America's Energy Future

John Hofmeister

Founder and CEO, Citizens for Affordable Energy

John Hofmeister, upon retirement from Shell Oil Company in 2008, founded and heads the not-for-profit (501(c)(3), nation-wide membership association, Citizens for Affordable Energy. This Washington, D.C.-registered, public policy education firm promotes sound U.S. energy security solutions for the nation, including a range of affordable energy supplies, efficiency improvements, essential infrastructure, sustainable environmental policies and public education on energy issues.

Hofmeister was named President of Houston-based Shell Oil Company in March 2005, heading the U.S. Country Leadership Team, which included the leaders of all Shell businesses operating in the United States. He became President after serving as Group Human Resource Director of the Shell Group, based in The Hague, The Netherlands.

As Shell President, Hofmeister launched an extensive outreach program, unprecedented in the energy industry, to discuss critical global energy challenges. The program included an 18 month, 50-city tour across the country during which Hofmeister led 250 other Shell leaders to meet with more than 15,000 business, community and civic leaders, policymakers, and academics to discuss what must be done to ensure affordable, available energy for the future. A business leader who has participated in the inner workings of multiple industries for over 35 years, Hofmeister also has held executive leadership positions in General Electric, Nortel and AlliedSignal (now Honeywell International).

Hofmeister serves as the Chairman of the National Urban League and is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee. He serves as non-executive Director of the Hunting PLC, London, UK, Lufkin Industries Inc., CAMAC Energy, Inc., and the Sodexo North America Business Advisory Board. He is Senior Advisor to two energy start-ups: Liberty Power of Fort Lauderdale, Fl and NewEarth Technologies of Seattle, WA. Hofmeister also serves on the boards of the Foreign Policy Association, Strategic Partners, LLC, the Gas Technology Institute and the Center for Houston's Future. Hofmeister is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources. He also is a past Chairman and serves as a Director of the Greater Houston Partnership. Hofmeister is active in education serving Advisory Boards at the University of Houston and the University of North Texas. He is also a Director of the Texas Education Reform Committee.

Hofmeister earned Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Political Science from Kansas State University. In May 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Houston.

John Hofmeister is the author of Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

Jane Campbell, Chief of Staff

Office of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, Louisiana

Jane Campbell joined Senator Landrieu’s team as Chief of Staff after serving as Managing Director of Public Sector Solutions at Colliers Ostendorf Morris since July 2006. In that capacity, Campbell negotiated public/private partnerships for corporate and local government entities to encourage economic development.

Campbell also has had an extensive career in public service. From 2002 to 2006, Campbell was the Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, where she restored fiscal stability, without tax increases, to a city of about a half million residents. During her tenure as Mayor, Campbell served as Vice President of the Democratic Mayors Caucus (2004-2005) and a Member of the Democratic National Committee (2004-2005). She has also represented 1.4 million people as a County Commissioner in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, from 1997 to 2002, and before that was elected six times to the Ohio State House of Representatives.”

Jeff Moseley

President and CEO, Greater Houston Partnership

Jeff Moseley joined the Greater Houston Partnership as President and CEO in 2005. GHP serves as the primary business advocate for the 10-county Houston area, dedicated to securing regional economic prosperity. GHP's 10-year Strategic Plan sets regional goals of 600,000 high paying jobs; to attract $60 billion in capital investment; and to expand foreign trade by $120 billion by the end of 2015. Moseley oversees the organization's $32 million capital fundraising campaign, Opportunity HoustonSM. Opportunity HoustonSM, an aggressive five-year marketing program which generates leads for GHP's nearly 30 economic development allies.

Under Moseley's leadership, GHP has become a nationally recognized leader in economic development. Site Selection magazine has twice named GHP one of the top-performing economic development groups in the U.S. And GHP recently earned the distinguished title of Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). GHP is one of only 25 organizations in the country - and the only economic developer of its size - to receive this distinction. GHP has also been selected to host one of the nation's three World Bank Group Private Sector Liaison Officers.

Prior to joining GHP, Moseley was the CEO of the Office of the Governor for Economic Development and Tourism, a position he held from 2003 to 2005. From 1999 to 2003, he served as the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Economic Development (formerly the Texas Department of Commerce). During that time, the Department was pivotal to bringing a Toyota Tundra manufacturing plant to Texas.

Moseley was also instrumental in overseeing the $295 million Texas Enterprise Fund, landing the $3 billion Texas Instruments expansion, and closing the CITGO move to Houston. As a result of these and other economic development wins, Texas was awarded the coveted Governor's Cup award from Site Selection magazine. The annual honor is given to the state that has the most facilities announcements for that year.

Before joining the Governor's Office, Moseley was elected to three terms as Denton County judge. During his tenure, he helped to reduce taxes while overseeing one of the nation's fastest growing counties.

Moseley currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE); the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Center for Houston's Future. Additionally, he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 (CCC100) and the Texas Association of Business' Alliance for I-69. Moseley also serves on the Advisory Board for the Incarnate Word Academy.

Moseley has been married to wife, Jackie, for 28 years. They are the parents of two teenage daughters. The sixth-generation Texan attended elementary and junior high school in Ethiopia. He is a graduate of Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was recognized as an Outstanding Alumna in As a testament to his Ethiopian roots, Moseley was instrumental in bringing the Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia exhibit to Houston in 2007.

Michael Collier

Transaction Services Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Mike is a Transaction Services partner who brings 22 years of financial advisory experience to our clients. For the past 12 years Mike has focused solely on providing M&A advisory services in Houston, Texas, largely to energy companies and private equity firms doing deals in the energy arena. Mike’s experience ranges from small private-company acquisitions to multi-billion global transactions. His experience extends to oilfield equipment and services; transportation, processing, and trading; refining and petrochemical; alternative energy (solar, wind, and biofuel); marine transportation; and heavy construction deals.

Mike has extensive due diligence experience involving multi-national transactions and has served clients in Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. He has also worked on numerous out-bound investments throughout Europe and Asia. Mike is a frequent speaker on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, effective buy-side due diligence, effective dispositions processes, and capital market impact on transaction value/structure.

Charles R. Swanson

Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Charles currently serves as managing partner of Ernst & Young’s Houston office. Previously, Charles directed EY’s services to the oil & gas and chemical industries in North and South America.

After graduating from Tulane University in 1975, and receiving his MBA from Tulane in 1977, he joined EY in Houston. Charles initially worked on the financial audits of numerous oil & gas and energy service companies.

In 1981, Charles transferred into EY’s energy consulting group, where he was heavily involved in the development of EY’s library of energy industry software products and services. He was then assigned to the firm’s National Office in 1984 where he served as the firm’s Assistant Director of Energy Industry Services. Charles returned to the Houston office in 1986 where he served on the financial audits of several publicly-owned energy companies. In 1989, he transferred to EY’s Louisville office to serve on the audit of a Fortune 100 integrated energy company. Charles returned to the Houston office in 1998, to lead the firm’s energy practice in the gulf coast area.

Doug Foshee

Chairman, President and CEO, El Paso Corporation

Douglas L. Foshee is chairman, president, and chief executive officer of El Paso Corporation, which owns North America's largest natural gas pipeline system and one of North America's largest natural gas producers. Prior to joining El Paso in 2003, Foshee served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Halliburton. He joined Halliburton in 2001 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to that, Foshee was president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board at Nuevo Energy Company. From 1993 to 1997, Foshee served Torch Energy Advisors Inc. in various capacities, including chief operating officer and chief executive officer. He held various positions in finance and new business ventures with ARCO International Oil and Gas Company and spent seven years in commercial banking, primarily as an energy lender.

Foshee earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Jesse H. Jones School at Rice University in 1992 and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Southwest Texas State University in 1982. He is also a graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.

Foshee serves on the boards of Cameron International Corporation, Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation, Central Houston, Inc., and Greater Houston Partnership. He also chairs the board of directors of The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch. From January 2009 until February 2010, Foshee was appointed by the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to serve in a leadership role as an independent trustee of the AIG Credit Facility Trust. The Trust was established by the U.S. Treasury to hold the 77.9-percent equity interest in American International Group (AIG).

Foshee is a member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, National Petroleum Council, the Council of Overseers for the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University, Rice University's board of trustees, and KIPP's board of trustees. He is a recipient of the 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his commitment to helping children succeed and his leadership role in the business community. In 2008, Foshee was named Distinguished Alumni at Texas State University.

Tracy Bridge

Division Senior Vice President Support Operations, CenterPoint Energy

Tracy Bridge joined CenterPoint Energy in 1986, and is Division Senior Vice President Support Operations. His current responsibilities include Smart Grid Deployment (advanced metering systems and intelligent grid), Customer Service, Operations Technology, Business Process Transformation, Land and Field Services, and Fleet and Shops Services.

He started with the company as a regulatory attorney for CenterPoint Energy's Minnegasco operations and later served 12 years as Director of Regulatory Services and seven years as Director of Government and Public Relations. In 2007, he was named Division Vice President, Regional Gas Operations (Minnesota). In 2008, he was named Division Senior Vice President, Support Operations in Houston, Texas, responsible for: Rates and Regulatory, Customer Service, Electric Market Operations, Land and Field Services, and Fleet and Shops Services.

Dick Williams

President, Shell Wind

Dick Williams joined Shell in 1980 after receiving his Electrical Engineering degree from Penn State. He worked in a variety of Shell's regions as an engineer—building and supporting projects in the Gulf of Mexico, California, and Illinois. In 1987 he returned to Houston for several positions in the business, including Base Chemicals, then went to St. Louis as Mid Continent District Superintendent. Upon returning to Houston in 1993, he joined the Joint Ventures group—responsible for negotiating and operating several large projects in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2000 he lead the Commercial Development effort of a major restructuring, then spent 3 years as the Operations Support Manager for Shell's Pipelines and Distribution Terminals, and then served 3 years as the Commercial Manager for Shell Distribution North America--which encompassed all the customer facing activities for pipelines and distribution terminals in the United States and Canada. Dick was appointed President, Shell WindEnergy, in 2008. Shell's Wind activities include operating 11 windfarms, 8 in North America and three in Europe, with a capacity of 1100 MW and developing new projects in North America.

He maintains Professional Engineering licenses in Texas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. Dick lives in Houston with his wife Sandi and two sons, Conrad and Colin. When not chasing windmills, he spends time with several charities, including his son's schools, Rebuilding Together Houston-- which rebuilds homes for the less advantaged people of the Houston area, is on the boards of Breakthrough Houston—an educational collaborative which nurtures high achieving students from at-risk areas, and the Houston Technology Center. He is also getting involved with the National Urban League Green Jobs initiative.

Jason Few

President, Reliant Energy

Jason Few is President of Reliant Energy and Senior Vice President of Retail NRG. He is responsible for leading all aspects of Reliant Energy's business.

Few joined Reliant Energy in July 2008. He comes to the company from Motorola, Inc., where he most recently served as corporate vice president and general manager Companion Products. Few previously oversaw Motorola's global retail and distribution, global quality and customer advocacy, as well as marketing of the North American mobile devices business. Prior to joining Motorola, he led SBC Communications' activities in broadband, eBusiness development, SBC Yahoo and business development activities. Few's successful track record running and launching new businesses, leading large global teams and bringing new technologies to market is ideal for leading Reliant Energy's retail business.

Few is on the board of directors of Syniverse Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SVR) where he serves on both the nominating and governance committee and the audit committee. In addition, Few serves on the board of the Greater Houston Partnership and he is a member of the executive committee and chairs the economic development committee. Few also serves on the boards for Rebuilding Together Houston and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer systems from Ohio University and a master's degree in business administration from Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

William Thurmond

Founder and President, Emerging Markets Online

William Thurmond is the President and founder of Emerging Markets Online, a global energy and biofuels intelligence firm started eleven years ago in 1997. Mr. Thurmond is also the author of Biodiesel 2020: A Global Market Survey. Mr. Thurmond is also a columnist for Biofuels International journal, Renewable Energy Access, Biofuels Digest, and speaks regularly at biofuels and renewable energy conferences.

Mr. Thurmond is a member of The International Association for Energy Economics, and the Association of Professional Futurists, and serves the American Biofuels Council as Chairman of Development, the National Algae Association as Chairman of Research and Development, and serves the University of Houston as a lecturer and adjunct faculty and where he teaches Technology Forecasting for Entrepreneurs. Mr. Thurmond has participated in graduate courses towards a PhD, Alternative Futures, at The University of Hawaii at Manoa; earned an M.S., Studies of The Future, from The University of Houston; and a B.A, International Relations and Economics from Rollins College.

Walter Ulrich

President & CEO, Houston Technology Center

Walter Ulrich is president and CEO of Houston Technology Center, recently named by Forbes as one of the Ten Technology Innovators Changing the World. The Houston Technology Center (HTC) is the largest non-profit technology business incubator/accelerator in Texas and the center for technology entrepreneurship on the Gulf Coast. The HTC provides in-depth management guidance, business planning assistance, introductions to capital providers, entrepreneurial education and a wide array of services to emerging technology client companies. Walter and the HTC focus primarily on emerging 21st century energy technologies, bio/life sciences, IT, nanotechnology and NASA related aerospace technologies.

Appointed by Governor Rick Perry, Walter Ulrich served as one of 17 founding members of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund Committee with responsibility for awarding $200 million to foster the commercialization of innovative emerging technology within the State of Texas. He now serves as Chairman of the Gulf Coast Center for Innovation and Commercialization. Some 34 Gulf Coast companies have received investments from the Fund and more are in process.

Prior to joining Houston Technology Center, he chaired their Strategic Planning Committee and served on its Advisory Board. He is a co-chair of the Partnership’s Energy Collaborative Technology Development Committee. He is an active in the Houston Angel Network, a perennial judge of the Rice Business Plan Competition, serves on the Board of the University of Houston’s Petroleum Engineering Advisory Board and chairs the annual Gulf Coast Innovation Conference. He works closely with regional academic institutions on innovation, and is active in other community organizations.

Walter Ulrich is a proven business leader adept at building value and driving growth. He has been president and CEO of several mid-sized technology-based companies where he has driven growth and profitability, was previously an executive and practice leader at Arthur D. Little where he had leadership roles in the energy, financial and information industry practices, and prior to that a partner with Coopers & Lybrand in Houston. He joined Coopers & Lybrand when they acquired a successful technology business that Walter had found and grown into a nationally recognized leader in its field. Early in his career, he developed the first commercially successful email service at Cupertino, CA Tymshare, Inc.

A technology student and pioneer, he was a founder of the E-business forum (formerly the EMA). He helped draft the U. S. Communications Privacy Act of 1986. He has a bachelor of science and a masters degree from and recently retired from the Board of Trustees for Stevens Institute of Technology. He proudly served two years active duty with the US Marine Corps. He jogs and personal interests include snorkeling and eco-tourism. He is married, has one daughter and lives in Pearland, TX.

Helge Hove Haldorsen

Vice President, Statoil

Helge Hove Haldorsen currently holds the position of VP Strategy for Statoil in Houston. Helge is from Norway and has an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from The Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim and a PhD in Reservoir Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Helge was a Second Lieutenant in The Royal Norwegian Navy and before joining Hydro, he held various positions within reservoir engineering at Esso Exploration Norway in Stavanger, Sohio Petroleum Company in San Francisco and Anchorage and The British Petroleum Company in London. Helge joined Hydro in 1987 and he held a number of key management positions with the company: Chief Reservoir Engineer, President E&P International and VP Exploration and Research. After the acquisition of Spinnaker by Hydro in 2005, Helge was the President of Hydro Gulf of Mexico downtown Houston. Helge has served on the Society of Petroleum Engineer's (SPE) Board of Directors for 3 years and he has been an SPE Distinguished Lecturer. He is the author of many technical papers and articles and has been a Professor of Industrial Mathematics at the University of Oslo as well as a lecturer at Stanford University. Helge is currently a member of the Cockrell School of Engineering Advisory Board at The University of Texas at Austin and a member of the OTC Board of Directors.

Juan Garza

President, Advanced Technology Initiatives, NRG Texas

Juan Garza calls Cotulla, Texas his hometown, but in reality, he was raised in several parts of the Midwest and the Southwest. He is married to Rosario and has two children, Bianca and Juan Antonio.

After completing a tour of duty in Vietnam, Juan went to work for the city of Evanston, Illinois. While working there, he earned a BS in Mathematics from Loyola University of Chicago, as well as an MBA.

His career has taken him to Moline, Illinois, where he served as Accounts and Finance Officer; Corpus Christi, Texas, where he served in several capacities culminating as City Manager; and to Austin, Texas, where he held the position of Director of Human Resources before being named General Manager of Austin Energy before becoming General Manager of Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Inc. He currently serves as the President of Advance Technology Initiatives for NRG Energy.

His greatest reward in his public service career is the accomplishments of the employees that have worked for him.

In his spare time he enjoys reading, golfing, and listening to music.

Stuart Page

CEO, Glori Oil

Stuart Page is CEO of Glori Oil, a company leading the research, development and deployment of biotechnology solutions to improve oil recovery from waterflood fields. Glori Oil is operational in the US and internationally, and conducts research from biotech labs in Houston, Argentina and India.

Prior to Glori, Stuart led M&A at IHS Energy where he was responsible for multiple acquisitions as the company evolved through IPO to NYSE listing. His broad Energy Industry experience includes roles in Private Equity with SCF Partners (investing in oilfield service businesses), Consulting with McKinsey & Co. and Qittitut (focused on growth strategy for oilfield service companies), and Entrepreneurial Business as Chairman and CEO of Network International, a venture backed B2B marketplace for oilfield equipment that won recognition as one of the fastest growing companies in Houston several years running. Stuart started his career in the oilfield working for Baker Atlas and spent a decade working in many cultures and countries through increasingly senior management roles.

A native of the U.K, Stuart received both a bachelor's and a master's degree in engineering science from Oxford University, and was awarded his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Stuart is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Susan Cunningham

SVP, Exploration, Noble Energy

With over 25 years of industry experience, Susan Cunningham, who joined Noble Energy as a senior vice president in April 2001, is responsible for exploration worldwide. Previously, she was Texaco's vice president of core worldwide exploration from April 2000 to March 2001. Employed by Statoil from 1997 through 1999, she advanced from exploration manager for deepwater Gulf of Mexico to vice president. In 1999, she assumed responsibility for Statoil's West Africa exploration efforts. She began her career in 1980 in Calgary as a geologist at Amoco Canada, moving to Amoco's International Region in Houston in 1981 where she held various exploration and development positions until 1994, including General Manager – Denmark where she was country manager based in Copenhagen. She became exploration Manager Deepwater Gulf of Mexico in 1995 until 1997 when she joined Statoil. Active in the industry and the community, Susan is currently Chairman of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) representing the American Association of Petroleum Geologist (AAPG). She was elected to the Board of Cliffs Natural Resources, an iron ore and metallurgical coal mining company in 2005. She also has served on the Boards of the Houston Area Women's Center and the Houston Geology Society. Susan earned a bachelor's degree in geology and physical geography from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. She also has completed a management program through Rice University's Office of Executive Development.

Rod Nelson

VP of Communications & VP Innovation and Collaboration, Schlumberger Limited

Rod Nelson is vice president of Communications for Schlumberger Limited, as well as VP Innovation and Collaboration. In these positions he is responsible for all internal and external communications and identifies external technologies and innovations applicable to the oil and gas industry.

Nelson serves on a number of joint industry steering committees and boards including the corporate advisory boards of the AAPG and the Advanced Energy Consortium. Active in the community, he is on the board of directors of the Greater Houston Partnership, Fort Bend Education Foundation, and UH Energy Advisory Board. Nelson led the technology task group for the 2007 landmark National Petroleum Council's global oil and gas study "Facing the Hard Truths about Energy".

Nelson holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Wisconsin and an executive MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. He joined Schlumberger as a wireline field engineer in 1980.

Lane Sloan

Co-Chair, GHP Energy Collaborative

Lane Sloan had a 29 year career with Shell Oil Company including positions of VP Corporate Planning, CFO, and President of Shell Chemical Company. He had senior assignments with Royal Dutch/ Shell as Regional Coordinator for the Far East and Director of the East Zone in Oil Products.

Lane is Co-Chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership's Energy Collaborative committee, President of Sloan Consulting Services www.energystrategicconsulting.com, and a Silver Fox Advisor. He was recently Director of the University of Houston's Strategic Energy Alliance and co-authored a book with Chris Ross entitled Terra Incognita: A Navigation Aid for Energy Leaders. Lane sits on the boards of Davidson Instruments, Quantapoint, Houston Technology Center, and the advisory board of Neohydro.