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Chris Kendall Chris Kendall Chris Kendall was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Denbury Inc. and a member of Denbury’s Board of Directors until its merger with ExxonMobil in November 2023. Chris joined Denbury as Chief Operating Officer in September 2015, was named President in October 2016, and was appointed as a Director and CEO in July 2017. Prior to joining Denbury, Chris was with Noble Energy for 14 years, where he held a wide range of international and domestic leadership positions, primarily in the Eastern Mediterranean, Latin America, and the Gulf of Mexico. Chris began his career at Mobil Oil Corporation in 1989. Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Civil Specialty, from the Colorado School of Mines and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He is also a member of the National Petroleum Council. Denbury Inc.
Amanda Raddatz Amanda Raddatz Amanda Raddatz currently serves as the Director of Carbon Transport and Storage in the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. She has contributed to a wide variety of carbon management activities for the past 10 years, including site characterization, Class VI permitting, monitoring, and risk management. She has had the opportunity to support the planning and development for CCS sites on 5 continents. Amanda has a M.S. in Geology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, U.S. Department of Energy
Charles McConnell Charles McConnell Charles McConnell is the energy center officer of the Center for Carbon Management in Energy at the University of Houston. During 2011-13, he served as the assistant secretary of energy in the US Department of Energy and was responsible for the Office of Fossil Energy’s strategic policy leadership, project management, and R&D of the department’s coal, oil, and gas programs. He also previously served as vice president of Carbon Management at Battelle Energy Technology and with Praxair, Inc. serving as the global VP of energy and hydrogen. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MBA in finance from Cleveland State University. University of Houston CCME
Erik D. Scott, PhD Erik Scott Erik Scott Ph.D. Geologist with over 25 years of experience who strives to accurately characterize the subsurface with an appreciation for all associated uncertainties. Dr. Scott is a Recognized industry expert in clastic sedimentology across all depositional environments - fluvial, shoreline, eolian, shallow marine,slope and deep water systems. Expert in geologic analysis of seismic data and integrated petroleum systems evaluation. He has global experience evaluating hydrocarbon systems from prospect maturation to exploration/appraisal drilling and through development/production in basins across North & South America, North Sea, Mediterranean, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Dr. Scott has expertise in peer reviews and assists evaluating all aspects of the petroleum system, volumetric inputs/calculations and geologic risk assessment. He is an active coach and mentor of all experience levels of technical staff both informal and formal. • Short course instructor on seismic interpretation and sedimentological stratigraphic evaluation. • Workshop leader on core analysis, dealing with geologic uncertainty. • Field trip leader to reservoir analog outcrops worldwide. Rice University and Vecta Oil & Gas
Oumer Tahir Oumer Tahir Overall, 18 years of collective experience of working for Weatherford (Field Operations) and Hunting Energy Services (Technical Sales and BD). Oumer is currently covering Middle East, Africa, and CIS Regions for Well Construction (OCTG) and wider product portfolio of Hunting which includes Organic Oil Recovery (MEOR), Well Testing, Subsea, Titan (Energetics), PCE and Thru Tubing segments. Oumer is also a key member of Energy Transition team within Hunting Energy Services primarily focusing on critical CCS and high enthalpy Geothermal wells globally. Oumer has a BSc Mechanical Engineering degree from UET Lahore, Pakistan. He serves as Chairperson for SPE Northern Emirates Section in Dubai, UAE. Oumer has authored SPE Papers and is an active member of technical committees for ADIPEC, GoTech, ATCE, IPTC and OTC. Father of two and loves playing squash and golf. Hunting Energy Services
Fred Majkut Fred Majkut Fred Majkut has been Sr. Vice President of Carbon Solutions for SLB since July 2022, looking after the global CCUS business for SLB. In that role, he oversees business development, engineering, commercial offerings and strategic investments. Prior to taking that position, Fred was the Director of Marketing and Strategy for SLB in the Asia Basin. In that role, he led the crafting and deployment of SLB’s corporate strategy in the Asia region. He also served as Executive Sponsor of Schlumberger Asia Sustainability Committee. Over the last 23 years, Fred has gone within SLB through a number of operational, technical and managerial positions in the United States, France, Central America, North Africa, Middle East and Asia. In 2014, he was appointed as Global Vice President for slickline services. He subsequently took over the role of Vice President for Well Intervention services in Asia, before becoming Vice President for Well Services in Middle East & Asia. From 2017 to June 2020, he oversaw all production business lines of SLB in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Fred graduated in 1999 with a Masters degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, with honors. SLB
George Koperna George Koperna Mr. George J. Koperna Jr., Vice President with Advanced Resources International, Inc. is a recognized expert in CO2 applications, for both storage and EOR, in addition to the areas of unconventional reservoir and residual oil zone engineering. He leads international standards development, as the US Head of Delegation and CO2-EOR Working Group Convenor for ISO Technical Committee 265: Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport, and Geological Storage, and with the SPE working towards the development of the CO2 Storage Resources Management System. A past International Board Member for the SPE, he holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Petroleum Engineering from West Virginia University. Advanced Resources Int'l Inc
Sam Krevor Sam Krevor Samuel Krevor is a Reader and Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow in Carbon Sequestration in the Department of Earth Science & Engineering at Imperial College London. He leads the Subsurface CO2 Research Group where their work is focused on understanding the migration and trapping of CO2 underground, and the technical and economic limitations to scaling up to gigaton per year injection rates. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, and was a 2022/23 SPE Distinguished Lecturer. Imperial College London
Sandhya Sundar Ram Sandhya Sundar Ram Sandhya, in her current role as Senior Front-End Development Manager for CCS US Growth Projects leads all technical scope on capture, transport (pipeline and barging) and sequestration across several projects in the US portfolio. This includes execution and delivery of sub surface storage exploration and appraisal well drilling, data, seismic, and acquisition & pipeline feasibility while optimizing on cost and schedule. She also leads Value risk assessments for technical solutions from origination to final investment decisions (FID) as member of Americas CCUS Business Opportunity leadership team & Global CCS Team for Project Development and Subsurface. Sandhya is married with 2 sons and loves to spend any spare time traveling as a family back to India and other places in the world. Shell
Rawdon J. H. Seager Rawdon Seager Rawdon Seager is a reservoir engineer with over 50 years of experience in the international oil and gas arena and has carried out numerous field studies, reserves assessments, and asset evaluations. Throughout his career, Rawdon has been deeply involved with the proper evaluation and reporting of oil and gas reserves and resources using the Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) and other standards, a subject on which he provides clients with advice and training. His current focus is on the application of the SRMS to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and in assessing the impact of carbon pricing on the estimation of reserves. He has worked on several projects that involve an assessment of storage capacity, including preparation of Class VI well applications, and is using that understanding and current experience to offer training on the proper interpretation of the SRMS. He is based in Houston, Gaffney, Cline & Associates’ western hemisphere headquarters, where he is Chief Reservoir Engineer as well as Global Director of Quality Assurance. Gaffney, Cline & Associates
Nicholas Fulford Nick Fulford Nicholas Fulford trained as an engineer and has spent his career focused on the natural gas value chain before more recently focusing on the Energy Transition and carbon management. Nick spent much of his early career with British Gas/Centrica and in the 1990s was instrumental in the restructuring of the gas and power sectors in the UK, which he then developed in a US and Canadian context after managing the acquisition of Direct Energy. A deep involvement in the LNG sector has provided Nick with a practical understanding of the complexities of project structuring, transfer pricing, and risk allocation along the value chain, which he has recently been applying to the emerging business models associated with CCUS and related carbon pricing and credit revenues. His current focus is advising clients on the economic and commercial risks associated with CCS, and how these can be appropriately managed between the emitter, the transmission and storage entities, and major lenders who are now seeking to deploy capital in the industry. Gaffney, Cline & Associates
Shuvajit  Bhattacharya Shuvajit Bhattacharya Dr. Shuvajit Bhattacharya is a Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin. He has expertise in petrophysics, quantitative seismic, and machine learning applications. Prior to joining BEG, he worked at the University of Alaska and Battelle. He develops and applies new concepts and workflows in petrophysics and seismic to better understand the subsurface rock types and predict rock matrix and fluid properties. He has completed petrophysical analysis for many CCS projects in the Gulf Coast, Midwest, Northeast, and Alaska. Apart from CCS projects, he is actively involved in many oil and gas, geothermal, and hydrogen storage projects. He received the J. Clarence Karcher Award (2022) from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists for significant scientific contributions. He completed a Ph.D. in Geology from West Virginia University in 2016. BEG, University of Texas at Austin
Blake Mock Blake Mock Blake Mock has a combined 18 years of operational and sales experience within the oil and gas industry. He attended Austin College in Sherman, TX, where he graduated with a Business Administration degree and was captain of the varsity football team. From there, he went straight into the field working for Multi-Shot as an MWD technician and was then promoted to MWD Coordinator. Blake then began his journey in sales with NOV Coring and then founded Canamera Coring in 2013, where he is now the US Sales Manager and has over 14 years of experience in coring. Canamera Coring
Ryan Rupert Ryan Rupert Ryan Rupert is a technical sales and business development specialist with 13 years in coring and drilling services. He has played an integral role in the execution of hundreds of conventional coring projects and horizontal well drilling operations. Ryan has represented Baker Hughes, MS Directional, and Canamera Coring in client-facing and leadership roles. Ryan is well versed in downhole operations, with coring experience in nearly every explored US basin, wildcat projects, CCUS, and geothermal applications across numerous target formations. Canamera Coring
Susan D. Hovorka Susan Hovorka Dr. Susan Hovorka is a sedimentologist who has worked on CCS at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences since 1998. She has been a lead in monitoring designs for early experiments and demonstrations and commercial EOR and saline storage projects. She has been active in evolution of the permitting mechanisms and development of ISO standards. She has been active in public outreach throughout her career. Gulf Coast Carbon Center/BEG, University of Texas at Austin
Carlos Alberto Uroza Carlos Uroza Carlos A. Uroza is a senior geologist with more than 20 years of industry experience in oil and gas. He worked for Haliburton Consulting Middle East, Equinor/Statoil Exploration Offshore Mexico & GOM USA, ConocoPhillips Exploration Nigeria & GOM USA, and Pdvsa Exploration & Production Eastern Venezuela. He has a MSc in Geology from Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia) and a PhD in Geology from The University of Texas at Austin. Carlos is a Sedimentologist & Stratigrapher by background, and from February 2022 he has been working at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center (Bureau of Economic Geology, Univ. of Texas at Austin), focusing on evaluation of geological sites for CO2 sequestration along the Gulf Coast area, USA. BEG, University of Texas at Austin
Daisy Gallagher Daisy Gallagher Daisy is a Senior Geologist with more than ten years of consulting in Underground Injection Control (UIC) regulatory permitting for Class I (hazardous/nonhazardous) and Class VI (carbon sequestration) injection wells at the state and federal levels. She is Project Lead for direct consulting on over six Class VI permit submittals currently under review at the federal level. Daisy is responsible for application development, technical team optimization and development, business development for CCS/CCUS projects, and integration of industry specialists with regulators. Geostock Sandia, LLC
John Howard John Howard John A. Howard serves as Vice President – Sales of Altus Well Experts, Inc. which was created by key former Enertech engineers after the non-completes expired from selling the company to Halliburton in 1996. Altus is a tightly focused well tubular design consultancy, with registered office in Houston and registered branch in Aberdeen, UK. Enertech developed the Industry Standard for Casing and Tubing Analysis (WellCat), which is still the standard in 2023. John has taught Casing and Tubing Design and engineering presentation in over 30 countries on 6 continents. Guest Lecturer at Universities in 4 countries, Co-authored numerous technical papers including presenting the "History, Evolution, and Future of Casing Desing Theory and Practice" at the SPE-ATCE 2021 in Dubai. Altus Well Experts
Albert McSpadden Albert McSpadden Albert McSpadden serves as President of Altus Well Experts as well as coordinating the Altus team effort to develop advanced engineering models, launch new software and expand elite consulting services. Albert has nearly 2 decades of research, consulting, teaching and evaluating WellCat and other industry software packages. Albert has numerous SPE papers and has served in several positions as part of the SPE ATCE Technical Program Committees. With Masters degrees in both mathematics and computer science from Texas Tech University, he previously worked at Coiled Tubing Engineering Services (now NOV CTES) to develop and implement simulation models for engineering job design of coiled tubing, wireline, and drill pipe in well intervention operations. Altus Well Experts
Ruggero Trevisan Ruggero Trevisan Ruggero Trevisan has serves as Vice President — Europe of Altus Well Experts since August 2015, and October 2009–August 2015 was Senior Engineer. Ruggero’s experience includes consulting work for various Operating Companies including Shell, TotalEnergies, ConocoPhillips, bp, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Maersk, Hess, Chevron, Chrysaor, Harbour Energies, JX Nippon, LLOG, Murphy, Talisman, Tullow Oil, Oasis Petroleum, Premier Oil, Baker Hughes, Sakhalin Energy, Woodside Energy, Ormat, PDO, NCOC, KPO, Storengy. He has extensive consulting services and expertise in oil and gas, CCS, and Geothermal well design applications. Ruggero is co-author of numerous technical papers including “History, Evolution, and Future of Casing Design Theory and Practice” [SPE-206183-MS], ”Wellhead Movement Analysis With A Finite-Element Model For Well Integrity Assessment Of Complex Configurations” [SPE-199606-MS], Friction Load Redistribution for Robust and Cost Efficient Design of Extended Reach and Horizontal Well Completions [SPE-178905-MS]. Altus Well Experts
Alexander Pearsall Bump, PhD Alexander Bump Dr. Alex Bump is a geologist with broad experience in both CCUS and in the petroleum industry. He held a variety of exploration roles over 16 years with BP, including Advisor in Structural Geology and Head of Discipline for Exploration Structure and Tectonics. He has worked over 50 basins on five continents and taught courses in exploration and structural geology to hundreds of geoscientists in BP and partner companies and universities. Since joining the Gulf Coast Carbon Center in 2019, he has focused on adapting petroleum exploration workflows to defining, screening, and de-risking storage sites for CO2. He has authored groundbreaking work on site screening, confinement, and storage play concepts. BEG, University of Texas at Austin
Nicole Parra Nicole Parra Nicole Parra spent ten years, working for U.S. Congressman Cal Dooley, was elected to the California State Assembly, and appointed to the Business, Transportation and Housing agency by Governor Schwarzenegger. Parra graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Economics and in 1998 earned a J.D. from the Catholic University School of Law. Currently, Parra is the Vice President, Community Affairs, for California Resources Corporation. In August, CRC announced that the CRC California DAC HUB was selected to receive $11.8 million funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Parra was honored to lead the development of the Community Benefits Plan. California Resources Corporation (CRC) and Carbon TerraVault (CTV)
Gregory Schnaar Gregory Schnaar As a fellow at the U.S. EPA Dr. Schnaar was a key member of the regulatory development team for the UIC Class VI rulemaking, and as a consultant he supported U.S. EPA in development of the Class VI technical guidance documents and early Class VI permit application reviews. He has since supported several Class VI permit applications, MRV plans and CA Air Resource Board LCFS CCS site certification applications, has developed models in support of CCS projects, and implemented CCS monitoring programs. He is an Associate Editor for Groundwater journal, and has taught courses at the University of Maryland, College Park and George Washington University. Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc.
Claire Nelson Claire Nelson Claire is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Cella, the first US-based carbon mineralization start-up. She is a geochemist with expertise in basalt chemical weathering, aqueous geochemistry, and secondary mineral formation. She earned both an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where her field-based research focused on basalt weathering in Iceland. She then held a position as a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University where she developed novel injection methods to optimize the efficiency of geochemical carbon storage in unconventional reservoirs. Spun out of this research, Cella is currently working on demonstrating the technology at a field scale through the world's third in-situ mineralization pilot project. Cella
Autumn Haagsma Autumn Haagsma Autumn Haagsma is the Director of the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education and Assistant Director of the Michigan Geological Survey. She is responsible for leading research, team building, conducting outreach and engagement, and mentoring and training students. Prior to her current role, Autumn was a lead geologist at Battelle focusing on CCUS research including reservoir characterization, 3D modeling, risk assessments, data analytics, and outreach. Autumn is also a PhD candidate at Miami University, earned her M.S. in geophysics from University of Minnesota, and B.S. in geology and physics from Central Michigan University. Michigan Geological Survey
William V. Maloney Bill Maloney Bill Maloney currently serves on the Energy Advisory Board of the University of Houston and is an Executive Advisor for Balex Technologies. Bill is also on the Corporate Advisory Board for AAPG and is former chair of AAPG's Sustainable Development Committee. Bill retired from Equinor in 2015 where he was Executive Vice President, leading Development and Production North America. In this capacity he played a key role in Equinor’s Corporate Executive Committee and was Equinor’s senior executive in North America. Before retiring from Equinor, Bill served on the National Petroleum Council and was a member of the board of API. After retiring from Equinor Bill served as an energy advisor for Warburg Pincus from 2015 - 2020. Bill also was on the board of Trident Energy from 2016 - 2021. Balex Technologies
Ross Ingram Harrison Ross Harrison Ross Harrison, Geologist, Energy Investment Banking, Truist Securities Ross Harrison holds a BA in English from TCU, a BS in Geology from LSU, and an MS in Geology from TCU. Ross worked as an undergraduate student supporting various modern siliciclastic projects related to the Mississippi River Delta and Louisiana Gulf Coast at the LSU Coastal Studies Institute while at LSU and completed a depositional study on the coal beds in various formations of the coal-bed methane producing Raton Basin while at TCU. Ross interned with Oxy in 2017 in the Permian EOR Business Unit and worked in the Permian EOR group from 2018-2023 in various roles. In his time at Oxy, Ross worked on multiple projects oriented around Carbon Management, including the writing of (and receiving approval for) two new MRV programs in the Permian Basin. He has recently transitioned to working in the Energy Investment Banking group at Truist Securities. Ross served as Technical Development Chair and then President of Oxy’s Early Career Network from 2022-2023 and functioned as co-leader with friend and fellow geologist Mattie Reid for Houston Geological Society’s Grand Canyon Field Trip in the Summer of 2023. Ross enjoys doing anything in the sun, running, climbing, fishing, mountaineering, reading, and learning. Truist Securities
David Mannon David Mannon Mr. Mannon is CEO of IPT Well Solutions an oil & gas and industrial consulting company which provides reservoir, geologic, environmental and compliance, drilling and completion engineering and logistical expertise in the execution of oil & gas, wastewater, geothermal, solution mining, and carbon storage programs. Previously, Mr. Mannon was President and CEO of Stallion a remote accommodation, surface equipment, communications provider serving customers in upstream, downstream and industrial sectors in U.S. and international areas. Previously, Mr. Mannon was the President and CEO of Parker Drilling (NYSE: PKD) a global land and marine energy service company providing high-performance contract drilling solutions, drilling rigs, rental tools and project management services to the energy industry. Prior to 2009, he was the President and COO of Parker and from 2005 to 2007 he was Sr. VP and COO. Prior to Parker Drilling, Mr. Mannon held the positions of president and chief executive officer of Triton Engineering Services Company, a subsidiary of Noble Drilling Corporation. Noble Corporation is a global drilling contractor providing both bottom supported and floating drilling rigs. From 1980 through 1988, Mr. Mannon served as a drilling engineer for Sedco-Forex, now Transocean, a global offshore drilling company specializing in both bottom supported and floating drilling rigs. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston. He is on the Advisory Board of FlexGen Power Systems, which develops innovative power equipment products for military, oil and gas, marine, mining, and industrial operations. IPT Well Solutions
Traci Denise Rodosta Traci Rodosta Traci Rodosta is a Senior Program Manger for Carbon Storage Infrastructure, in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM). She joined FECM in February 2020 as the Critical Minerals Program Manager in the Minerals Sustainability Division. Prior joining FECM, her career included seven years as the Carbon Storage R&D Technology Manager at the National Energy Technology Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Storage Program. Over her 15 year career at NETL, Ms. Rodosta was also the Director of the Carbon Storage Division, Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Coordinator, and project manager in the Storage, Natural Gas and Oil Project Management Divisions and Office of Systems Analysis. Before starting her tenue with the Federal government, she worked for Texaco and Chevron Oil Companies as both a development and exploration geoscientist on domestic and international assets. Ms. Rodosta received her B.S. degree from Louisiana State University in Geology & Earth Sciences/Geosciences and her M.S. degree from the University of New Orleans in Geology and Earth Sciences/Geosciences. Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, U.S. Department of Energy
Nihal Darraj Nihal Darraj Nihal Darraj is a CCS Researcher at Imperial College London, working on Shell digital rock project. Her work focuses on carbon dioxide geological storage. She brings over 7 years of international experience in the oil and gas industry in reservoir geomechanics, drilling waste management, and environmental-related petroleum engineering consulting. Nihal is member of the group of experts on energy efficiency with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe UNECE. She is the lead author of the UNECE brief on decarbonization of energy-intensive industries, launched in COP27. She holds an MSc degree from Imperial College London in petroleum engineering and a BSc degree in natural gas and petroleum engineering from Alexandria University. Imperial College London
Syrie Crouch Syrie Crouch Syrie Crouch is an experienced energy professional with 30 plus years of experience in the major International Energy Industry. Including governing Capital Investment for the global CCS project portfolio, including Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Direct Air Capture (DAC_and lowering carbon intensity products.   Syrie worked at Shell for over 30 years. Where she fulfilled multiple roles, most recently as the VP CCS where she worked across the Upstream, Downstream and Integrated Gas Directorates to support their Net Zero Emissions (CCS, DAC, biofuels, blue hydrogen and sectoral decarbonisation ambitions). In this role Syrie was responsible for resetting Shell’s CCS strategy and then building a team and the capabilities to deliver on it. The CCS team was responsible for working with multiple governments and regulatory bodies around the world to deliver CCS regulations and legislation to ensure it is effective and works for both industry and Government bodies. Syrie brings a fairly unique skillset in this space having managed a global portfolio of CCS projects but with a foundation in having actually delivered a working CCS project, as she took the Quest project in Canada through a public hearing and to FID in 2012, this project started-up in 2015 and has now injected over 8 million tonnes of CO2. She also has experience at the VP level for both Exploration and Development where she was a member of Shell's Upstream International Operated Leadership Team responsible for Development, including all activities between discovery and production. Syrie is also a volunteer speaker for STEM learning events.    Syrie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology from the University of Exeter and a Masters degree in Mineral Exploration from Imperial College London. She is an intensely curious individual who loves the challenge of a project and business delivery and is happy working with and through others to deliver a portfolio of projects and provide solutions in the Energy Transition space. Xiron Global
Ola Miljeteig Ola Miljeteig Ola Miljeteig is currently Vice President for CCS Solutions within Equinor’s Technology, digital and innovation business area. His responsibilities cover research, technology development and technology implementation within CCS value chains – including CO2 capture, transport, storage and monitoring. He also has several external roles in the CCS space, amongst others as Chair of the Board for the Norwegian CCS research centre, and the as Chair for IOGP’s CCS committee. Mr. Miljeteig holds a Master’s degree in Petroleum Technology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and has spent his career working for Equinor as an engineer and leader within field development, operations and R&D. Though most of his career has been related to hydrocarbons, the last years have been dedicated to solving challenges and pursuing opportunities within CCS value chains. Equinor
Diana Grauer Diana Grauer Diana K. Grauer, Ph.D. is a technical and management consultant for the oil & gas and energy technology industries. She currently serves as Director of R&D in NOV and as an Advisor to multiple startups. Diana was formerly Chief Technology Officer of Ocean Aero, a startup in the Blue Economy and offshore technology space. She has also held various technical leadership roles at TechnipFMC, Hoerbiger, and Schlumberger, Cameron, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Diana serves on the Subsea Systems Institute at University of Houston, the Center for Marine Robotics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Business Plan Competition at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, and the Industrial Advisory Committee for the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Kansas State University. Diana holds a Master’s Certificate in Venture Capital from University of California at Berkeley, as well as both a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University where she graduated with honors. NOV
Hayley Ryan Hayley Ryan Hayley Ryan is the Infrastructure Lead focusing on carbon capture and sequestration in the Americas for ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions business. Using her midstream background, Hayley is developing the infrastructure needed to facilitate the energy transition. She sits on several industry committees and is the co-chair for API’s Low Carbon Energy Infrastructure Subcommittee. Prior to her current role, Hayley worked in ExxonMobil’s pipeline business as a field engineer, integrity engineer, operations supervisor, and business development lead. Hayley is an Industrial Engineer with a BS from the Georgia Institute of Technology. ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions
Diana Ortega Diana Ortega Diana Ortega serves as Business Director at Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) - Permian Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). In this role, she strategically drives business unit growth through asset optimization and capital investments. Since joining Oxy in 2003, Diana has held various positions in the USA and Colombia, accumulating over 10 years of leadership experience. Her proven record includes managing technical projects from concept to completion across Operations, Engineering & Construction, Asset Management and Development within the Oil & Gas industry focusing on CO2 & Water Flood assets. Diana holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and minor in Business from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia Oxy
Roberto Pérez Roberto Pérez Roberto Pérez is a senior geophysicist with more than 20 years of industry experience in oil and gas. He worked for Petrobras since 2003 through several operational, technical and positions in Brazil and Peru. Roberto is currently member of Energy Transition Division team focusing on CCUS. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, MSc in Civil Engineering from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and MBA in finance from COPPEAD. Petrobras
Alicia Summers Alicia Summers Alicia Summers is a founding partner and Chief Development Officer for Frontier Carbon Solutions, a portfolio company of Tailwater Capital. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Frontier’s focus is to provide full turnkey solutions to CO2 emitters through the development of safe and secure carbon capture and storage. Through the development of their first open-source CO2 storage hub in Southwest Wyoming, the Sweetwater Hub is expected to be one of the largest storage hubs in the U.S. Frontier was the recipient of the state’s first three Class VI permits in the Sweetwater Hub. At Frontier, Ms. Summers leads the subsurface reservoir and Class VI permitting efforts and was instrumental in drafting and executing the State of Wyoming’s first pore space agreements. Prior to Frontier, Ms. Summers was a partner at Open Water Capital Partners, an investment platform that focused on transitional energy opportunities. Before her time at Open Water, Ms. Summers helped to build an oil and gas investment team at ORIX Corporation USA. Ms. Summers has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas as Arlington and acquired her subsurface experience and expertise during her 17 years at NSAI, one of the top petroleum consulting firms in the world. There she conducted oil and gas resource assessments, reserve evaluations, equity redeterminations and field studies on oil and gas fields worldwide. Frontier Carbon Solutions
Carolyn Seto Carolyn Seto Carolyn Seto investigates the role of technology and innovation in enabling competitive differentiation in the energy sector—from how firms source technology to how they leverage value from their technology development efforts. Recent research includes analysis of the implications of open innovation on the energy technology development landscape and the intersection of technology, policy and commercial strategy in advancing CCUS. Ms. Seto also manages the CERAWeek Energy Innovation Pioneers program, where she tracks emerging energy technology trends and identifies promising startups developing game changing innovations to feature at CERAWeek. Prior to S&P Global, Carolyn has a diverse set of experiences across from across the entire energy value chain, in both technical and commercial capacities—from managing the quantitative fuel analytics group for Edison Mission Marketing and Trading to working as a reservoir engineer for BP, Shell and Chevron. She holds PhD and MSc degrees in petroleum engineering from Stanford University and a BSc in engineering chemistry from Queen’s University. S&P Global Commodity Insights
Brendan Cooke Brendan Cooke Brendan Cooke is a Senior Analyst on Rystad Energy's CCUS team where he is responsible for research covering the North American Carbon Capture and Storage market. In addition to CCUS, he has held prior roles working in energy policy research and major project delivery in the oil and gas sector. Brendan holds a bachelors degree in energy management and a MSc in sustainable energy development from the University of Calgary. Rystad Energy
Erik Funkhouser Erik Funkhouser Erik Funkhouser currently serves as the Managing Director of the Carbontech Development Initiative within Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. With over ten years of experience in energy, climate, emerging technologies, economic research, and public policy development, his work focuses on policy tools for market development, market transformation, and policy-directed research, development, and demonstration (RD&D). Before joining Columbia University, Erik held the position of Director for Research Coordination and Partnerships at the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute (UTEI), where he oversaw RD&D programs and external engagement. Prior to that role, he worked as a research scientist at UT-Austin within the Energy Systems Transformation (EST) group. Additionally, he contributed to market performance and evaluation research at the New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy
Karen Suzanne Lechtenberg Karen Lechtenberg

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