Ray Hatch is currently retired but, was formerly the vice president of corporate development for Berry Petroleum Company, a professor of physical science and math and member of the Taft College board of trustees, and a former mayor and council member of the Taft city council. Ray has lived in the Taft area off and on since 1943. He left in 1961 to finish college in Texas and then pursued a career with shell Oil before returning in 1978. Over the years, Ray has visited the Carrizo Plain numerous times in the past 60 years and took an interest at past Carrizo Plain Advisory Committee meetings.
Mr. Hatch obtained an associate degree from Taft College, a bachelor's degree in chemistry from North Texas State University, and a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Utah. ray lives in Morro Bay.
