Michael R. Pompeo served as the 70th Secretary of State of the United States, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and was elected to four terms in Congress representing the Fourth District of Kansas. Mike graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1986. He served as a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, leading troops patrolling the Iron Curtain. Mike left the military in 1991 and then graduated from Harvard Law School, having served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Up next was almost a decade leading two manufacturing businesses in South Central Kansas – first in the aerospace industry and then making energy drilling and production equipment.

In 2010, Mike watched the government grow too big and decided to run for Congress. He won and was re-elected three more times to represent South Central Kansas – the heartland of America. Becoming America’s most senior spy, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was Mike’s next chance to champion American values. President Donald Trump saw that good work and decided to make Mike America’s 70th Secretary of State. As our nation’s most senior diplomat in the Trump Administration and President Trump’s chief negotiator, Mike helped to craft U.S. foreign policy based on our nation’s founding ideals. During this time, America became a massive energy exporter and a force for good in the Middle East, with real peace cemented in the Abraham Accords. Mike also placed special emphasis on renewing alliances with key allies, including India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea. The largest human rights gatherings ever held at the State Department occurred under his leadership.

Since leaving government, Mike has remained active on the global stage advancing American interests. Currently, he serves as Executive Chair of Impact Investments, a US-based strategic and financial advisory and investment firm which seeks to develop long-term partnerships with the world’s leading companies across a range of industries and geographies.

Married to Susan, Mike and his wife have one son, Nick. Mike and Susan were thrilled to see their family grow to include a daughter-in-law when Nick married his wife, Rachael, in 2022! Mike and Susan’s two retrievers, Sherman and Mercer, each named after important American generals, are patriots too!

Mr. Soanes manages his family office and has diverse investments in numerous business’s including American Helium Holdings. Some of Mr Soanes’s investments include investments in a custom medical devise designer and producer, a stem cell development and treatment facility, numerous car wash facilities, a Fintech company, a derivatives trading company, a carbon sequestration company, residential real estate portfolio and a redevelopment of a multi building office complex.

Mr Soanes has over 35 years of domestic and international experience in the development, construction, operation and management of energy facilities. Mr Soanes has founded, capitalized and managed numerous energy infrastructure companies. Prior to his retirement in June 2021, Mr. Soanes served as CEO and President of Renewable Biofuels Inc (“RBF”), a company he co-founded in 2006. RBF’s Port Neches facility is the largest biodiesel production facility in the Americas, with a total refining capacity of 180 million gallons per year. RBF commenced operations in 2008 and at its peak had annual revenues in excess of $1BN.

Prior to co-founding RBF, Mr. Soanes co-founded and was President of NorthernStar Natural Gas, Inc, a company formed to develop natural gas importation infrastructure on the US West Coast. He was also a founding partner of Organic Fuels which developed owned and operated a 30 mmgpy bio diesel facility in the Houston ship channel in 2001, the largest scale biodiesel facility at the time of its operation.

Mr. Soanes has held a number of executive management positions with a variety of international energy companies, including Vice President at ARCO Global Energy Ventures where he was responsible for Asian natural gas market development and Executive Director of Development for CMS Enterprises, Inc where he was responsible for developing LNG import terminal in North America.
Mr. Soanes holds a BS in Commerce from Murdoch University in Western Australia and began his career as a Charted Accountant (CPA) with Arthur Anderson & Co.

Mr Soanes has served in executive positions in community and non-profit organizations. Mr Soanes served as a commissioner and chairperson of the Memorial Villages Police Department commission from 2008 to 2014, and most recently was President of Westwood Golf Club in Houston where he was a member of the Board of Governors from 2017 to 2023.