It is hard to believe that a new year already has begun, and my tenure as president of the DPA is half over. I guess it's true that time flies when you are having fun!
Several noteworthy items concerning DPA business have happened since the last time we wrote for the EXPLORER, the most important being that we have a director for the GEO-DC Washington office.
The GEO-DC Board of Governors and AAPG Executive Director Rick Fritz evaluated 10 very qualified candidates for the GEO-DC position during October. I was amazed at the quality and breadth of experience that the candidates had in their resumes.
However, there was one person who really stood out from the crowd when it came to the needs of the AAPG (and DPA!) and the definitions within the business plan. This person is Don Juckett, who got his Ph.D. in organic chemistry, but who has worked in all aspects of the "oil patch."
Don spent 14 years with Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Okla., providing technical and research support for prospects in the North Sea, Europe, the Middle East, South America, Africa, Indonesia and China. He also worked in exploration and production, mainly through the research and development department, providing technical support for 30 plays in the United States.
He eventually managed the staff responsible for technology transfer, R&D activities and field support for five worldwide divisions.
Don left Phillips in 1988 and started working in the government arena. He worked in various capacities for the Department of Fossil Energy, starting as director of the Office of Geoscience Research, to finally being director for the Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Import and Export Activities.
Then, in 2003, Don became a member of the board of directors of the Far East Energy Corp., a Houston-based E&P company with about 1.5 million acres of coal bed methane leases in central China.
He also is a consultant on natural gas and oil data.
As soon as he formally accepted the position he hit the ground running, attending the National Academy of Science Committee on Earth Resources meeting. He already has identified several opportunities for AAPG to seek grants through activities ongoing with this committee.
I believe Don will be a real asset to the membership of the AAPG and DPA, and hope everyone will give him a warm welcome to our organization!
DPA held its mid-year meeting in Houston Nov. 12. This is really the only time, other than the annual meeting, the board meets and conducts DPA business. We had a surprisingly good attendance, given the proximity to Thanksgiving and the distances that members had to travel.
One of the major items discussed were changes to the Bylaws made necessary by the creation of the new membership level -- Board Certified. The Bylaws changes are still being "tweaked" at this point, but the DPA membership should expect to see a ballot for the changes in the near future.
Another item of business to occur is the approval of the people receiving honors and awards, and the slate of officer candidates. At the time of this writing the EC of AAPG has not yet approved the slate of officer candidates, so I cannot mention any names. However, I can tell you the names of the excellent and deserving people receiving DPA honors and awards:
- The Life Member Award is being presented to Donald E. Lawson.
- The Distinguished Service Award is going to be presented to Rick L. Ericksen.
- The DPA Heritage Award is going to William L. Fisher.
- The Past President's Award will be given to J. Michael Party.
- Certificates of Merit will be presented to Debra Rutan (treasurer, 1998-2000); Jeffery C. Greenawalt (treasurer 2004-06); and Daniel J. Tearpock, for his work on the Reserve Evaluator Committee.
These are excellent nominations, and I thank Terry Hollrah and his committee for the work they did in coming up with these recipients.
I guess I had better close (as the editor gives me word limits!) by saying the DPA has some great events at the annual meeting coming up next April in Houston -- so stay tuned for more information in the next column!