Donald D. Clarke, candidate for treasurer of AAPG, is division engineer-geology, with the Department of Oil Properties, City of Long Beach, Calif., and teaches geology at Compton (Calif.) Community College.
A native of the Los Angeles basin area, Clarke received his bachelor's degree in geology from California State University, Northridge, and did additional graduate studies at California State Universities, Northridge, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Clarke began his career in 1974 as an energy and mineral resources engineer with the California State Lands Commission. He worked extensively on the giant Wilmington oil field and the California offshore.
In 1981 he took a position as senior geologist with the City of Long Beach Department of Oil Properties, which acts as the unit operator for the Wilmington oil field. During this time he served as chairman of the Long Beach Unit Equity Geology and Sandvolume Subcommittees.
Other work included Division Engineer of Subsidence, geological hazards and some environmental geology. He continues to work for Oil Properties as division engineer in charge of geology.
Clarke, a member of the Los Angeles Basin Geologic Society since 1974, has served as its president since 1996. Over the years he has focused on community outreach and education -- he has spoken on geology to every high and middle school and many elementary schools in Long Beach and the surrounding areas. He also has spoken at most of the universities and to many community organizations.
Clarke remains active in AAPG's Pacific Section. He served as the general chairman for the group's 1993 annual meeting and is currently the general chairman for the year 2000 Joint PSAAPG Western Regional SPE Annual Meeting. He served as program chairman for the 1989 annual Section meeting, and has served as a session chairman at numerous annual meetings.
He joined the AAPG in 1986. For annual meetings, Clarke has conducted field trips (1987 and 1996) and served as a session chair (1990 and 1996).
He was a member of the House of Delegates in 1988-1991, 1992-1995, 1996 (alternate) and 1997-2000. From 1994 to 1995 he was a member of the House's Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and he currently is serving on the Reservoir Development Committee (1998-2001).
In 1997 he participated in the AAPG Summit on Sections in Denver, and he participated in the 1998 AAPG-EAGE Research Symposium that was held in Spain.
Clarke, a charter member of the Division of Environmental Geosciences (DEG) has published or presented over 40 technical papers on topics that include computer mapping, sequence stratigraphy, horizontal drilling, structural geology and reservoir evaluation.
Why I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate for AAPG Office
By Donald D. Clarke
I am honored to be invited to be a candidate for the office of AAPG treasurer. I accepted the invitation because I feel that I can give back to the organization that has provided me with so much. To the best of my ability I will help to support and transform the Association into a more efficient and effective service organization that will supply our needs for the future.
From meetings with AAPG members, I found three issues that stand out for the Executive Committee's immediate attention:
- First, exploration and production geoscientists can no longer think and work provincially and remain competitive. We now work in a global marketplace (25 percent of the AAPG membership is international).
- Second, technology is rapidly changing and the world is undergoing a communications explosion. We must keep learning aggressively in order to stay marketable.
- Third, an awareness of the environment is critical to all energy operations worldwide.
The core of AAPG as a service organization is to communicate through the dissemination of information and promote participation through meetings, short courses and field trips. The electronic revolution, when intelligently embraced, will greatly facilitate accurate and timely technology transfer and training. AAPG members must actively reach out within our industry and also to the community to improve interaction.
We are lucky indeed to have a dynamic organization that is able to change and improve by our support. I look forward to a year of close AAPG involvement and a chance to work with many new people.
Edward B. Picou Jr., a candidate for treasurer of AAPG, is a consultant biostratigrapher in New Orleans.
A native of Baton Rouge, La., he received his bachelor's degree in geology from Louisiana State University in 1955 and served two years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Korea.
Picou began his career with Shell Oil in 1957 in its South Louisiana exploration division in Baton Rouge. In 1965 he became division paleontologist of its Southwest Louisiana exploration division in Lafayette and moved to Houston in 1969 as Houston exploration division paleontologist.
In mid-1969 he was appointed division paleontologist for Shell Offshore's exploration division in New Orleans -- a position he held until 1989, when he was promoted to exploration consultant.
He retired from Shell in 1991 after more then 34 years of service, most of which focused on exploration and production activities in the Gulf of Mexico. He has been active as a consulting biostratigrapher since leaving Shell.
A member of AAPG since 1955, he has served on the Stratigraphic Correlation Committee (COSUNA) from 1976-1982, Committee on Conventions in 1984-1985, the Convention Coordinating Committee in 1975-1976 and 1984-1985 for annual meetings held in New Orleans.
He was a member of the AAPG House of Delegates in 1980-1983 and 1991-1994, and was recently elected to serve another term for 1999-2002. In 1993-1994 he was chairman of the House's Rules and Procedures Committee.
In 1979-1980 he served the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) as vice president, after having been president of their Gulf Coast Section in 1973-1974, and president of their North American Micropaleontology Section in 1982-83. Since 1995 he has been chairman of an ad hoc committee of the Gulf Coast Section of SEPM known as the Taxonomic Equivalency Project. He currently is a trustee of the Gulf Coast Section SEPM Foundation.
For the past three years he has been the chairman of the AAPG Gulf Coast Section of an ad hoc committee in charge of digitizing the GCAGS Transactions volumes for CD-ROM, and the World Wide Web.
He received an Honorary Membership Award from the GCAGS in 1995.
Active in the New Orleans Geological Society and serving on many committees with NOGS, he served as the society's president in 1992-1993, was awarded Honorary Membership in 1994 and received its Outstanding Service Award in 1996-1997. For the past three years he has been a director of the society. Picou also has served as editor of the society'smonthly newsletter (NOGS LOG) since 1994. He was vice chairman-technical for the 1997 GCAGS convention.
Picou has been a member of the Division of Professional Affairs since 1992, and a member of the AAPG Foundation Trustees Associates since 1994.
He received the AAPG Distinguished Service Award in 1999.
Why I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate for AAPG Office
By Edward B. Picou Jr.
As a member of the Association for 44 years, I have always considered membership in AAPG essential to my career in the petroleum industry. For me it is the premier organization to which all geologists should belong.
Through these decades of membership I have had the opportunity to encourage many colleagues to join the Association and become active in its programs and meetings. As we move forward in the new millennium I believe it is imperative for all geoscientists to reach out and become involved in their local, national and international professional organizations -- and AAPG heads the list. To be invited to stand for office in the Association is an honor and privilege.
Throughout its 82-year history AAPG has undergone many changes. Most of these have been directed at ways and means to better serve members. Without a doubt more changes are destined for our future. Just as innovations in technology are revolutionizing essentially every facet of our industry, so are these changes impacting its members and their needs of the Association.
However, because of the diverse ages of the membership, the Association must devise strategies to fulfill the needs of all members, yet do so while maintaining reasonable annual dues.
From my perspective the membership can be divided into two categories -- those who use computers and those who don't. Perhaps one might think it is a generational situation; however, I can assure you it is not. More and more senior members are now computer literate because they have realized the efficiencies that can be gained by their usage.
We live in a world today where the transfer of information is most effectively achieved through electronic means. AAPG is meeting this challenge by continually enhancing the AAPG Internet home page, where members can access an enormous amount of information on what is going on in the Association, as well as accessing EXPLORER and BULLETIN articles.
Frequent access of the AAPG home page gives members a sense of participation in the organization and affords the opportunity to communicate with colleagues around the world.
In my year as a candidate for treasurer I will attend as many Section meetings of the Association as possible. My goal is to discuss with attendees how we might be able to improve member services in substantive ways, both in the electronic realm as well as in conventional methods.
I have been active in AAPG in many ways through the years and welcome the challenge to serve the Association in a leadership position should I be elected.