Speakers - CCUS 2026

Abbas Raad

CCS US Gulf Coast Execution & Optimization Manager, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions

Abbas Raad leads the execution and optimization of Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast for ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions business. In this role, he oversees the planning and delivery of CO₂ injection and monitoring wells, as well as the cross-functional integration of Class VI permit submissions for all onshore and offshore CCS projects. These efforts support the decarbonization of third-party emissions sources and existing ExxonMobil assets. Abbas earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from CentraleSupélec in France (2006) and a Master’s degree in Geophysical Engineering from IFP School in France (2008). He joined ExxonMobil in the U.K. in 2008 and has held a variety of technical, strategic, and operational roles of increasing responsibility across the U.K., Angola and the U.S. In 2023, Abbas joined ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions in Houston, Texas as the Execution and Optimization Manager, where he established an organization focused on planning and delivering subsurface development and monitoring programs for Class VI projects. Since then, his team has successfully delivered multiple CCS appraisal wells across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi; submitted various high-quality Class VI permits; and received final permits from the EPA for three injection wells in Texas. Additionally, the team successfully executed the subsurface development for the Texas Rose CCS project and established a robust monitoring program to ensure regulatory compliance and operational integrity

Ahmed Mohamed

Carbon Storage Principal Consultant

Ahmed Mohamed, Ph.D. is a Carbon Storage Principal Consultant at DNV in Houston, Texas, and a subsurface advisor specializing in the technical evaluation and assurance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Over a 20+ year career, Ahmed has led multidisciplinary teams and delivered independent third‑party reviews, technical due diligence, and risk evaluations for CCS and subsurface energy storage opportunities worldwide. His expertise covers the full storage lifecycle, from early site screening, ranking, and data-gap analysis through detailed characterization, capacity and injectivity assessment, containment and fault stability evaluation, geomechanics‑informed injection constraints, plume and pressure management, and MMV plan development.
Ahmed’s recent work includes independent subsurface reviews supporting project decision-making and stakeholder assurance for major CCS initiatives in North America and Europe. He is experienced in aligning technical deliverables with regulatory and standards-based expectations, including U.S. EPA Class VI requirements and ISO 27914/27916 frameworks for geological storage of CO₂. Earlier in his career, Ahmed developed and applied advanced geophysical and reservoir modeling workflows, including geostatistical seismic inversion, pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction, and mechanical earth modeling, to reduce drilling and subsurface development risk. He holds a Ph.D. from Texas A\&M University focused on CO₂ sequestration in saline aquifers and depleted reservoirs.

Ali Tura

Professor, Colorado School of Mines

Ali Tura is Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) with over 30 years of industry experience prior to academia. Dr. Tura was Geophysical Senior Fellow at ConocoPhillips, Geophysical Advisor at Chevron, and 4D subject matter expert at Shell. He has also been part of the global exploration review teams for ConocoPhillips and Chevron. Tura is currently Chief Scientist at Tulip Geosciences consulting on global project reviews and geophysical technology implementation with several energy companies in addition to providing courses. He is also co-director of the industry consortium Reservoir Characterization Project (RCP) at CSM which is entering its 40th year with around 20 industry sponsors. Tura’s expertise is in CCUS, geothermal, oil and gas: reservoir characterization and monitoring, rock physics and AVO, multi-component and time-lapse seismic, borehole geophysics and fiber optics, machine learning, and compressive sensing acquisition and processing. He was SEG Distinguished Lecturer in 2021 and received the Best Paper Award at SEG-IMAGE conference in 2021 (out of over 700 industry/vendor/academia papers). Dr. Tura has been awarded SEG Life Member in 2024. He serves on multiple SEG, EAGE, and SPE technical committees and is actively involved in organizing various international conferences.

Allyson Anderson Book

Chief Sustainability Officer, Baker Hughes

Allyson Anderson Book is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Baker Hughes (NASDAQ: BKR), an energy technology company that provides solutions for energy and industrial customers worldwide. In this role she oversees Baker Hughes’ net-zero strategy by driving sustainable operations, supporting commercial energy transition solutions for customers, and ensuring market creation of these solutions via stakeholder engagement and policy development. Before joining Baker Hughes, Allyson served as the executive director of the American Geosciences Institute, and has held several academic, policy and senior government positions, including working for the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and serving as the associate director of strategic engagement of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Under her aegis, Baker Hughes has been awarded United Nations Global Impact Award in 2024 for its commitment in advancing sustainable development goals. Allyson is frequently covered by media and globally recognized for her contribution to energy transition and sustainability. She was recently honored by Hart Energy as an ‘Agent of Change in Energy’ for its 50th anniversary Hall of Fame series honoring industry pioneers, named “Sustainability Leader of the Year (energy technology) by C-Suite 2024, and was the only CSO to be listed among “Top 10 Energy Leaders in the Americas” by Energy Digital. Allyson was also among top 50 powerful women – Power 50 – by National Diversity Council, honored at one of the largest diversity conferences in USA. In addition, she has been recognized by Petroleum Economist among Top 10 Women Leading Energy Transition in Sustainability and by Oil & Gas Investor as among 25 Influential Women in Energy.

Anna Littlefield

Program Manager, Geothermal and CCUS, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines

Anna Littlefield manages the Low Carbon Energy Program for the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines. With a decade of experience in the energy industry and five years working in carbon capture and storage, she has broad experience in technical and non-technical issues surrounding energy and low carbon solutions. As a current PhD candidate in the Mines geology department, her research focuses on the geochemical impacts of injecting CO2 into the subsurface and optimizing monitoring protocols. Her academic background is in hydrogeology with an M.S. in geology from Texas A&M University, and a B.S. in geology from Appalachian State University. In her role at the Payne Institute, Anna’s research addresses the societal and technical challenges associated with energy development, focusing on carbon management and geothermal technology.

Ashleigh Ross

Chief Commercial Officer, Mote

Ashleigh Ross is a globally-recognized commercial and technical leader with over 23 years of dedication to decarbonization and energy across a broad skillset including strategy, technology, policy, economics, commercial and project development, and deep subsurface expertise. She joined Mote as Chief Commercial Officer to drive cost-effective CDR after her most recent role as Dept of Energy HQ’s Deputy Director of Carbon Management Technologies. Prior to her DOE service, she led Carbon America’s business development, policy, and advocacy efforts to ensure a robust, effective, and efficient landscape for CCS deployment. In previous roles, she was responsible for the development of BP’s CCS strategy and portfolio and served as CCS expert, project developer, and reservoir engineer at ConocoPhillips. Ashleigh has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, M.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. in Technology and Policy from M.I.T. focused on techno-economic based deployment strategies for CCS, and an M.Phil. in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge where she was a Gates scholar.

Aysha Al Marzouqi

Senior Vice President (EOR/CCUS & Water Management), ADNOC

Aysha Abdul Rahman Al Marzooqi is a highly accomplished energy executive with over 24 years of experience in engineering, operations, and upstream leadership. She currently serves as Senior Vice President of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS), and Water Management within ADNOC’s Upstream Directorate, where she leads strategic initiatives to enhance recovery, drive decarbonization, and strengthen reservoir sustainability across ADNOC’s portfolio. Aysha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain and has built a distinguished career marked by operational excellence, transformation, and governance leadership. She was the first female Vice President of Operations across ADNOC Group Companies during her tenure at ADNOC Onshore and continues to actively contribute to the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Throughout her career, Aysha has spearheaded several transformational programs. As Senior Vice President of Terminal and Pipeline Operations, she modernized ADNOC’s terminal operating model and advanced sustainable operational practices. In her earlier role as ADNOC’s EOR Manager, she led the delivery of the company’s first Enhanced Oil Recovery roadmap and established ADNOC’s first EOR R&D Technology Roadmap, fostering strategic partnerships with leading international academic institutions. Her leadership has been widely recognized. In 2020, she received the ADNOC Gender Balance Award for her contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic and for leading the “Daughters of Zayed” initiative. Aysha continues to champion innovation, talent development, and inclusive leadership, contributing to ADNOC’s growth ambitions while reinforcing its commitment to energy security and climate responsibility.

Bailian Chen

Senior Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Bailian Chen is a senior scientist in the Energy and Natural Resources Security Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, specializing in carbon transport and storage. He has authored over 80 publications and delivered more than 30 invited talks/lectures in this field. Dr. Chen is the PI and lead developer of the Unified SimCCS Platform for carbon transport decision-support. Additionally, he serves as an associate editor for the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control and SPE Journal.

Bill Abriel

Consultant

Bill Abriel is an independent geophysical consultant after a 40-year international career with Chevron. He has been SEGs Distinguished Instructor, Distinguished Lecturer, Life member, and past president of the SEG. Presently, Bill’s engagement with SEG is as a board director of the Foundation and in SEG Advanced Modeling Corporation’s (SEAM) as business development manager and project advisor.

Birol Dindoruk

Professor, Texas A&M University, Department of Petroleum Engineering

Dr. Birol Dindoruk is a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University at College Station. Previously he was AADE Endowed Professor of Petroleum Engineering & Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Houston, and before that he was the Chief Scientist of Reservoir Physics and the Principal Technical Expert of Reservoir Engineering in Shell. His technical contributions have been acknowledged with number of major awards during his career including the highest award of Society of Petroleum Engineering, Honorary Member award in 2023. He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for his significant theoretical and practical contributions to EOR & CO2 sequestration in 2017 and in 2025 elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Dindoruk has 28 years of industrial experience, holds a BSc Degree from Technical University of Istanbul in Petroleum Engineering, MSc Degree from The University of Alabama in petroleum engineering and also a PhD from Stanford University in Petroleum Engineering and Mathematics, and an MBA from University of Houston.

Brad Johnston

Analyst, Enverus Intelligence Research

Brad joined Enverus in 2016 where he works as a geologist and research analyst on the Energy Transition Research team. His work covers subsurface models and research focused on CCUS project evaluation, policy and market analysis. Brad previously worked with Enverus on a range of US and international basins, focusing on integrating geological models with basin analysis for product and research. He is based in Calgary.

Bulbul Ahmmed

Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Bulbul Ahmmed is a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He conducts extensive research on subsurface phenomena using numerical modeling and machine learning. His expertise includes CCS, geothermal, contaminant transport, and reactive mixing. As one of the lead developers of SimCCS, he helps develop combining different tools of SimCCS into a unified platform.

Catherine R. Stevens

CCS Regulatory and Compliance Director, Harvestone Low Carbon Partners

Cathy Stevens is the Director of CCS Regulatory & Compliance for Harvestone Low Carbon Partners, serving the Blue Flint, Dakota Spirit AgEnergy, and IBEC Sequester Companies. Ms. Stevens is a recognized oil and gas expert with more than 25 years of experience in petroleum engineering, regulatory, and compliance. She has led the CCS regulatory development and injection well implementation of two carbon capture and storage projects across Harvestone’s operations. With the commencement of CO2 injection operations in Blue Flint in North Dakota, she has applied her deep engineering and compliance expertise to engage successful carbon capture management to strengthen and expand the company’s CCS strategy for its commercial ethanol operations.

Cindy Yeilding

Chair of The Center for Houston’s Future

Cindy A. Yeilding retired as Senior VP of Strategic Initiatives, bp America in 2021; previous roles included Vice President, Gulf of Mexico Exploration & Appraisal, Vice President of Global Basins & New Access and Head of Global Geoscience Technology for bp. Upon retirement, Cindy joined the Board of Directors of Denbury Inc. where she served until their merger with ExxonMobil in 4Q 2023. She is currently the Chair of The Center for Houston’s Future, is on the Board and ExCo of the Greater Houston Partnership and serves as a speaker, author, moderator, and instructor. Cindy chaired the study team for the 2019 U.S. National Petroleum Council report on Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS), and is a co-instructor for the U of H CCUS Executive Education program.
Cindy is past Chair of the Offshore Technology Conference and served on the Board of Directors of BPX&P and bp America. She was BP’s Executive Sponsor for Princeton University and served on the U.T. Jackson School’s Advisory Council. Cindy served as an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer in 2002-2003 and 2022-2023 and was named a “Legend in Exploration” by AAPG. Recently, Cindy co-edited and co-authored the textbook “Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Science, Discovery and Applications (2022).” Cindy earned her MSc in Geology from UNC Chapel Hill after receiving a BS in Geology from SMU.
Ms. Yeilding has also received numerous awards for her leadership in the energy business and geosciences, including being named to Hart Energy’s “Energy Hall of Fame” in 2023. She also received the “Women in Energy Leadership” award from the Houston Business Journal, and has been recognized as one of Houston’s Top 15 Businesswomen by the National Diversity Council, one of Houston’s “50 Most Influential Women” by Houston Woman Magazine and one of Hart Energy’s “25 Influential Women in Energy.” Cindy is active in promoting STEM and women’s education.

Damilola Ajose-Ogunlana

Principal Reservoir Engineer, SLB

Damilola Ajose-Ogunlana is a Principal Reservoir Engineer at SLB Digital and Integration. She has worked with SLB for thirteen years, starting in a customer support role, assisting clients with the SLB simulation products – Eclipse, Intersect, Petrel Reservoir Engineering, Petrel Reservoir Geomechanics teaching various software and technical classes and providing onsite support to several clients. She then moved on to consulting on various integrated projects in conventional and unconventional fields in various North American basins. She has conducted several simulation studies including carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery, waterflood optimization, and well spacing optimization in unconventional reservoirs. Lately she has been involved in several carbon dioxide sequestration studies for clients in Louisiana, East Texas, and Wyoming. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston. She is a registered Engineer in the State of Texas and is certified with the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Danny Kingham

PG, Principal Hydrogeologist, GSI Environmental Inc.

Ms. Kingham is a Principal Hydrogeologist at GSI Environmental Inc. and a licensed Professional Geoscientist in Texas, Louisiana, and New York. She serves on the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists and the Texas A&M Geology and Geophysics Department Advisory Committee, and contributes as a Subject Matter Expert to the ASBOG Council of Examiners. With 20+ years of experience, she focuses on UIC permitting and compliance, environmental litigation support and site investigations, and due diligence. Her expertise includes evaluating and selecting geologic sites for CO₂ sequestration from natural-gas-powered data center operations.

David Cook

Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Coast Sequestration

David Cook joined Gulf Coast Sequestration (GCS) as CEO in 2023. Over his 30+ year career, David served as a chief executive, senior leader, and non-executive board member for international, publicly traded and private companies. A geoscientist by degree, David has held technical, finance and commercial positions supporting oil & gas developments as well as production operations. In his early career he worked along the US Gulf Coast before spending ~20 years with BP (Amoco) in various international and US assignments. Beginning in 2010, David’s renewable and low-carbon portfolio activities grew through C-suite positions in TAQA, Orsted, INEOS and Storegga. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Geophysics and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Michigan State University.

David Hume

Research Manager and Director, University of Houston

David Hume is a Professional Geoscientist and the President of Hume Energy Enterprises LLC, located in Houston, Texas. He also works as a Business Development Specialist, Geoscience Advisor, and part-time Research Manager at the University of Houston. David has significantly influenced the strategic direction of upstream energy and carbon capture projects. His key competencies include senior project management, establishing strategic partnerships, creating revenue-enhancing strategies, and conducting applied research. His achievements are rooted in a collaborative approach combining geoscience expertise with innovative business development practices. Before founding Hume Energy Enterprises LLC, Mr. Hume served as the President of Integrated Reservoir Solutions at Core Laboratories in Houston and as Vice President at Canadian Discovery Ltd. in Calgary. Both companies are global consulting firms specializing in upstream oil and gas and CCUS studies. Mr. Hume holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Alberta and a Certificate of Business Leadership from the Rotterdam School of Business. He is also a board of directors member for the Berg Hughes Center at Texas A&M University. He has long volunteered for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

Don Yezerski

P.G., Lead Consulting Geologist, Gulf Energy Storage Services

As a Lead Geologist with Gulf Energy Storage Services (recently acquired from WSP), Don Yezerski serves as project geologist and manager for industrial clients seeking use of all classes of Underground Injection Control (UIC) wells. Don’s experiences include the feasibility study, siting, and permitting of natural gas storage fields, industrial aqueous waste and acid gas stream disposal, and increasingly, carbon dioxide sequestration.

Erik Scott

Rice University & Vecta Oil & Gas

Erik D. Scott has worked with both major and independent oil and gas companies on a wide variety of exploration and production projects as a senior geoscientist and sedimentological specialist in the onshore and offshore Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, offshore West Africa, Southeast Asia, North and South America and the eastern Mediterranean. He is the Principal Geologist for E&P Geoscience, LLC, an industry consulting group working on hydrocarbon extraction / carbon sequestration activities, and the Chief Geologist for Vecta Oil & Gas based in the Woodlands, Texas generating conventional prospects along the Gulf Coast and across the continental US. Erik is an Adjunct Professor at Rice University where he teaches seismic interpretation, clastic sedimentology and leads field trips in the US and internationally. He received a Ph.D. in Geology from Louisiana State University, studying under Dr. Arnold H. Bouma, with whom he investigated the influence of tectonics and structure on deep water sedimentation based on the turbidite outcrops in the Karoo Basin of South Africa.

Haotian Wang

Associate Professor, Rice University

Bio coming soon.

Jessica Vieira

Reservoir Engineer, SLB

Jessica Vieira is a Reservoir Engineer at SLB. She has worked with SLB for seven years, starting offshore in deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and eventually transitioning to her current role in reservoir engineering. For the past three years, she has provided customer support, assisting clients with SLB simulation products, primarily Eclipse, Intersect, and Petrel Reservoir Engineering, and she has also delivered software trainings. She has been involved in carbon sequestration studies, which included permit writing. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Joe Stefani

Consultant

Joe Stefani was employed by Chevron as an R&D Geophysicist for 37 years, after receiving his Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford. At Chevron he worked on general topics of acquisition, wave propagation and imaging in complex anisotropic media, rock physics and mechanics, and high-fidelity earth model building to benchmark acquisition, processing, and imaging techniques. Before and after retirement he has been involved in most of the SEAM projects since its incorporation, building realistic and rock-physics consistent earth models. For the past three years he has assisted the SEAM CCUS project in model building and seismology.

Joey Minervini

Program Manager, Low Carbon Standards, American Petroleum Institute (API)

Joey Minervini joined API’s Low Carbon Standards team in 2025 to build the new Committee on Low Carbon Standardization (CLCS). He and his team work with industry leaders to advance low carbon technologies and decarbonization through standardization, with a focus on CCUS. Prior to joining API, Joey oversaw the CCS policy and public affairs portfolio in the Americas region at the Global CCS Institute (GCCSI). At GCCSI, Joey also leveraged his CCUS expertise to consult with clients on international CO2 storage projects. Joey was one of 25 energy leaders selected to participate in the inaugural 2023 cohort of the esteemed Energy Generation Leadership Program, and he spent 15+ years of his early career as a geologist in the oil and gas industry, developing international exploration projects for ExxonMobil in Houston and Melbourne, Australia.

Jonathan Ajo-Franklin

Professor, Rice University

Bio coming soon.

Jonathan Rotzien

Basin Dynamics

Jonathan R. Rotzien is President of Basin Dynamics. He has worked in most of the world’s petroleum producing regions and specializes in leading corporate projects, research programs and professional training courses pertaining to oil and gas exploration and production. In addition to his business, he serves in faculty and research roles at University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin, South Dakota Mines and The Drifters Research Group with the Andalusian Earth Sciences Institute. He currently holds consulting appointments with Hot Energy Group (Leoben, Austria) and Subsurface Consultants and Associates (Houston, USA). With over 100 publications including short courses, his most recent works include Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Science, Discovery and Application (Elsevier, 2022), written by 62 authors from 20 countries, and the 2nd edition of The Explorer’s Mindset: Lessons in Leadership in Applied Geoscience and the Energy Industry (Amazon, 2025). He holds a B.A. from Colorado College and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Karen S. Lechtenberg

Sr. Project Manager – Sr. Geologist, Advanced Resources International, Inc

Karen S. Lechtenberg is a senior geologist and Project Manager at Advanced Resources International, Inc (ARI), specializing in subsurface analysis across multiple industries, including geologic carbon storage, oil and gas, geothermal, hydrogen storage, and emerging energy systems. She brings both technical and field operations experience, supporting drilling programs, seismic acquisition, and integrated reservoir studies from concept through execution. Karen has led and submitted multiple Class VI UIC applications across several EPA regions, guiding projects through site screening, reservoir simulation, and regulatory strategy. She is known for translating complex subsurface science into practical, defensible solutions while leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver technically rigorous, regulator-ready projects that advance responsible energy development.

Lianjie Huang

Senior Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Lianjie Huang is a Senior Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University of Paris 7/Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in 1994, following a B.Sc. in Physics (1985) and an M.Sc. in Mathematics (1989) from Peking University. His research focuses on subsurface imaging, characterization, and monitoring for geologic carbon storage and geothermal energy, as well as medical ultrasound imaging for the early detection and characterization of breast and prostate cancers. He has mentored 22 postdoctoral researchers and 24 graduate and undergraduate research assistants. Dr. Huang has authored or coauthored more than 280 journal articles and conference papers. He recently edited an AGU-Wiley monograph titled “Geophysical Monitoring for Geologic Carbon Storage.”

Lily Barkau

Groundwater Section Manager, Water Quality Division, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality

Lily Barkau is the Groundwater Section Manager of the Water Quality Division at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and has been with WDEQ for 20 years. In her current role at WDEQ, she oversees groundwater quality assessments across the State. She worked on the UIC Class VI primacy application with Wyoming, receiving primacy of the Class VI program in 2020. She is a Board Member for the Groundwater Research and Education Foundation and was appointed to the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Federal Lands CCS Permitting Task Force. Ms. Barkau holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Wichita State University and a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. She is also a licensed Professional Geologist in Wyoming.

Lisa Biswal

Department Chair, Rice University

Bio coming soon.

Mark Agnew

Chief Wells and Production Engineer, ExxonMobil

Mark Agnew is the Global Wells and Production Engineering Chief for ExxonMobil, spearheading innovation and execution across drilling, completions, well integrity, and production optimization. He joined ExxonMobil in 1991 and has driven results in technical and management assignments in Wells, Reservoir Engineering, Upstream and Downstream Commercial, and Operations across the USA – including the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and Houston Headquarters and internationally in Indonesia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Appointed to his current role in 2023, Mark continues to shape ExxonMobil’s global wells and production strategy. Mark has been an SPE member since 1986 and currently serves on the SPE North American Advisory Council. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He serves on the University of Texas Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering External Advisory Committee and was honored as a 2025 Distinguished Alumnus of the Department.

Mark Cyffka

Co-founder/Chief Operating Officer, AirMyne Inc.

Mark Cyffka is the co-founder and COO of AirMyne, a company developing low-cost direct air capture technology. Prior to AirMyne, Mark served in engineering and commercial roles at BASF and Honeywell where he led R&D, scale-up, and commercialization for chemical processes used in automotive, energy, and semiconductor applications. Mark uses his background in industrial innovation to lead AirMyne’s day-to-day operations and develop scalable DAC technology for our partners. Mark has degrees in chemistry & business.

Mark Seeley

Geothermal & CCS Supervisor, Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission

Mark possesses over 20 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry across the Rocky Mountain region. He has leveraged his background in project development, strategic and financial planning, and regulatory affairs to transition into the CCUS space. Mark is a leader in establishing Colorado’s carbon capture initiatives, having co-authored Colorado’s Class VI regulations and been involved in laws to establish carbon storage pore space rights, a unitization process, and the formation of the Geologic Storage Stewardship Enterprise Board, among others. His team led the generation and submission of Colorado’s Class VI primacy application, and he contributed to the ECMC study, “CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE: Safety and Impact Considerations from Source to Sequestration.”

Maureen James

Ph.D. Candidate – Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines

Maureen James is a Ph.D. candidate in Geophysics (minor in Petroleum Engineering) at the Colorado School of Mines, specializing in seismic interpretation, borehole geophysics, rock physics, and machine learning for CO₂-EOR and CCS. She is also a graduate intern in the Energy and Natural Resources Security Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the developer of the CO₂-transport FEED module implemented in the Unified SimCCS Platform. Maureen has presented at leading geoscience conferences, served as a Research Fellow to the Colorado State Senate on CCUS and Environmental Justice, and holds multiple awards recognizing excellence in the geosciences.

Melissa Northcott

Principal Geologist, Haas & Cobb Petroleum Consultants

Melissa is a Principal Geologist at Haas & Cobb Petroleum Consultants with extensive experience supporting both traditional oil and gas projects and emerging energy initiatives such as CCUS. She began her career at ExxonMobil before moving into consulting at Netherland, Sewell & Associates, where she developed a broad technical foundation across asset evaluation and development. Her work spans most major US basins as well as several international plays, with technical interests that include sequence stratigraphy, geologic mapping, seismic interpretation, petrophysics and geologic modeling. Melissa enjoys helping clients with reservoir characterization, asset development planning, reserves evaluations, A&D support, and Class VI permitting and CCUS development. She holds a Master of Science in Geological Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Geology from Brigham Young University.

Michael Edwards

Founder, Edwards Energy Innovation (EEI) Consulting, LLC

Michael Edwards serves on a number of non-profit and technical industry boards in a variety of leadership capacities. She has over 35 years of experience in the Energy sector, including roles in the energy service sector and bp. Her background stretches from current leadership roles in corporate risk, strategy, global policy to past roles in field operations in wells, seismic processing, logging, flow assurance, engineering, major projects, technology innovation, communication, and marketing. She helps organizations implement strategic plans, while maintaining safety, policies, and compliance. She also fosters business distinction by driving technology innovation, enhancing operational safety, and supporting reliable long-term energy strategies. She has been an industry strategist leading bp real-time operations, drilling automation strategy, and global external engagement strategy to ensure alignment with industry standards and global policy. She serves and recently published with the SPE CO2 Storage Work Group “Lessons from Managing Competitive Cross-Industry Technical Collaboration”. She also built with the chair and leads the SPE Well Integrity Technical Section, global regional liaison network with 8 regional liaisons engaging on regional and global learnings and solutioning for well integrity asset risk. She worked on the “Future of Work” project for IOGP and serves on other boards with IADC and ASME. She holds certifications in emergency response, maintains non-profit board positions, and holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology with a minor in Robotics from Texas A&M, postgraduate studies in business, along with several patents and publications.

Michael McGuirk

Associate Professor, Colorado School of Mines

Michael McGuirk is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Colorado School of Mines. His laboratory’s research is focused on materials chemistry, with the applied motivation of remediation of environmental pollutants, such as carbon dioxide.

Mike Fehler

Consultant

Michael Fehler received the Ph.D. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1979. He has been with the College of Oceanography at Oregon State University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he was a Leader of the Geophysics Group and later the Division Director of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division. He later was a Senior Research Scientist at MIT. He was Technical Project Manager for two completed projects run by the SEG Advanced Modeling Corporation and is currently leading one that is focused on carbon sequestration. His research interests include seismic imaging, reservoir characterization, seismic scattering, geothermal energy, and induced seismicity. He has coauthored two editions of a book on seismic wave propagation and scattering and subsequently one on borehole seismology. He has authored or coauthored more than 125 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Fehler was the President of the Seismological Society of America from 2005 to 2007. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America for nine years.

Moises Velasco-Lozano

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Moises Velasco-Lozano is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), specializing in reservoir modeling and fluid transport in porous media. He earned his Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. His research integrates numerical simulation, mathematical modeling, and machine learning to study the movement of fluids and solutes in the subsurface, developing innovative solutions for tracer transport in multiphase flow conditions. At LANL, his work focuses on advancing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. He contributes to the design of CO₂ pipeline networks using the SimCCS platform, applies machine learning for subsurface modeling with deep learning methods, and supports risk assessment efforts related to CO₂ leakage.

Mrinal Sen

Professor, University of Texas Austin

Mrinal Sen is a professor in the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences and the holder of the Morgan J. Davis Centennial Chair in Geosciences. He is a specialist on seismic wave propagation including anisotropy, Geophysical inverse problems, and methods for constructing synthetic seismograms in heterogeneous media.

Nathan Robinson

Principal Geologist, Sempra Infrastructure

Nathan Robinson is a Licensed Professional Geologist with more than ten years of experience in carbon capture and underground injection projects. He is currently Principal Geologist at Sempra Infrastructure, where he leads Class VI permitting and subsurface development for major CCS initiatives, including Hackberry CCS—the first project in Louisiana to receive a Class VI injection permit. Before joining Sempra, Nathan held senior technical roles at Shell, managing CO₂ storage projects like Quest and assessing large-scale storage opportunities across North America. He earned his B.S and M.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of South Carolina.

Qaraman M. Hasan

Research Scholar, University of Houston Law Center

Dr. Qaraman Hasan is a Research Scholar at the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC). He teaches and instructs courses in environmental and energy law and coordinates with the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Center (EENR) co-directors to supervise the center’s activities. At the university level, Dr. Hasan is collaborating with the University of Houston Energy team, which encompasses several disciplines, to publish regulatory papers and law review articles on major legal issues in the US. Previously, Dr. Qaraman Hasan was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. At SAIS, he worked on and supervised several energy projects in major oil- and gas-producing countries.
Dr. Hasan studied a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in law at Te Piringa – Faculty of Law at the University of Waikato. He also holds a double master’s degree in international law and international relations from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Over the last decade, he taught several law courses, including Environmental Law, Business Law & the Legal Environment and Corporate Entities in the U.S., New Zealand and the Middle East. He is actively researching and publishing on energy law, environmental law, energy and resources policy. Dr. Hasan has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles in highly ranked journals, including Energy Policy, Resources Policy, and Energy Research & Social Science, as well as law review publications. This includes a forthcoming article in the Harvard Environmental Law Review. He has received over 185 citations. He contributes significantly to legislative affairs, teaching, and research at UHLC and the university level.

Romain Prioul

Geosciences Research Director & Scientific Advisor, SLB

Romain Prioul is Geosciences Research Director and Geomechanics Scientific Advisor at Schlumberger-Doll Research center in Cambridge, MA. He obtained his Ph.D. in geophysics from Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France. At SLB, Romain has held a variety of technical and managerial positions leading projects on geomechanics, sonic applications, and hydraulic fracturing modeling. He currently manages a team of researchers focused on providing solutions to CO2 geological storage challenges, with an emphasis on geomechanical challenges for containment integrity. Romain is also the current Vice President of the American Rock Mechanics Association.

Ross Harrison

Reservoir Engineer, ComboCurve

Ross is a geologist by background currently working as a Reservoir Engineer in Market Analysis at ComboCurve, Inc. He previously spent more than five years at Oxy, including time in the Permian EOR business unit managing Conventional CO₂ Assets and working on MRV applications. Following his time at Oxy, Ross worked in energy investment banking on the technical teams at Truist Securities and J.P. Morgan Chase, supporting upstream and midstream transaction advisory.

Sahar Bakhshian

Assistant Professor, Rice University

Bio coming soon.

Samuel Krevor

Professor, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London

Samuel Krevor is a Professor and a Shell Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Earth Science & Engineering at Imperial College London. He leads the Subsurface CO2 Research group which investigates the physics of reactive flow in porous rocks, reservoir engineering, and resource use and scaleup in application to subsurface CO2 storage. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.

Sanjay Srisnivan

Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Sanjay Srinivasan is a professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at Penn State University. Srinivasan’s primary research focus is in the area of petroleum reservoir characterization and improved management of reservoir recovery processes.

Sarah Saltzer

Managing Director, Stanford Center for Carbon Storage

Dr. Sarah Saltzer is the Managing Director of the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage. She is also a member of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) Non-Federal Lands Task Force. Sarah spent 25 years at Chevron where she held a series of scientific, managerial, and executive roles. She has a diversity of experience in positions of increasing responsibility, including geology research and teaching, petroleum engineering, leading exploration teams, competitor analysis and business planning and strategy. Dr. Saltzer holds a M.S. and B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Sherilyn Williams-Stroud

Professor of Practice, Director, Berg-Hughes Center, Texas A&M University, Department of Geology & Geophysics

Sherilyn Williams-Stroud is a Professor of the Practice and Director of the Berg-Hughes Center in the Geology & Geophysics Department at Texas A&M University. She is a structural geologist with over 30 years of experience in industry, academia, and government, specializing in geological analysis and interpretation of induced seismicity during underground injection for energy applications. Her research applies to energy applications that range from fossil fuels production to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Striving to integrate complex technical studies into relevance for public stakeholders, she leads an NSF-funded effort to establish a TAMU-led research center to assess the global potential for safe subsurface storage of energy-related fluids. She was awarded Honorary Membership in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and was an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer, has served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on Seismology and Geodynamics, and was a member of the National Petroleum Council’s Coordinating Subcommittee for the study on greenhouse gas emissions in the natural gas industry, CH4arting the CO2urse.

Stephanie Nwoko

Senior Geomodeler, Gulf Coast Sequestration LLC

Stephanie Nwoko is an energy technical professional with 23 years of experience working across global basins in Africa, the North Sea, South America, and the United States. She currently works with Gulf Coast Sequestration, where she leads CCUS project implementation, geological evaluations, geomodelling efforts, and contributions to Class VI permit applications. She holds a Global Executive MBA from IESE, an M.S. in Petroleum Geoscience from Royal Holloway, a B.S in Geology from University of Port Harcourt and a certificate in Reservoir Geomechanics from Stanford University. An active AAPG member since 2015, Stephanie has served on multiple technical program committees, including ACE (IMAGE) and ICE, and previously as AAPG Executive Secretary. She also volunteers with the SPE Gulf Coast Section and mentor’s students through SEG’s EVOLVE Program.

Travis Hurst

Director Carbon Storage, Carbon TerraVault

Travis Hurst is a geoscientist with seven years of experience in carbon management at Carbon TerraVault. As the Class VI permitting lead, he has prepared and submitted multiple Class VI applications and successfully guided them through every stage of the regulatory process—including technical review, public comment, and final permit issuance. Travis brings deep subsurface expertise, practical project experience, and a strong track record of working with regulators to advance safe, commercially viable carbon storage projects.

Wenfeng Li

Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Wenfeng Li is a staff scientist at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory and an adjunct professor in the Department of Mineral Engineering at New Mexico Tech. He earned a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston. His research interest includes geomechanics, fluid flow in porous media, and coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) processes with applications in underground mining, geothermal, subsurface storage of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications. He is the key developer for SimCCS-SAFETY tool.