Our Team
With over 60 years of combined field experience, Aeon’s three full-time experienced permitted paleontologists and our management team have advised, developed, and undertaken over 500 projects in Western Canada. From historical resources overviews, fossil impact assessments, and multi-year monitoring programs, our team has successfully worked with all major resource sectors.
Michael G. Riley
President & Senior Paleontologist
Master of Science (Systematics & Evolution), University of Alberta
B. Comm. (Major in Finance), University of Alberta
Michael Riley founded Aeon Paleontological Consulting Ltd. in 2004 and has been working in paleontology since 1996. He has specialized and worked extensively as a professional paleontological consultant throughout the province of Alberta for the last six years. He maintains paleontological permit-holding status throughout western and northern Canada. During his career, he has successfully worked with a diverse range of clients and stakeholders (including construction, petroleum, and large-scale mining industries, academic communities, provincial and federal governments, and landowners) while maintaining the highest standards in client care, research, report writing, and health and safety.
Since founding Aeon, Michael has designed, implemented, and overseen all aspects of paleontological project management and independently assessed, written, and submitted hundreds of reports. These reports include overviews, pre-impact assessments, field monitoring programs, post-impact assessments, and final reports for various research, oil and gas, mining, construction, and land development projects. He has also enjoyed the opportunity to collect, prepare, identify, and catalogue fossil specimens from provincial and international localities and to use his diverse and award-winning teaching and presentation skills at the university level in education and administrative roles.
Chris L. Schneider
Senior Geologist, Project Paleontologist
P. Geol., APPEGA Ph.D. Geology (Paleoecology), University of Texas
B.A. Geology and Anthropology (Archaeology), University of Minnesota
Chris received two Bachelor of Arts degrees in geology and archaeology from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in paleoecology. After finishing her Ph.D. with honours, she held several postdoctoral fellowships and visiting professor positions in the U.S. before moving to Alberta.
Chris initially worked as a carbonate geologist for the Alberta Geological Survey, specializing in the stratigraphy and karst of the Devonian in northeast Alberta and is one of the co-authors of the bedrock geology map of Alberta. As an adjunct professor at University of Alberta, she began research into the Devonian paleoecology of western Canada: a time rife with mass extinctions and biotic-driven global environmental changes. She transitioned into consulting on Devonian stratigraphy in core and outcrop for industry while her research expanded to conservation paleobiology, the study of ancient changes in the biosphere as examples to assist with present-day and future conservation efforts. Chris has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students in paleontology and carbonates, authored multiple peer-reviewed papers and government reports, and is co-author on two books on conservation paleobiology. Her third book is currently in progress: a solo-authored work titled Surviving Mass Extinction. Chris maintains an active research programme and student mentorship despite the high demands of employment in paleontological and stratigraphic consulting.
James Campbell
Project Paleontologist
Ph.D. (Evolutionary Biology), University of Calgary
M.Sc. (Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoecology), Carleton University
B.Sc. (Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoecology), Carleton University
James Campbell joined Aeon as a Project Paleontologist in 2021. Since then, he has worked on numerous pre-impact, monitoring, and post-impact programs for oil and gas, construction and development projects across Alberta. Through these experiences, he has collected, identified, and catalogued diverse fossil floral and faunal assemblages, as well as more recent post-glacial material. He has also contributed to the research and writing of the associated reports.
James specializes in Cretaceous-aged fossils. He completed his B.Sc. on microfossils (foraminifera) from northern Yukon in 2011. Hs M.Sc. was on a systematic re-evaluation of the horned dinosaur Chasmosaurus from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. During his Ph.D., he described and named a new non-marine plesiosaur (Fluvionectes) from southern Alberta, and helped collect and describe the oldest dinosaur skeletal remains found in western Canada. He has participated in paleontological and geological (gold and iron exploration) fieldwork across Canada and Mongolia, and has worked in desert, badlands, alpine, and arctic settings. He has published 10 papers, delivered over 35 conference and guest lecture presentations, and has eight years of experience as a university-level teaching assistant.
Natalia Riley
Office Manager
B.Sc. (Environmental Biology), University of Alberta
B.Ed., Distinction (Biological Sciences/Physical Sciences), University of Alberta
Natalia Riley has been Aeon’s office manager since 2004. Her role is to assist in all aspects of paleontological historic resources report preparation and lead health and safety administration/development. Natalia studied paleontology during her B.Sc., successfully completing an undergraduate thesis on Pliocene pine cones from the Yukon.
She has contributed to a wide variety of paleontological field and assessment work throughout Alberta. She has also worked in an ecological capacity in consulting, government, and NGO environments — performing surveying, reporting, public and school outreach programs. Other projects have included teaching, working as an interpreter and as a writer.
Georgia Hoffman
Affiliate
P. Geol., APPEGA
Master of Science (Biological Sciences), University of Alberta
B.A. (Geology), University of Pennsylvania
Georgia Hoffman began her paleontology career at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 as an assistant curator of the geology department’s collections. She participated in fossil collecting at sites in Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Her interest in paleontology continued to grow during her career as an industrial geologist, leading to a Master’s thesis from the University of Alberta on Tertiary fossils from central Alberta. As a professional paleontological consultant, Georgia has wide-ranging experience in preparing paleontological reports, field surveys, impact assessments, and monitoring programs for the oil and gas and construction industries throughout Alberta. She continues to hold Permits to Excavate Paleontological Resources at several localities in Alberta for research purposes.
As an industrial geologist, she has centered her career on coal and oil sand deposits, but has also included experience with base and precious metal deposits, petroleum and natural gas, and a variety of industrial minerals. Activities have ranged from all aspects of data collection in the field (geological mapping, drilling, geophysical surveys, geotechnical data collection, etc.), to interpretation of the resulting data, deposit modeling, and participation in mining feasibility studies.