Mike is the CEO & Founder of Prime Rock. Mike has a wide range of experience from lending to development.  Mike began his career with First Pennsylvania Bank in 1984 with a focus on lending to aggregate and mining process companies. In 1988, he began his first business, O’Neill Properties, with his brother Brian, developing over 4MM square feet. After O’Neill Properties, he founded multiple successful businesses from 1992 to today, including Preferred Real Estate Investments, Preferred Sands and Preferred Rocks, and NavPort before starting Prime Rock in 2016. Each of these businesses became acclaimed in their area. For instance, Preferred Sands is one of the largest frac sand companies in North America and Preferred Real Estate Investments was one of the most respected real estate companies on the East Coast, having developed over 12MM square feet. Through these ventures, Mike has taken on countless reputable projects, such as Lee Park in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania (a mixed-use redevelopment of 700,000 square feet), and Jeffrey Mining in Columbus, Ohio (a redevelopment of 240,000 square feet), and the Corkscrew Mining Company in Estero, Florida.

 

Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Villanova University and a Juris Doctor from Temple University. Mike is heavily involved in philanthropy. Since 2005, he has been a board member of BLOCS, a scholarship organization for underprivileged kids allowing recipients to attend K-12 private schools. Mike has served as chairman of the BLOCS for six years. In addition, Mike founded the Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) to create 70,000 quality seats for low-income and minority children in Philadelphia. Over the span of 10 years, he has raised and invested over $125M for PSP to increase opportunities for 50,000+ kids. He has also served on five private and charter school boards over a 20-year period and received dozens of awards for his work in community redevelopments, historic renovations, and urban philanthropy.