Keynote & Plenaries

Steven Lynch
Chief of Advanced Reactor Policy Branch
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Biography: Steven Lynch is the Chief of the NRC's Advanced Reactor Policy Branch, which is responsible for developing regulatory frameworks, including guidance and rulemaking efforts, for advanced reactors. Recent efforts have included developing policy papers addressing key issues associated with establishing a technology-inclusive regulatory framework for commercial nuclear plants and micro-reactors. Previously, Mr. Lynch was a senior project manager in the Non-power Production and Utilization Facility Licensing Branch, which is primarily responsible for the licensing of non-power reactors and medical radioisotope facilities. For nearly a decade, Mr. Lynch coordinated the NRC’s licensing of facilities intending to produce molybdenum-99. Mr. Lynch's responsibilities included leading the review of the SHINE Medical Technologies construction permit and operating license applications for a first-of-a-kind facility dedicated to medical isotope production.

Mr. Lynch holds a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering and Music from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters of Engineering in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State University.

Joseph B. Powell, PhD.
University of Houston
Founding Executive Director, UH Energy Transition Institute
Aspire Initiative Endowed Executive Director
Professor, William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
National Academy of Engineering, Fellow AIChE

Description: Humankind is faced with the dual challenge of increasing energy supply to provide equitable access for the developing world, while also mitigating fossil CO2 emissions which underpin 80% of current global energy supply. Replacing and doubling the energy system over the next few decades is an unprecedented engineering and social undertaking. There is no time for trial and error – systems analysis using digital tools for pathway selection and technology scale-up is imperative, as is carbon tracking and accounting for global products which can no longer be sold on the basis of price alone. This seminar will examine some of the trade-offs and insights emerging for optimization of the energy transition.

Biography: Joe Powell (Joseph B. Powell, PhD) is Executive Director of the University of Houston Energy Transition Institute, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Fellow and former Director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He served as Shell's first Chief Scientist – Chemical Engineering from 2006 – 2020, culminating a 36-year industry career where he led R&D programs in new chemical processes, biofuels, enhanced oil recovery, and advised on global strategy for the energy transition to a net-zero carbon economy. He is co-inventor on more than 125 patent applications (60 granted), has received AIChE / ACS / R&D Magazine awards for Innovation, Service, and Practice, and is co-author of Sustainable Development in the Process Industries: Cases and Impact (2010). He chaired the U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC), served two terms on the U. S. National Academy Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology and on the editorial board of Annual Review of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and serves as climate advisor for the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development. He served as crosscutting team lead for Mission Innovation Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (2017), and currently serves on the National Academy Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, Research, and Development Committee. Dr. Powell obtained a PhD from the U. Wisconsin-Madison (1984); and a BS from the U. Virginia (1978), both in chemical engineering.

Nikki Martin
President & CEO
EnerGeo Alliance

Description: Energy is everywhere, but not everyone has access to it. While it's reassuring to know that energy is quickly and widely available for most of us, 3.5 billion people still live without access to electricity for more than 56 days per year.

Exploration can play a crucial role in addressing this issue by connecting people to energy.

With a growing population and increasing energy demand, exploration will ensure a fair energy evolution by giving global access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy.

Biography: Nikki Martin is President & CEO of the EnerGeo Alliance, the global trade organization for the energy geoscience industry. Nikki joined EnerGeo (then IAGC) in 2013 and previously served as the Vice President of Government and Legal Affairs. An attorney and government affairs professional, Nikki has years of experience championing effective global advocacy and strategic cross-industry collaboration for the energy industry.

Before joining EnerGeo, Nikki was the Regulatory and Legal Affairs Manager at the Alaska Oil & Gas Association (AOGA) and worked in the U.S. Capitol and Alaska State Capitol for the U.S. Senate President Pro Tempore, the Alaska State Senate President and Alaska State House Majority Leader.

Nikki sits on the Board of Directors for MicroSeismic, Inc. and the Western Resources Legal Center and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of South Carolina and a Juris Doctor from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College.

David Reid
Chief Technology Officer &
Chief Marketing Officer
NOV

Plenary Title: Navigating Digital Disruption: From Pain to Gain

Description: In a world where change is constant and digital transformation is imperative, businesses often find themselves grappling with complexity, controversy, and compliance issues. In this keynote speech, we embark on a journey through the career of David Reid, exploring the highs, lows, and breakthroughs he experienced in the digital landscape. Through David's story, we confront the challenges of human resistance and inertia while uncovering the potential for innovation and value creation. Ultimately, we discover that amidst the chaos of digital disruption, there lies an opportunity to transform pain into gain, with hope firmly in our own hands.

Biography: David's life and career has focused on the development of people, business, technology and culture. He has been a pioneer and champion of strategic growth in technology, business models, machine design, and industrial digitization. He is a global public speaker on innovation, change, and leadership, as well as being an advocate in addressing modern slavery. David currently serves on the University of Houston Energy Advisory Board, the National Ocean Industries Association, and Redeemed, a trauma informed recovery program for sex trafficking survivors. He has served on the IntelliServ JV with Schlumberger and NOV, the IADC and SPE boards in the past.

David has written many published technical papers and magazine articles, with patents in drilling systems and automation. He has founded industry groups in technology, diversity and inclusion, a startup village, and RedM, a pro-bono crowdsourcing organization. A winning team member of the first Rockets and Rigs hackathon with a NASA patent-based start-up company, Permittivity, also serving as an advisor to their board.

C. Fred Higgs III
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Director, Rice Center for Engineering Leadership
John and Ann Doerr Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Rice University

Session Description: Join us for this interactive session while we explore the link between Academia and Industry as it relates to digital transformation, preparing future leaders for this challenge, and potentially the skillset needed by new graduating students.

Biography: C. Fred Higgs, III is the John & Ann Doerr Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University, where he is also the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. He is also a Joint Professor with the Bioengineering Department, and the Faculty Director of the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL). He is a member of the ASME Tribology Executive Committee and an Associate Editor for the STLE Tribology Transactions journal. His Particle Flow & Tribology Laboratory (PFTL) conducts computer modeling and experiments. A Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), he is the past recipient of an NSF CAREER 'Young Investigator' award, and the ASME Burt L. Newkirk award (given annually to a single tribology innovator under age 40). Professor Higgs has published over 100 archival papers and generated licensable intellectual properties in concert. He has been the research advisor to over 120 undergraduates, 30 Masters, 22 doctoral, and 7 postdoctoral research students.

Céline Gerson
President & Group Director Americas
Fugro

Biography: With over 25 years of experience in the energy, renewables, nuclear, minerals, infrastructure, and water markets, Céline has a proven record of successfully growing complex technical businesses across various industries. Céline is a member of the Executive Leadership Team of Fugro N.V. and also leads the strategic growth and full P&L management for Fugro Americas, now consisting of a team of 3000+ professionals in over ten countries. Before joining Fugro, Céline held numerous executive roles worldwide, from strategy to manufacturing to commercial and large global P&L business management for Fortune 500 companies. She is particularly passionate about energy diversification, sustainability, mentoring startup companies with cutting-edge technologies, and digital transformation. Céline has a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston and is a Harvard Business School Alumni.

Ezinne Nnebocha
Global Head
Production Systems Technology Integration – Mature Assets
SLB

Biography: Ezinne Nnebocha is a dynamic leader with two decades of expertise in the global energy sector spanning Africa, Middle East and North America. As the Global Business Head for SLB Production System Technology Integration, Ezinne brings a wealth of experience in reservoir and production engineering spanning multiple domains including production optimization, intelligent wells, sand management, flow diagnosis, reservoir management and production enhancement in sandstone, carbonate and unconventional reservoirs.

Her innovative mindset and strategic acumen have propelled her through various leadership roles, where she has adeptly directed diverse multidisciplinary teams to implement forward-thinking solutions. She is a highly sought-after speaker, authoring several technical papers. As a subject-matter expert, she continues to shape the industry discourse and drive innovation in field production challenges and optimization.

Ezinne has a Master's degree in Petroleum engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, and a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, Ezinne combines technical prowess with business acumen to drive impactful results.

Patrick Bangert
VP and Chief of AI
Occidental Petroleum

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) has a lot to answer for – from silly questions to ChatGPT, over disinformation and hype, to modeling the physical world. We will try to unravel what is real and what is not, at this time, from the point of view of an asset-heavy company. The focus will be on the economics of AI where we consider cost, time and benefit of doing various kinds of AI to achieve value that will last for years. We will find that there is a lot more than science and software even if they are at the heart of it.

Biography: Patrick is the Chief of Artificial Intelligence at Occidental Petroleum where he leads a global cross-functional team to improve many physical and human processes by leveraging advanced analytics and AI. His thought leadership on AI has won him several awards and makes him a popular speaker at conferences and events.

Previously, he was senior vice-president for data, analytics, and AI at Searce, which provides professional services for Google Cloud and AWS. He headed the profit center that is responsible for all projects with a data scientific character globally. Before Searce, Patrick was the vice-president for corporate strategy at Samsung SDS where he led the AI Division from 2020 to 2023 bringing AI tools and services into Samsung Cloud for computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning with a particular focus on medical imaging.

As a volunteer, Patrick spent six years co-directing the Digital Energy Technical Section of the Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and published their quarterly newsletter.

Before joining Samsung, Patrick spent 15 years as CEO at algorithmica technologies, a machine learning software company serving the chemicals and oil and gas industries. Prior to that, he was assistant professor of applied mathematics at Jacobs University in Germany, as well as a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Patrick obtained his machine learning PhD in mathematics and his Masters in theoretical physics from University College London, and his business degree from INSEAD.

A German native, Patrick grew up in Malaysia and the Philippines, and later lived in the UK, Austria, Nepal and USA. He has done business in many countries and believes that AI must serve humanity beyond mere automation of routine tasks. An avid reader of books, Patrick lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children.