Natural Resources >> CEO Interviews >> August 1, 2004
MARK HELLERSTEIN is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of
St. Mary Land & Exploration Company, an oil and gas exploration and
production company. St. Mary has operations throughout the United States
and at one time was involved in several international operations,
including Russia. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a BS
degree in Accounting. He took the CPA exam the year after graduating and
received the Elijah Watt Sells Gold Medal Award for the highest grade in
the United States. Upon graduation he worked as a CPA for Arthur
Andersen & Co., one of the Big Six accounting firms. After three years
at Arthur Andersen, he went to work at Petro-Lewis, a client of Arthur
Andersen. He ultimately became Controller for Petro-Lewis. He left
Petro-Lewis and became Treasurer and eventually Vice President, Finance
and Chief Financial Officer for Worldwide Energy, where he worked until
1986. In 1986 oil prices cratered and Worldwide was sold. After working
for several companies, Mr. Hellerstein became VP, Finance and CFO for
CoCa Mines, a precious metals mining company and an affiliate of St.
Mary. CoCa was sold in 1991 and Mr. Hellerstein came to work for St.
Mary as Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer. The following year he
became President and a Director of St. Mary. Profile
investor should focus on?
Mr. Hellerstein: Several things. We had an excellent year in 2003; the
most notable single item was
