Joe Bryant

Chairman and CEO
Cobalt International Energy

Joe Bryant is a 29-year petroleum industry veteran and is presently the chairman and CEO of Cobalt International Energy.

From 2004 to 2005, he served as president and COO of Unocal Corporation. From 1993 to 2004, he served as president of BP Angola, BP Canada, and an Amoco/CNOOC joint venture in China. He also held executive leadership positions for Amoco business units in The Netherlands and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as numerous engineering, financial, and operational assignments throughout the continental United States.

Bryant earned a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Nebraska and currently serves on the board of directors of Berry Petroleum Corporation.

Robert McEwen

Managing Director
McEwen Capital

Robert McEwen is the founder and managing director of McEwen Capital and one of Canada’s true business visionaries.

McEwen has been involved with various small companies. His most successful venture to date was Goldcorp, which went from a market value of USD 60 million to USD 8 billion.

Throughout his career McEwen has been honored with such awards as Ernst & Young’s 2002 Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Energy category, PDAC’s Developer of the Year, Northern Miner’s Mining Man of the Year, and was one of Fast Company’s “Fast 50” Champions of Innovation. BusinessWeek named him one of the “Smart Web 50” for being one of the most innovative companies on the web worldwide.

Rob holds an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University, an MBA from Schulich School of Business, York University, and a BA from the University of Western Ontario.

Giovanni Paccaloni

2005 SPE President/Vice President
ENI (retired)

Giovanni Paccaloni retired from Eni Agip in 2006. He joined Eni Agip in 1971, working worldwide in various leadership roles, including vice president, Corporate E&P Laboratories (1997–99); vice president, Drilling and Production Optimization (2000–02); and vice president of R&D and Technology Planning (2003).

An SPE member since 1986, Paccaloni served as SPE Director Europe and Africa Region during 1995–99 and was named an SPE Distinguished Member in 2000. He has served twice as chairperson of the Italian Section and has played an active role in that section’s governance for more than 15 years. His many SPE activities include service as chairperson of the Forum Series Implementation Committee (1993–95), the Forum Series Coordinating Committee (1995–97) and the 1992 Forum Series in Europe Steering Committee. He served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer during 1988-89 on the topic “Optimization of Matrix Stimulation Treatments.”

Paccaloni is honorary professor at the Daqing Petroleum Institute and the University of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and visiting professor at the Xian Shiyou University (China). During his career, he has written or co-written several technical papers, including articles published in JPT and SPEPE. Paccaloni holds an MS in industrial chemistry from the University of Bologna.

Lawrence Pope

Vice President, Human Resources and Operational Excellence
Halliburton

Lawrence Pope is vice president of human resources and operational excellence for Halliburton. He has global leadership responsibility for HR; Real Estate Services; Health, Safety, and Environment; Sustainable Development; Quality; Operational Efficiency; Security; and Corporate Aviation.

Previously, Pope was senior vice president of administration for Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), one of the world’s leading engineering, construction, technology, and services companies.
Pope began his career with Halliburton in 1990 as a recruiter with Brown & Root. He progressed to manager of Compensation and HR Systems in 1996 and was then promoted to director of Compensation and HR Systems for Halliburton. After becoming director of HR for Halliburton’s Energy Services Group (ESG) in 1999, he was promoted to division vice president of HR for the ESG in 2001.

Pope holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and has a master’s degree in business administration from the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University. He is a graduate of Halliburton’s President’s Seminar (now called the President’s Leadership Excellence Program), and he is a Certified Compensation Professional.

Patrick L. O’Bryan

Wells Director
BP North America Gas SPU

Pat O’Bryan is the wells director for BP’s North America Gas Strategic Performance Unit. O’Bryan has functional accountability for BP's drilling, completions, and well service work in Canada and the US Lower 48. Included in his accountabilities is the deployment and development of engineering and operations staff.

Prior to joining BP in 2000, he held various E&P positions at ARCO and Tenneco.

O’Bryan is currently a member of the Industry Advisory Committee for the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University and the Unconventional Gas Technology Advisory Committee for the US Department of Energy. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and has co-authored several papers published in the society’s Drilling and Completion journal.

O’Bryan received a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Mississippi State University, and MS and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State University.