James C. (Jim) Manatt, Jr. is CEO, Chairman and Founder of Thrust Energy, Inc. and Providence Technologies, Inc., Roswell, NM, developing the Mancos Shale unconventional exploration program. Providence Technologies, founded in 1994, is New Mexico’s only 3D seismic exploration services company. He is the owner and co-inventor of Directed Beam Seismic©, U.S. Patent 8,077,547. Prior to Thrust and Providence, he was President / COO, Permian Exploration Corp. Since 1979, his companies have conducted thousands of kilometers advanced 2D swath and 3D seismic data acquisition, processing and analysis in Texas, New Mexico, Italy, Poland, India and Yemen.
He is an active or emeritus member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Canadian, Houston, Permian Basin Geophysical Societies, the ABQ and Roswell Geological Society, where he is Past President. He is a Distinguished Alumnus and a Distinguished Military Graduate, Bachelor of Arts, New Mexico State University and was honored to return service to his Alma Mater as Chairman and Member of the NMSU Board of Regents, with fiduciary duty for some 3,000 employees, $2 billion in assets with an annual operating budget of more than $400 million. After college he served on active duty as a Vietnam era Military Intelligence Officer, U.S. Army. He has served his state and community as a volunteer Chairman of New Mexico First, a bi-partisan NM think tank; as a Founding Director, Spaceport America along with many local community and charitable interests. He is a licensed commercial / instrument / multi-engine pilot and a licensed Realtor.