Prior to founding North by Northwest, Dean was a Managing Partner at Canaan Resource Partners where he led the development of novel underwriting models and statistical analyses in the evolving US shale and resource plays. He began his career as a reservoir engineer with Tenneco Oil Company in 1985, and held subsequent positions in technology research and management at Devon Energy during early stage horizontal well development in the Barnett Shale. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College (1985), and an MBA from the University of Texas (1991). He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Oklahoma.