2018 ETVF Agenda and Speakers

Eric Toone

Dr. Eric Toone received his doctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1988 and completed post-doctoral studies with Professor George Whitesides at Harvard University. He began his independent career at Duke in 1990, and is currently Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry. Professor Toone has authored over 220 original papers, reviews, book chapters and abstracts in physical organic and biophysical chemistry. He is also listed as an inventor on more than 20 patents in a range of biomedical fields and is a scientific founder of three research-based pharmaceutical companies, Aerie Pharmaceuticals, a publically-traded ophthalmology (glaucoma) company, Vindica Pharmaceuticals, focused on the therapeutic administration of nitric oxide, and Valanbio Therapeutics, developing novel antibiotics for Gram-negative organisms. From 2009 to 2012 Professor Toone was detailed to the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). During that time, he served both as Program Director and Deputy Director for Technology before leading the Agency in 2012. Professor Toone returned to Duke in 2013 and served as Vice Provost and Director of the Duke University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, an initiative designed to foster entrepreneurship across the entire university community, until May 2017. Dr. Toone is currently the Executive Managing Director for Technology at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, $1 Billion investment fund of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of the world's most influential leaders assembled by Bill Gates to advance clean energy technologies.

Luis Alcoser
Venture Principal at BP Ventures

Luis Alcoser is the Upstream Ventures Technology Manager for the BP Ventures Team where he leads origination of and investment in novel upstream technologies which may have a significant strategic impact to BP, as well as facilitates their testing and deployment for the past 6 years. Prior to joining BP, Luis spent 15 years holding various upstream technical, operational and management positions globally with Shell, Noble Energy, Chevron and Schlumberger leading development projects in conventional and unconventional plays across the continental U.S., deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Israel, Russia, Malaysia, Equatorial Guinea and Angola. Luis has a B.S. degree in Natural Gas Engineering from Texas A&I University, an M.E. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University as well as an MBA and Master of Finance degrees from Tulane University as well as a Law Degree (J.D.) from the University of Houston. Luis currently is a director on the boards of Xact, Silicon Microgravity & BISN.

Tom Ambrose
Partner at Black Bay Energy Capital

Tom is a Partner at Black Bay, where he serves on the firm’s Investment Committee and oversees Black Bay’s efforts in sourcing investments, executing transactions, monitoring active portfolio companies and strategy. Prior to co-founding Black Bay, Tom was a Vice President at NGP ETP, where he was responsible for sourcing investments, transaction analysis and execution, and monitoring portfolio companies in the oilfield service and technology sector. Prior to joining NGP ETP in 2011, Tom served as the Senior Analyst for Halliburton Co.’s in-house M&A and Corporate Development group. While at Halliburton, Tom worked on a number of strategic acquisitions and transactions across the range of Halliburton’s product and service offerings, as well as corporate strategy projects sponsored by the executive team. Tom holds a B.S.M. in Finance and Economics from Tulane University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a Distinguished Scholar’s recipient, along with an Energy Specialization from the Tulane Energy Institute. He is currently a board member of ADS Services, SCS Technologies, Signum Instruments and Wellsite Fishing & Rental Services and is a board observer of Zahroof Valves.

Kemal Anbarci
Managing Venture Executive at Chevron Technology Ventures

Kemal Anbarci is the managing venture executive for Chevron Technology Ventures. He is responsible for oversight of all venture capital activities in Chevron and using venture capital as a conduit to integrate new technology solutions into company operations. During his more than 27 years with Chevron, Kemal has held a variety of upstream responsibilities in field development, reservoir engineering, corporate and strategic planning, non-operated joint venture management, business development and technology management. He earned a master’s degree in operations research and holds a doctorate and master’s in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He also holds an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

Guillermo Borda
Senior Advisor at Mercury Fund

Guillermo Borda is a Senior Advisor at Mercury, where he counsels the investment team on best practices in team building, fund management and capital formation strategies. Guillermo is an experienced venture capital and private equity professional having spent most of his career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in California and Texas. Prior to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Guillermo started his career with Citigroup in New York City. Guillermo has held a variety of venture capital and private equity roles, including managing capital via large fund-of-funds for the four largest public pension funds in the US. Guillermo’s expertise centers on raising institutional capital, investing in venture and private equity funds and directly in portfolio companies, as well as coaching and supporting CEOs, company builders, and management teams in creating valuable enterprises. He has been a board member of various venture and private equity funds. Guillermo received an MBA and B.S. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and is also a graduate of the Venture Capital Institute.

Dan Carter
Investment Director at Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures

Daniel has over 23 years of experience financing and investing in the energy sector across the value chain. He has been Investment Director at Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV) for over 5 years responsible for growth equity and venture capital investments in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors for Aramco, as well as commodity trading. Daniel started his career at Salomon/Citigroup for 8 years in the Investment Banking Division, advising utilities and renewable companies, as well as power generation OEMs (in London, Frankfurt, Australia and NYC) and co-founded the Energy Technology investment banking practice. Prior to SAEV, he worked 9 years in a venture fund focused on energy efficiency with investors including Goldman Sachs, Shell, Kuwaiti Petroleum Company. Daniel holds MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School and is President of the Columbia Business School Club of Houston. He is Chair of the SPE GCS Investment & Finance Initiative.

Kirk Coburn
Venture Principal at Shell Technology Ventures

Kirk is a member of the team at Shell Technology Ventures (STV), Shell's corporate Venture Capital fund. He has over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur and over 7 years as a venture capitalist and early-stage angel investor. Prior to Shell, Kirk was the founder and managing director of SURGE Ventures, a mentor-driven accelerator and seed stage venture fund. During this period, he led the investments into over 45 technology companies solving problems across the energy value chain including oil & gas, cleantech, power, energy efficiency, and horizontal applications that reach across. Under his leadership and direction, SURGE recruited more than 200 industry-leading scientists, investors, policymakers, customers, and entrepreneurs to serve as mentors. SURGE was repeatedly recognized globally as one of the top startup programs and early-stage investment funds.

George Coyle
Managing Partner at Energy Innovation Capital

George is one of the longest-tenured venture capital investors in the Energy technology industry. He founded and led three corporate venture capital groups: ConocoPhillips Technology Ventures Investments, Energy Technology Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures, the longest running corporate venture capital program in the Energy industry. George served as the President and CEO of DeepFlex Inc., a VC-backed energy tech company. He previously worked in Exploration & Production leadership roles at Chevron. George holds an MBA from Tulane University, a M.S. in Geology from the University of Kansas and a B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of New Orleans.

Antony Croston
Business Group Director at Trelleborg

As the Business Group Director at Trelleborg Offshore’s operation in Houston, Antony is responsible for the externally-facing functions of the business covering engineering, business development and project management. He has worked a total of nine years with Trelleborg and had a five year spell at Wood Group, where he managed the drilling engineering consulting business for the Americas. Throughout his career, Antony has led the delivery of a number of new technologies to the drilling and subsea markets. His primary focus is the alignment of internal competences and investment with the needs of customers, within the context of a broader strategy based on product leadership. Antony holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Loughborough University, an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, and is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Krishna Danda
Energy Investments Team at GE Ventures

Krishna Danda is part of the GE Ventures Energy Investments team. Previously, Krishna was an engineer and consultant before getting his MBA at Chicago Booth. After school, he spent several years at JP Morgan before joining GE Ventures.

Al Denson
CEO at Hunter Oil

Mr. Denson is the CEO of Hunter Oil Corp, a TSX-V listed company with oil assets in the Permian Basin’s northwest shelf. He has over 40 years of US and international experience in the areas of exploration, production, acquisitions and sales, joint ventures and strategic planning. Prior to joining Hunter as a Director in 2014, Mr. Denson was COO and Partner of White Stone Energy, LLC. At White Stone he redeveloped, operated and sold energy assets in multiple basins across the US. Mr. Denson began his career with Amoco Production where he served in various engineering and management roles in the US and internationally over a twenty-year tenure. These roles included Vice President for Amoco Egypt, President of Amoco Bolivia, and Chairman and CEO of Empresa Petrolera Chaco, S.A. (a public Bolivian corporation). Mr. Denson earned a BS and MS in Petroleum Engineering from Mississippi State University. He is a member of the SPE and is a Registered Professional Engineer.

Sean Ebert
Partner at Altira

Sean's career in oil and gas has spanned more than 25 years and included consulting and operational leadership roles. His current/representative former portfolio company directorships include: Agile Upstream,Infrastructure Networks, TransZap/Oildex (Chairman), Syntex Management Solutions, Austin Geomodeling (Sold to SeisWare in 2015). As a Principal at Booz Allen, he focused on advising oil and gas companies and private equity firms on portfolio strategy, new business model development, and capital investment decisions. He was the winner of Booz Allen’s Professional Excellence Award (highest professional honor). As CEO of Foresight Weather, he managed P&L through a successful product development phase and go-to-market initiative focused on load management and power/gas trading and managed pursuit of private and venture investment. As Project Engineer at El Paso Energy, Sean managed due diligence process for pipeline system acquisitions. He was responsible for pipeline design, construction, and operational management for natural gas network. He received his MBA, University of Texas and a BS Civil Engineering, University of Texas.

Hossam Elbadawy
Managing Director of SCF Ventures and Technology Partner at SCF Partners at SCF Ventures

Hossam Elbadawy is the Managing Director of SCF Ventures and Technology Partner at SCF Partners. Prior to joining SCF, Hossam founded O&G Technologies, a Houston based technology incubator focused on the oil and gas industry. He has over 24 years’ experience in the energy sector, technology development, and commercialization. Hossam has served as Senior Operating Partner at Lime Rock Partners and as CEO of Tercel Oilfield Products. Prior to these roles, Hossam spent nearly 17 years at Schlumberger where he served as Vice President of Manufacturing as well as managed the company’s leading-edge Rosharon Technology Center and the Houston Product Center. Hossam received an MBA and Masters in Engineering Management from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ain Shams University.

Hani Elshahawi
Digitalization Lead - Deepwater Technology and Principal Technical Expert - Formation Testing and Sampling at Shell

Hani Elshahawi is Deepwater Digitalization Lead and Formation Testing and Sampling Principal Technical Expert at Shell where he has spent the last 16 years. A GameChanger by heart, Hani previously led FEAST-Shell’s Fluid Evaluation and Sampling Technologies center of excellence and Deepwater Technology Advisor. Prior to Shell, Hani spent 15 years with Schlumberger in over 10 countries in Africa, Asia, and North America during which he has held various positions in interpretation, consulting, operations, marketing, and technology development. He holds several patents and has authored over 150 technical papers in various areas of petroleum engineering and the geosciences. He was the 2009-2010 President of the SPWLA, recipient multiple SPE and SPWLA awards and a distinguished lecturer for both societies.

Michael Firmian
Technology Manager – Composite Materials and GOM at Subsea 7

Michael holds a master’s degree in offshore engineering from University of Centrale Marseille, France. He joined Subsea 7 in Paris, as a project engineer. In 2008, moved to Subsea 7’s Houston office where he is still based today. He worked on a variety of deep and shallow water projects, designing, analyzing and following up the offshore installation of various components and methods. He covered the majority of aspects which make up the SURF (Subsea Umbilicals Risers and Flowlines) sector. In 2015, he moved into Subsea 7’s technology group, of which he is the GOM regional manager. He is also in charge of composite material developments on a global level.

John Gibson
Chairman, Energy Technology at Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company

John Gibson currently works with Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company as Chairman, Energy Technology. He spent the first ten years of his energy career working for Gulf/Chevron. Gibson has lead efforts in exploration and production, upstream research, oil field services, environmental services, digital energy solutions, and investment banking. This experience supports his current focus on the development, adoption, exploitation and valuation of energy related technologies. He is a former President and CEO at Landmark Graphics, Paradigm Geophysical, Tervita and Halliburton. Gibson currently serves as a Director of Orocobre Limited, a Director of I-Pulse Inc., on the University of Houston’s Energy Advisory Board, the visiting committee of the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, advisor to Cottonwood Venture Partners, and the USC Global Energy Network Advisory Board. Gibson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Auburn University and a Master of Science in Geology from the University of Houston.

Aziz Gilani
Managing Director at Mercury Fund

Aziz Gilani is a Managing Director at Mercury, where he focuses on investments in enterprise SaaS, Cloud and data science startups. Prior to joining Mercury, Aziz was a Senior Engagement Leader with Infosys Consulting, an early executive at ABB Performance Services, a Senior Consultant at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and an Analyst at Lotus Development Corp. Aziz received his BBA from the University of Texas where he was a TILF Scholar, and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management where he was an FC Austin Scholar. Outside of Mercury, Aziz serves in advisory roles for Knight Foundation, the Mayor of Houston’s Tech and Innovation Council, Seed Accelerator Rankings, and SXSW Interactive. He is also an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business where he teaches a course on venture capital.

Jessica Jackson
Manager - HSE Global Services, Crisis Management & Security at Murphy Oil

Jessica Jackson is a senior management professional at Murphy Oil Corporation with more than 10 years’ experience in driving strategic HSE, Crisis Management and Security programs with a global reach. Her vast experience in the public and private sectors include the execution and sustainment of domestic and global programs in North America on shore and offshore, Malaysia, Australia, Africa, Brazil, and Mexico. Jessica’s multi-faceted and multi-national experience gives her a unique knowledgebase regarding regulatory and compliance requirements. Ms. Jackson has a proven track record effectively managing and mitigating the complex field of blended threats in an ever-changing global industry. Prior to joining Murphy, Jessica held positions within local and state government agencies with concentration in disaster response, including major hurricanes, terrorism incidents, regional mass evacuations, and pandemic. Ms. Jackson was chosen by the Houston Business Journal as a 2016 Top 40 Under 40 recipient and nominated for Women to Watch in Energy. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Policy and Political Science from the University of Houston.

Brendon Keinath
Flow Assurance Team Lead, Materials, Corrosion and Flow Assurance at ExxonMobil Upstream Research

Brendon Keinath is the Team Lead of the Flow Assurance Section at ExxonMobil’s Upstream Research Company (URC). After receiving his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineer from Union College he worked in the steel industry for ThyssenKrupp AG. He then received a doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology through the Sustainable Thermal Systems Laboratory. He joined ExxonMobil URC in 2012 and has lead the Flow Assurance Research Program for the past two years. During this time he has had the opportunity to take concepts in the chemical, hardware and software space to field applications globally.

George King
Consultant, Formerly at Apache

George E. King is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas (2012) and Oklahoma (1977) with 47 years oilfield experience since starting with Amoco Production Research in 1971. He is Apache Corporation’s Distinguished Engineering Advisor, providing training and engineering support on field-based problems. His technical background includes research on energized fracturing, workovers, chemicals, well integrity, horizontal well completions and unconventional formations. Publications includes over 80 presented and published papers, book chapters and articles. His education includes Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and a masters in Petroleum Engineering from University of Tulsa (1982). He taught petroleum engineering classes as an adjunct professor for eleven years at University of Tulsa from 1988 to 1998, while working for Amoco.

Christy Lan
Petroleum Engineer at the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement

Christy has worked the Minerals Management Service / Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement for 13 years. Christy started off in the Technical Assessment Section in the Gulf of Mexico Regional Office reviewing Deepwater Operations Plans and new technology proposals. Christy has also held positions in the research branch and as the Chief of the Standards Development Section. She is currently working in the Houston Engineering Technology Center as a subsea production specialist focused on High Pressure High Temperature policy development and permit approval and also on policy development for renewable energy. Prior to working at BSEE, Christy worked for both Marathon Oil and GE. Christy graduated in 2003 from the University of Kentucky with a bachelors in Chemical Engineering.

Antonio Lepe
Investment Associate at Repsol Energy Ventures

Antonio developed a career as a researcher for more than 16 years across the value chain in the O&G sector, either in Downstream or Upstream. He joined Repsol Energy Ventures with the goal of supporting Repsol innovation and excellence strategy through venture capital investments. Circular Economy, Advanced Materials, Advanced Mobility, Energy Transition, Reliable Operations and E&P Technologies are the active Search Fields of the Corporate Fund. Antonio is continuously searching for startup companies able to provide with cutting-edge technologies for the Energy current and future business models.

Samantha Lewis
Director of the GOOSE Society of Texas

Samantha Lewis is Director of GOOSE Society of Texas. Samantha's passion is helping fellow entrepreneurs and building the Houston start-up ecosystem. Before attending Rice Business school, she successfully started two ventures, one of which she recently exited. The other company, New Mexico Green Chile Co, generates over $3 million in annual revenue and boasts of customers like Torchy’s Tacos, HEB, and Trader Joe’s. Samantha is the Director and Venture Associate at the GOOSE Society of Texas: a super angel investment group that has invested over $40 million in start-ups and has had 5 successful exits. Her responsibilities include portfolio management, due diligence, deal sourcing, and operations for the group. During her time at Rice Business, she helped launch two tech start-ups, worked with a start-up private equity firm, participated in the Rice Alliance accelerator OwlSpark and interned at Station Houston. Samantha pitched at five business plan competitions including the Rice Business Plan Competition and the Rice Launch Competition where her start-up, Trace Matters, won the $10,000 first place prize. She received the Texas Business Hall of Fame Scholarship, the National Association of Women MBA’s Scholarship, and the Jones Citizen Award. Her peers elected her as Alumni Class Ambassador for the full-time Class of 2017. Her favorite position at Rice, though, was as President of the Rice Business Wine Club where she launched the inaugural Rice Business Wine Tasting Competition.

Sha-Chelle Manning
Director, Technology Alliances and Ventures, Pioneer Natural Resources

Sha-Chelle Manning is the Director of Technology Alliances and Ventures for Pioneer Natural Resources, a leading Fortune-500 independent U.S. shale oil and gas production and exploration company. Previously, Manning developed and lead Pioneer’s Innovation Program for five years, and under her leadership, her team developed and drove technology innovations that have helped made Pioneer a leading Independent in the “Shale Revolution.” Manning is on the Board of IAMCI Institute Board, a $240M partnership with DOE, Ford, and Lockheed for advanced manufacturing. Manning is an elected Board Executive for the Tech Titans Board Committee, Texas’ largest trade member organization. Manning served eight years on the Board of Astrotech Corporation preparing and sending satellites, cargo and science into space. Manning was co-founder of Malibu IQ, a $22M investment partnership with HRL (GM’s and Boeing’s Innovation Lab), a Managing Director for a nanotechnology cleantech venture fund, and appointed two terms by Secretary Perry to the $480M+Texas Emerging Technology Fund. She founded a consulting firm, Blueview, and has served clients such as Lockheed Martin, TAMU System, etc. on strategy and business development harnessing analytics, advanced materials, and manufacturing. Early in her career, Manning was a key leader in of two entrepreneurial successful start-ups; Authentix (acquired by the Carlyle Group) and Zyvex, a nanotechnology company. Manning holds an MBA from University of Dallas.

Michael Ming
Oklahoma Secretary of Energy (former)

C. Michael Ming formerly served as the Marketing and Technology Vice President Executive Liaison for Baker Hughes, a GE company at the company’s Oil & Gas Technology Center in Oklahoma City. He formerly served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy under Governor Mary Fallin, the President of the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, RPSEA, and as an independent natural gas producer as a Managing Member and principal of K. Stewart Energy Group and K. Stewart Petroleum Corp. He holds a BS degree with distinction in Petroleum Engineering and an MS degree in Engineering Management, both from Stanford University, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Oklahoma. At Stanford Mr. Ming is an emeritus member and past Chairman of the Petroleum Investments Committee and co-sponsored the MAP/Ming Visiting Professorship on Energy and the Environment. He also currently serves on the Oklahoma Business Roundtable Executive Committee, and the Central Oklahoma United Way and OKOGA Boards of Directors, and industry advisory boards at the University of Texas BEG, Oklahoma University, and Tulsa University. He formerly served on the MIT Future of Natural Gas Study, as an adjunct professor in Energy Management at the University of Oklahoma, on the Stanford School of Earth Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board, and as an oil & gas strategic planning advisor to the Department of Energy.

Stuart Morstead
Oklahoma Secretary of Energy (former)

Stuart has a 25+ year career as a high tech entrepreneur and enterprise counselor. He brings hands-on experience as a veteran co-founder of two high tech services companies and a deep appreciation of the challenges of managing complex enterprises. Most recently during a decade + career at McKinsey & Company Stuart had operational responsibility for McKinsey’s technology practice in the Southern US and Northern Latin America where he worked extensively with leading Oil & Gas and high tech clients. He holds a BA in Economics from Rice University and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. He is also a former Adjunct Professor in the Jones School of Business at Rice University and the author of two books on outsourcing.

Nii Nunoo
New Technology Design Engineer at NOV

Nii Ahele Nunoo is currently a New Technology Design Engineer at National Oilwell Varco. His current focus is designing smart drilling tools/data acquisition systems to help optimize the drilling process. In the past the contributed in the Asset Management/Field Operations group at National Oilwell Varco. His oilfield career started in 2012 designing and qualifying electronics on projects for high shock, high pressure, and high-temperature downhole drilling tool applications. His focus and expertise are downhole drilling tools used for closed-loop automation, downhole tool development and new product development. He earned his BS in Electronic Engineering from Minnesota State University and is currently pursuing an MBA from Duke University – Fuqua School of Business with a concentration in Energy finance.

Hesam Pahani
Lecturer, Entrepreneurship at Rice University

Hesam Panahi is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in entrepreneurship and design thinking. He is also a faculty member at Rice University’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) and a mentor at Station Houston. Prior to Rice, Panahi was a clinical assistant professor at University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business, where he taught courses in management information systems, computer science, industrial design, and entrepreneurship. While at the University of Houston, Hesam also founded RED Labs, the University of Houston’s startup accelerator and technology entrepreneurship program. He holds a Ph.D. and Bachelors of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Houston.

Gabriella Rowe
CEO at Station Houston

Gabriela Rowe is an experienced business leader and innovation strategist, currently serving as the CEO of Station Houston - a growing hub for startup technology companies, corporate innovation and entrepreneurship. Prior to Station Houston, Rowe was the Director of Project Management and Corporate Development at Nord Anglia Education. Beyond education, Rowe is a champion of the growth and success of Houston. Currently, she is the chair of the Learning Committee for Houston Exponential, a member of both the Greater Houston Partnership’s Economic Development and Trade Committee and the Greater Houston Partnership’s Executive Women’s Committee, while also serving as a board member of TXRX Labs and First Tee of Greater Houston.

Ira Samm
Innovation Fund: EPC Value Integration Manager at Bechtel

Ira Samm, a member of Bechtel’s Corporate Innovation Team, combines real world experience gathered from some of the world’s harshest locations with business-oriented creativity. He is currently opening an innovation center in Santiago, Chile for Bechtel’s global mining & metals operations. He is professionally intrigued with: governance & fairness, simulating the cost of randomness in sequences; accounting’s influence on culture; automating coordination, distribution, & planning systems; and the multidimensional data structure of capital project management. Ira joined Bechtel in 2001 as a piping field engineer on the Magnolia Power Project. Since then, he has held field and office roles associated with project controls, design engineering, procurement, contracts, construction, and commissioning. He holds the following academic degrees: Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering - Tulane University Master of Science, Construction Management - Purdue University Master of Science, Finance - Indiana University.

Art Schroeder
CEO of Energy Valley and Principal and Cofounder of Safe Marine Transfer

Art co-founded Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT) in 2013 and founded Energy Valley, Inc., in 2001. Prior to Energy Valley, he spent 25 years in upstream operations, engineering, construction, strategy development, and crisis management with Amoco and then BP. Art also has served on numerous professional, corporate, and civic boards and has published over 100 technical papers. Additionally, he is the recipient of numerous awards including, OTC’s prestigious Special Citation, SPE’s Management and Information Award and has been granted patents on his innovations. Art graduated from Georgia Tech with both a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering, and from the University of Houston with an MBA, major in Finance and International Business. He has also completed several post graduate certificate programs and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.

Cindy Yeilding
Senior Vice President at BP America

Cindy Yeilding is currently Senior Vice President, BP America. Previous roles include VP Gulf of Mexico Exploration & Appraisal, and Global Geoscience Research and Technology Manager for BP. Cindy earned her MSc in Geology from the University of North Carolina after receiving a BS in Geology from SMU. Cindy has served as an American Association of Petroleum Geologists Distinguished Lecturer and was named a “Legend in Exploration” by AAPG. Cindy is currently the Vice Chair of the Offshore Technology Conference Board of Directors and serves on the Board of Directors of BPX&P. She is BP’s Executive Sponsor for Princeton University and is a member of the Greater Houston Partnership Board of Directors. Cindy also serves on the Advisory Board for the Jackson School, University of Texas and the Executive Board of Dedman College, Southern Methodist University. Cindy is active in promoting STEM education and conceived of and implemented the OTC Energy Challenge in 2017. Cindy has been recognized as one of Houston’s Top 15 Business Women by the National Diversity Council, received a “2016 Women in Energy Leadership” award from the Houston Business Journal and was named one of Houston’s “50 Most Influential Women of 2016” by Houston Woman magazine.