sourcing and due diligence of new vendor relationships and managing all existing vendors to ensure American Resources’ operations are efficiently supported. Joe reports directly to the Chief Financial Officer to track all purchase orders for financial reporting and compliance. Joe has over a decade of mining experience ranging from underground mining to managing the purchasing and inventory for various mines.

Sid L. Stanley

Chief Engineer

Sid Stanley is Chief Engineer of Quest Energy and its subsidiaries, in charge of overseeing all aspects of permitting, engineering, mine plans and design at Quest Energy and its subsidiaries. Prior to joining Quest Energy, Sid was Chief Mine Engineer at Premier Elkhorn Coal Company (a subsidiary of TECO Energy) for 22 years, managing a team of engineering and mining specialists to perform all aspects of the mining engineering. Sid has his Bachelors in Science in Mining Engineering from Virginia Tech and is a licensed professional engineer in both the Commonwealth of Kentucky and Virginia. After graduating from Virginia Tech, Sid worked for seven years at Pittston Coal Company, working on all aspects of mine engineering, including reserve evaluation, mine plans, ventilation surveys, and other engineering work. After his work at Pittston Coal, he was an engineer at Ambrose Branch Coal Company for several years, performing similar work. Sid then worked at Sovereign Coal as Contract Coal Manager, whereby he managed the contract miners at the company, including negotiation of contracts and performance monitoring and evaluation. Sid has his Professional Engineering license in Kentucky and Virginia, enjoys college football, and lives in Dickenson county, Virginia with his family.