2024 Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is the policy-making and governing body of SPE. Its board committees oversee many of SPE's administrative and operating responsibilities. The board retains final authority on all SPE matters, including any actions the board committees may take.

2024 SPE Board

Officers

 

Tom Blasingame

2024 SPE President

Terry Palisch
CARBO Ceramics
President Scheduling Request
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Terry Palisch is the vice president of technology and engineering at CARBO Ceramics in Richardson, Texas, and the 2024 SPE President. He began his career with ARCO in Alaska and Algeria, joining CARBO in 2004 where he currently leads the Research and Development team. Palisch has been an active SPE member for over 40 years, serving in various roles, including past chairman of the SPE Dallas Section, past chair of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) technical program and former SPE Completions Technical Director.

He is an SPE Distinguished Member and has received multiple SPE regional and international awards including Distinguished Service. He has coauthored more than 50 SPE technical papers and holds several patents.

Palisch holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from University of Missouri Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology) where he was recently recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus.

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Med Kamal

2023 SPE President

Med Kamal
Chevron Emeritus
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Medhat (Med) M. Kamal is a Chevron Fellow Emeritus and an Honorary Member of SPE. He had previously worked for Cairo University, Amoco Production Company, Flopetrol Schlumberger, and ARCO Exploration and Production Company. Kamal has over 45 years of industry experience in well testing, reservoir description, and production and reservoir engineering. He is the lead author and editor of SPE Monograph 23 “Transient Well Testing”, and has published more than 35 technical papers in various SPE journals.

He holds B.Sc. degree (with Honors) from Cairo University in Petroleum Engineering and MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in Petroleum Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. He served on the boards of directors of Mid-continent, Gulf Coat, Dallas and Golden gate sections of SPE and chaired the Dallas and Golden Gate Sections. He also served on the SPE International Board of Directors (2007-2009) as the Regional Director of Western North America.

Kamal is a distinguished lecturer for SPE (1997-1998 and 2018-2019) where he presented his lectures more than 80 times in 30 countries. He served as member and chairman of SPE Annual Meeting Well Testing, Text Book and Monograph Committees and as a technical editor, review chairman and executive editor of SPE Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT) and Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering Journal (SPEREE). Kamal chaired the first SPE conference on R&D (San Antonio 2007) and the Western Regional Meeting (2019). He has won several regional and international awards including the Cedric K. Ferguson Medal, the Formation Evaluation Award, SPE Distinguished Service Award, SPE North and East Texas Regional Service Award and the Texas Petroleum Engineer of the Year Award.  

 

Olivier Houze

2025 SPE President

Olivier Houzé
KAPPA Engineering

Olivier Houzé is the co-founder and managing director of KAPPA. After four years as a well test field engineer with Flopetrol (SLB), he co-founded KAPPA in 1987. He was the original author of Saphir, now the industry standard software in pressure transient analysis, and has served as KAPPA managing director since 1991.
 
Houzé has been involved in many SPE summits, forums, and workshops. He coauthored one SPE and one SPEE monographs. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer in 2013 and served on the SPE Board as the Technical Director for Reservoir from 2012 to 2015. He was the recipient of the 2019 SPE Lester C. Uren Award and a 2022 SPE Honorary Award.
 
He holds an engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique (1982) and an MSc in petroleum engineering from Stanford University (1983).

 

Simon Seaton headshot

Secretary

Simon Seaton
SPE CEO and Executive Vice President
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As CEO, Simon Seaton is responsible for overall management of SPE. He works with the Board of Directors and senior staff to develop strategic and business plans and formulate the organization’s goals, objectives, policies, and programs. He also organizes and directs the global staff organization, which includes offices in Dallas, Houston, Calgary, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, and London, to ensure the accomplishment of SPE’s mission.

He previously held the role of CEO, Energy and Resources Worldwide, at Sodexo, a global food, facilities management, and workplace services company where he worked since 2012 in Houston, Singapore, and Dubai.

A graduate of Cardiff University and a chemist by education, his career began as a drilling fluids engineer. He spent 22 years at Halliburton in various technical, business development, and executive roles in Aberdeen, Houston, and Nigeria. Positions at Halliburton included country vice president, managing director of the UK, and senior director of deepwater solutions.

Seaton has been an SPE member for more than 25 years and has authored or coauthored more than 20 technical papers. In 2021 he completed the Global Energy Leadership Program at the Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University. Originally from the UK, he currently resides in Houston. 

 

Video Series: Meet the SPE Board

Meet the SPE Board of Directors. This series highlights the work of the SPE Board and the members' commitment to our organization.

Learn who our board members are, why they choose to serve, and the positive impact of SPE across the world.

Watch the full video series.

Technical Directors

Robin Macmillan

Drilling

Robin Macmillan
IBM


Sue Staley

Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability

Sue Staley
vPSI Group, LLC


Rodolfo Camacho

Reservoir

Rodolfo Camacho
UNAM


Karen Olson

Completions

Karen Olson
Olson Turner Enterprises


Hamad Al-Marri

Projects, Facilities, and Construction | Production and Operations

Hamad Al-Marri
Saudi Aramco  


Sushma Bahn

Data Science and Engineering Analytics

Sushma Bhan
Ikon Science


Regional Directors

Ogee Effiom

Africa Region

Oghogho Effiom
Shell Nigeria


Henricus Herwin

Asia Pacific Region

Henricus Herwin
Pertamina


Hazli Sham Kassim

Asia Pacific Region

Hazli Sham Kassim
Petronas


Pierre Emmanuel d'Huart

Europe Region

Pierre Emmanuel d'Huart
Saipem


Carlos Alberto Pedroso

Latin America and the Caribbean Region

Carlos Pedroso
Enauta


Mohamed Al Marzouqi

Middle East and North Africa Region

Mohamed Al Marzouqi
ADNOC


Hisham Zubari

Middle East and North Africa Region

Hisham Zubari
Dragon Oil


Simeon Eburi

North America Region

Simeon Eburi
Chevron


Robert Martinez

North America Region

Robert Martinez
Chimney Rock Energy


Kim Oracheski

North America Region

Kim Oracheski
Strathcona Resources


Alexey Borisenko

Russia and the Caspian Region

Alexey Borisenko
Schlumberger