Who We Are and Our Values
At BlackRock Resources, our goal is to be the highest quality provider of personnel and professional services to the energy and industrial marketplace. We listen carefully to our customers so that we can customize our services in order to source, recruit, and hire the very best people in the business. Our commitment to our customers, employees, and partners is the foundation of everything we do. We never put our employees and clients in unsafe environments and we have the highest-rating safety record to prove it.
Michael Parker – President/CEO
Michael is the founder and President of BlackRock Resources, LLC. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Michael recognized the demand for professional staffing and consulting services, primarily in the oil/gas/energy sector. He created BlackRock Resources, a firm that challenges the status quo and embraces the changes of an industry dominated by large companies with rigid business structures.
Michael began his career as an Account Executive for a Pittsburgh-based IT consulting firm prior to the Y2K boom and has quickly moved up the ranks. He credits his success to the many mentors that have helped him strengthen his core principles of Integrity, Execution and Innovation, which he applies in his daily personal and business practices.
During his career, Michael has found success working with both large and start-up firms. He believes that the key to solving his customer’s problems is in building a partnership based upon mutual respect and a willingness to accept new ideas and implement them into solutions-oriented strategies.
Michael was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area before attending the University of Dayton to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Go Flyers). He lives just south of Pittsburgh with his wife Christine and his four daughters where he is active in his community.
Tara Cooper – Vice President
Tara is a Vice President at BlackRock Resources, where she leads engineering, field services, and staffing operations across the energy, nuclear, construction, water/wastewater, data center, and utility sectors. She played a key role in establishing and expanding the Engineering and Field Services division, now one of the company’s fastest-growing sectors.
With extensive experience managing complex, multi-state infrastructure projects, Tara ensures regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and client satisfaction. She collaborates withdirectors, managers, and department heads to align cross-functional teams and optimize project execution. Her expertise spans natural gas transmission, nuclear energy, compressor stations, water treatment facilities, and large-scale industrial projects.
Tara actively engages with state and county agencies, the Department of Transportation (DOT), nuclear regulatory bodies, utility providers, and contractors to drive cost-effective, compliant, and timely project completion. She also plays a vital role in workforce development, talent acquisition, and leadership training, ensuring top-tier engineering, construction, and technical professionalssupport BlackRock’s clients across multiple industries.
In addition to operations, Tara oversees strategic staffing initiatives, ensuring BlackRock Resources delivers skilled personnel for project-based, contingent, and direct-hire placements. She works closely with clients to assess workforce needs, implement scalable hiring solutions, and enhance talent retention strategies. Her ability to align workforce planning with industry demands has been key to expanding BlackRock’s staffing capabilities in high-demand sectors.
A strategic and results-driven leader, Tara drives continuous improvement, risk mitigation, and operational excellence, positioning BlackRock Resources as a leader in both staffing and project execution.
Stephanie Glandon – Vice President
Stephanie is Vice President of the Manufacturing, Food and Beverage, Logistics and Distribution divisions. She joined BlackRock Resources to focus on managing client relationships and further expand the company’s ability to meet client demands. She is experienced with the Chemical, Petro-Chemical, Refining, Manufacturing, and Oil, Gas & Pipeline industries.
During her 20+-year career, Stephanie has gained a deep understanding of the engineering and operations side of supporting client needs, as well as field, technical, administrative, cost, scheduling, and other key positions that add value to critical projects, where contract staffing or consulting services are of a value to the customer. Stephanie knows the dynamic industry requirements and appreciates all that is required to maintain a low employee turnover rate. She works onsite with BlackRock employees and client managers to preserve existing business relationships and to cultivate new opportunities.
A lifelong resident of West Virginia, Stephanie is based in Charleston where she supports BlackRock Resources’ geographical business territory. Stephanie attended Concord College, where she studied Business and Marketing. She has two children and is very active in their school and extra-curricular activities.
Jacob Shams, PE – Director of Engineering & Field Services
Jacob is Director of Engineering and Field Services for BlackRock Resources. He joined BlackRock Resources, to oversee and support the expansion of the Engineering and Field Services team. Jacob has 13 years of engineering consulting experience in the natural gas industry as a project director, engineering manager, project manager, and lead discipline engineer.
As an engineering consultant in the natural gas industry, Jacob gained more than 250 miles of pipeline project management experience. He was project manager and/or lead structural engineer overseeing more than 70 facility upgrades and greenfield projects. He has managed multiple FERC projects and is well-versed in the necessary processes to complete FERC filings. He has designed and/or supervised more than 50 horizontal directional-drilled crossings.
Jacob draws from his vast project experience to solve complex technical problems and provide support and oversight to BlackRock’s Engineering and Field Services team. He obtained his Bachelors and Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Louisville in 2006 and currently holds his Professional Engineering License in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Louisiana.
Jeannie Morris – Director of Business Operations & Administration
Jeannie Morris is the Director of Operations of BlackRock Resources, LLC, and works with the team to help manage the company’s day-to-day operations. She has 30+ years of experience in Operational processes, including payroll, onboarding, budgeting, forecasting, auditing, project controls, and reporting to name a few. She brings extensive operational expertise and a strong commitment to employee relationships to the team! Jeannie enjoys building relationships with the employees at BlackRock. She believes that this relationship helps the company stand out against the competition. Her team ensures that questions get answered promptly, and the employees at BlackRock know that they can text her anytime with questions or concerns. She likes to “work smarter, not harder” and always tries to evaluate and streamline processes within the team to accomplish this result. Jeannie loves spending time with her husband, David, and their two sons, Jacob and Samuel. She is an avid reader, loves unwinding with podcasts, binge-watches “The Great British Baking Show,” and enjoys chasing her Shiba Inu puppy, Sumo, in her spare time. She is excited about the future and looks forward to watching the BlackRock team grow and develop.
