Agenda

Clay Gaspar currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Devon. He is responsible for Devon’s geosciences, reservoir, production, drilling, completions, facilities, field operations, environmental, health and safety and ESG functions. Clay most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer of WPX Energy and served on the company’s board of directors. He joined WPX in 2014, previously serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of operations and resource development. Prior to joining WPX, he worked for Newfield Exploration, Anadarko Petroleum and Mewbourne Oil serving in a number of technical and leadership roles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in petroleum and geosciences engineering from the University of Texas, is a registered professional engineer and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Tom Blasingame is a Professor and holder of the Robert L. Whiting Professorship in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station Texas. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Texas A&M — all in Petroleum Engineering. In teaching and research activities, he focuses on petrophysics, reservoir engineering, analysis/interpretation of well performance, exploitation of unconventional reservoirs, and technical mathematics. He also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Texas A&M. He served as Assistant Department Head (Graduate Programs) for the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M from 1997 to 2003, and has been recognized with several teaching and service awards from Texas A&M.

Blasingame is a Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (2000) and the recipient of the SPE Distinguished Service Award (2005), the SPE Uren Award (for technology contributions before age 45) (2006), the SPE Lucas Medal (SPE's preeminent technical award) (2012), the SPE DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal (2013), the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty (2014), and SPE Honorary Membership (2015). He has served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer (2005-2006) and as the SPE Technical Director for Reservoir Description and Dynamics (2015-2018). He has prepared approximately 160 technical articles and has chaired numerous technical committees and technical meetings.  

Tom Mireles serves as Senior Vice President - Technical Services for the Murphy Oil Corporation. Mireles joined Murphy in 2005 as Senior Staff Analyst and has earned roles with increasing responsibilities, including prior positions as Senior Manager - Planning & Business Development, Senior Vice President - Western Hemisphere and Senior Vice President - Eastern Hemisphere before being promoted to his current role in 2018. Mireles received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, holds an MBA from the London Business School, and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Trey Lowe is the Vice President of Technology at Devon Energy, leading a team including Operational Technology, IT, Data Management, and Data Science. Trey’s engineering background helps Devon focus on leading technology in the E&P industry.  Prior to his current role, he spent 20 years in operational engineering and leadership roles in various countries around the globe, having held various engineering and management positions with Schlumberger prior to joining Devon in 2005. Trey holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Oklahoma State University and has previously served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Zachary Evans is currently the Reservoir Storage Manager for WSP, a leader in underground energy storage consulting. Mr. Evans has over 15 years of gas storage experience, having spent the majority of his career as a Senior Storage Engineer with the Columbia Gas / TC Energy family of companies operating the continent’s largest pipeline and gas storage system. He currently oversees of all of WSP’s reservoir storage initiatives, including both traditional gas storage and applications in the hydrogen economy. Prior to his work in storage, Mr. Evans spent several years as a Measurement While Drilling engineer for Schlumberger, with international placements in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Australia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from West Virginia University and is based out of the Charleston, West Virgina metro area.

He is a lifelong member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, where his volunteerism focuses on student outreach and support of young members, and he currently serves on SPE’s International Board as the Regional Director for North America.

Max Gagliardi is a Partner and Co-Founder of Ancova, a company providing consulting services, midstream, and energy marketing solutions for energy producers, stakeholders, and investors

Max is an entrepreneur with a track record of starting and growing businesses across the energy marketing, midstream, consulting, real estate and media spaces. Prior to forming Ancova in 2014, Max held commercial and financial roles at multiple corporations including Williams, Chesapeake Energy and American Energy Partners. He has participated in a variety of roles on teams responsible for over $20 billion in M&A transactions, and with Ancova he’s continued to provide industry-leading expertise as an advisor to numerous large-scale midstream infrastructure projects and joint ventures.

Max has a bachelor’s of science and an MBA both from Oklahoma State University, is the host of the popular Talk.Energy podcast, and is a lifelong resident of Oklahoma, currently living in Edmond with his wife and three sons.

Chris Jenkins is a Financial Advisor with MassMutual based in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he serves clients across the country.  He joined the financial services industry in 2021 after many years experiencing the power of professional financial management as a client.  Prior to his current role, Chris enjoyed a 20-year career in the oil and gas industry, holding technology-focused and leadership roles with operators in Alaska, Saudi Arabia, and Oklahoma.  He is a longtime SPE volunteer, having previously received regional and international SPE awards recognizing his service.  From 2016-2019, Chris served on the international Board of Directors for SPE as the Mid-Continent Regional Director and he currently serves on the Distinguished Lecturer and Education Advisory Committees.  He holds a bachelors in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an Energy MBA from the University of Oklahoma. 

Dr. Alireza (Ali) Shahkarami is currently a Principal Data Scientist with Baker Hughes where he collaborates with engineers and research scientists on developing the next generation of data analytics solutions and workflows for the energy industry. Previously, he worked as a Senior Analytics Engineer at the Baker Hughes Energy Innovation Center (EIC) in Oklahoma City. Ali has a wealth of experience working with different product companies and clients and as technical lead to several projects developing analytics products to solve customers' problems and optimize their operations. Before joining Baker Hughes, Ali served as Assistant Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (PNGE) at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania. Ali started the undergraduate PNGE program at Saint Francis University in 2014 as the program head and led the program's accreditation process. Ali obtained his PhD and MSc degrees in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from West Virginia University where his main research was studying various applications of data analytics and data driven techniques to address problems in petroleum engineering. 

Maki Ikeda is currently the Director of the Energy Innovation Center for Baker Hughes, located in Oklahoma City. Maki is a well-rounded oil & gas professional with demonstrated experience in offshore and onshore field operations, reservoir engineering, technology development and business strategy. In her current role, she is leveraging her traditional oilfield expertise and advancement in digital and edge computing spaces to drive disruptive innovation in energy transition. Maki has extensive international experience, having worked in various locations in Latin America, the North Sea, South East Asia and Japan for both Schlumberger and Gaffney, Cline & Associates. She has dual bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Earth Sciences from Ecole Polytechnique in France and a master’s of science in Reservoir Engineering from Stanford University.

Deb Ryan is the Head of Low Carbon Market Analytics for S&P Global Platts. She provides insights about energy transition and existing low carbon markets including oil and gas.  oil and gas economics, reserves, regulation, public opinion, and energy transition.

As a thought leader and noted voice in the energy industry, Deb was named as one of Ally Energy’s “Top Energy Voices” for her “Voice in Sustainability” in 2020 and in 2019 was included in the 40 Top Women in Energy by the Denver Business Journal.

For more than 9 years, Deb has served in leadership positions at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) where she currently serves as the North American Regional Director on the International Board of Directors. She is also the current Chair of the Ethics Committee for the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE). Originally from Australia, Deb is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Colorado and Texas.

Mark Rubin is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers International. He is responsible for the overall management of SPE and works with the SPE Board of Directors and senior staff to develop strategic 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, London, and Moscow, to ensure the accomplishment of SPE’s mission.

Mark was appointed Executive Director of SPE in August 2001. Prior to this appointment, he served as Upstream General Manager for the American Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C, having joined API in 1988 where he held a series of positions working on federal regulatory and legislative matters as well as technical standards development.

A member of SPE since 1979, Mark held petroleum engineering positions for both Unocal in Houston and east Texas and for Buttes Resources in Dallas prior to transition to work in industry societies. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives. He has been a member of the National Petroleum Council, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and International Association of Oil and Gas Producers. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

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 a 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 Coast, 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.