John H. (“Jack”) Knight, President & CEO

Mr. Knight founded Lynx Energy LLC in 2006 and serves as its President and CEO.  Mr.  Knight is also founder, President and CEO of Lynx Energy Partners, Inc., which formed Lynx Energy Partners Drilling Program 2005-1 in 2005 and successfully closed a $6,100,000 offering for Western PA oil & gas wells.  Mr. Knight is a member of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of Pennsylvania and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. 

Mr. Knight’s involvement in the natural resources industry began in 1975, when he joined the law department of the Koppers Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  At Koppers, Mr.  Knight handled a wide array of matters, including participating as a member of the team that, through mergers and acquisitions, put together the second largest aggregate operation in the world, encompassing more than 100 quarries nationally.  He also was responsible as the lead lawyer for significant natural resource development operations in oil and gas.  He was promoted to serve as head of operations for Koppers’ Natural Resources Division.  The Natural Resources Division was involved in various natural resources such as coal (about three million tons per year), timber, aggregates and oil and gas.  Under Mr. Knight’s direction, Koppers successfully built oil and gas operations in the eastern United States in the Appalachian basin. 

Upon leaving Koppers, Mr. Knight founded several companies including a construction company, a land development company, a real estate company and, an investment banking company.  During this time, Mr. Knight also served as General Counsel for 84 Lumber Company, the largest privately held retail building materials operation in the world with approximately $3.4 billion in sales currently.

Mr. Knight is a 1967 graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in economics and a minor in chemistry.  After graduation, Mr. Knight served on active duty in the US Army as an intelligence officer and continued his service in the US Army reserves for 20 years, retiring from the military reserves in 1989 with the rank of Major.  Upon leaving active duty, he attended the University of Pittsburgh Law School, where Mr. Knight graduated in 1972 with honors and went on to clerk for Justice Thomas Pomeroy of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Arthur M. Van Tyne, Director of Operations

Mr. Van Tyne has a long history with the oil and gas industry, having been involved with the drilling and completion of over 2,000 oil and gas wells in the New York and Pennsylvania area.  His education includes a B.A. from Syracuse University and an M.S from Syracuse in geology.  He has worked at the Syracuse University Research Institute, Geological Division, in seismology research, as a field and province geologist with Shell Oil, and with the New York State Geological Survey as Senior Geologist-in-Charge, State Oil and Gas Research Office and as the founder and principal of Van Tyne Consulting.  He is known around the world as a leading petroleum geologist through the more than 100 papers he has published in prominent petroleum journals and at conferences.  Many of these papers serve as the authoritative source for the petroleum industry for a number of areas of the Appalachian basin in the Eastern United States. 

Mr. Van Tyne has participated as an officer in many professional oil and gas organizations including being past President of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, a Director and Executive Committee member of the NY State Oil Producers Association, past President of the Northern Appalachian Geological Society and the former National Secretary of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.  A sampling of his many honors and awards include the following from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists: Distinguished Service Award, Honorary Membership Award and the Galey Medal for Distinguished Geological Service.  He is cited in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering and Who’s Who in the World.