Meet the Team
Wellington's experienced management team has over 50 years combined experience in the energy sector, with expertise in Commercial/Industrial Project Development, Soybean Crushing, Water Treatment, Crude Distillation, Isomerization, Alkylation, and Refining (Diesel, Naphtha, Petroleum, Biodiesel). Upon completion of construction, the company will employ more than 30 operators and support staff.
Michael D. Roberts
CEO and General Counsel
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Michael D. Roberts
CEO and General Counsel
After attending Brigham Young University for his undergraduate degree, Mike Roberts graduated from BYU’s JD/MBA program in 1996 with an emphasis in real property law and finance/accounting. Over the past 20+ years, Mike has held several different positions including general counsel, partner, and accounting controller for different law firms and businesses. Mike worked as a solo practitioner from 2005 to 2018, focusing on real estate transactions and project development. Since 2009, Mike has been the Manager and General Counsel for 670, LLC, an energy project developer which spawned Mike’s current project, Wellington Microtech. From 2009 until 2018, Mike also worked as an equity partner and General Counsel for a private equity group which acquired, resolved, and disposed of first-position commercial mortgages. These large, complex commercial loan resolution projects took years to complete and required much the same skillset as commercial/industrial project development. Representative projects include Midtown Village in Orem, Utah, and Boca Raton Condominiums in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Roberts provided legal services for dozens of development projects during his years in private practice and in 2007, Mike started working on such projects on his own behalf. Key projects include a 3,600-acre industrial park near Green River, Utah, a 71-mile long crude oil pipeline corridor from the main oil-producing area in Duchesne County to Wellington, Utah, and Wellington Microtech. Acting as an attorney or an equity partner, Mike has closed in excess of $2 billion in real estate transactions and developments.
Taryl P. Enderson
CFO
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Taryl P. Enderson
CFO
Immediately prior to Wellington, he was a partner with B2B CFO, the worlds largest CFO services firm. Before joining B2B, Taryl was the President of WRE Group where he worked with WRE Production (biodiesel), WRE Chemical & Pharmaceutical, and WRE Feed & Mill to manage employees, production and sales during the start-up phase of a glycerin refinery and soybean crushing facility.
He spent seven years as CFO, then CEO, at Minnesota Soybean Processors, which is a soybean crushing and biodiesel refinery. Taryl is a CPA and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He graduated from South Dakota State University with a bachelor’s degree in commercial economics and from Southwest State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Michael B. McCandles
VP, Business Development and Government Relation
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Michael B. McCandles
VP, Business Development and Government Relation
Prior to joining the Wellington Microtech team, Mike McCandless held multiple positions that uniquely qualified him to help Wellington’s project development. He was the head of Business & Community Development at Epic Engineering, where he worked with federal, state, and local governments to assist municipalities to find solutions as well as work with those municipalities as a consultant to help institute appropriate policies and conduct best practices compliance.
Before joining Epic Engineering, Mike was the Economic Development Director and Planner for Emery County Utah for ten years. Mike started his career as the Marketing Director for Emery Telecom & Video after graduating from Southern Utah University with a Bachelor of Science in Communication with a focus on public relations.
Rick Shafer
Operations Manager
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Rick Shafer
Operations Manager
Rick Shafer has 27 years of experience in petroleum refining. Prior to joining Wellington Microtech, Rick most recently acted as a project manager at Great Basin Industrial, where he worked with multiple different refineries and other businesses constructing tank farms and conducting turn-around maintenance. Prior to GBI, Rick worked as a unit foreman for Flying J/Big West Oil in North Salt Lake, Utah.
As a foreman, Rick was able to change the way that the refinery cut and blended products in the gasoline unit to create higher volume and throughput by 3,000 barrels per day, translating into millions of additional dollars of profit annually. Rick also worked to improve many efficiencies, including longer time periods between needed shutdowns. Rick’s dedication to safety dates back to his twelve years a captain of the fire brigade as well as being a first responder and hazmat trained.