California Cowboy Mark Milano '74: At Home on the Range…
There's a little bit of cowboy in every American. In the case of Mark Milano '74, there's a whole lot of cowboy. This Union alum went West, combining his passion for the outdoors with a successful petroleum business and blazing trails – literally – as a 21st century cowboy and oilman.
These days, you'll find him roaming on horseback, protecting 26,000 acres of ranch land in California's Tehachapi Mountains, while also running his $200 million-a-year company, Paramount Petroleum Corporation.
“My passion for ranching affords me the opportunity to be with horses, one of the most magnificent animals on earth,” he says. “The people I work with are down-to-earth, hard-working cowboys who accept relatively low pay but have great respect for the land, nature, their cattle and their fellow man.”
Milano graduated from Union with a B.S. in chemistry and biology and a love of nature and how the world works inspired by ecology Professor Carl George. Determined never to work in the “big, bad world of business,” he moved to a remote one-room schoolhouse, grew zucchini and did odd jobs.
He admits he was feeling adrift when a friend urged him to apply for a marketing position with Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO).
“I had no business background. ARCO was very understaffed so I wound up with massive responsibilities.” He learned a lot quickly and, to his own surprise, succeeded.
A short stint in ARCO's internal audit department to broaden his business background proved less successful. “I was working at a supervisory level and was very uncomfortable doing auditing. I thought people were mispronouncing when they said 'debit.' I thought they meant debt.”
He earned an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University after returning to ARCO's crude oil and products supply and marketing department. Before long, he took another leap into the unknown when presented with the chance to open a West Coast office of an Enron crude oil trading subsidiary.
“I started with nothing, and it was scary. Fear is a great motivator. It led me to work hard and figure it out.”
In 1993, Milano and three partners purchased Paramount Petroleum of Los Angeles after it had twice gone bankrupt. The former ecology student and reluctant auditor helped grow the company to its current stature as the leading manufacturer and marketer of asphalt for paving and roofing materials in the five western states, with a 55,000-barrel-a-day refinery, more than 400 employees and operations in eight states.
He is proud that the Environmental Defense Fund, not generally considered friendly to refiners, has ranked Paramount one of the nation's Top 10 cleanest refineries for the past six years. This year, the company also received awards on the local, state and federal levels for its outstanding community service.
An avid hiker and fly fisherman in addition to horseman, Milano divides his time between his Paramount offices and his ranch, where he lives with his wife, Jessie, three dogs, some horses and “lots of friends.”
Says Milano, “I love raising cattle, fixing fence, riding and roping, coming full circle to the kinds of things I loved to do before I got my first real job. It's a fascinating piece of American history, but this way of life is dwindling as centuries-old ranchland is sold for commercial development.
“The mystique of the cowboy is very romantic. I wish I had 50 more years to get better at it.”
…And on campus
Mark Milano may have gone West, but his heart remains lassoed by powerful connections made back East. His best friends are roommate Dennis Walker '74 and Dennis' wife, Nancy (Nelson) Walker '74, with whom he has attended College ReUnions. His interest in community involvement began when he and Nancy Walker launched a Big Brothers Big Sisters program on campus. “Union was outstanding for me as a living and learning environment,” Milano said. “I came from a small town and was very shy, but I felt very comfortable in that small community.”