What are your resolutions for the new year?
I have two suggestions.
First, get involved and stay involved with the AAPG. Affiliated societies, sections, regions, committees and divisions all need your involvement. The AAPG is our Association and it is our responsibility as geologists to make it successful.
Second, seek certification from the AAPG Division of Professional Affairs. DPA certification is not a test; it is a peer-reviewed recognition of your skills, ethics, professionalism and experience. We also have a provisional membership for those without the required years of experience. The place to start is our website, AAPG.org/Divisions/DPA.
Our DPA motto, coined by past DPA President Charles Sternbach, sums up the way we should approach our careers: “From prospect to discovery, professionalism leads the way!”
You will not regret keeping these resolutions. It is an investment in your career.
Playmakers Forum
If that’s not sufficient enticement, the DPA has great activities planned for April and May.
First, there is the DPA Playmakers Business Forum on April 4 at the Renaissance Hotel\Cox Center in downtown Oklahoma City, which will be co-chaired by Joel Alberts and Rick Fritz.
Charles Sternbach developed and implemented the first Playmakers several years ago. He presented the idea to the DPA to help broaden our perspective and technical content. This installment of Playmakers will be different because the focus will be the business of the oil and gas, and will be called “Money-Maker Playmaker.”
There are many ways for geoscientists to succeed in the oil and gas industry, but it’s often not easy to get started. What are the right questions to ask? The next Playmakers forum will try to answer those questions. This one-day meeting will feature talks by geologists who will share their history of successes and failures, new emerging trends and a “guided tour” to private equity.
Please mark calendars for it. Thank you, Joel Alberts and Rick Fritz, for chairing this event.
ACE 2019
There are several DPA activities and activities of interest to DPA members scheduled for ACE 2019 in San Antonio, Texas at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and will be co-chaired by Mark Norville and John Jordan.
First is the Discovery Thinking Forum on Monday, May 20.
Like Playmakers, the Discovery Thinking Forum was created by Charles Sternbach. This year’s theme is “Pioneering Discoveries Driving Prosperity.”
Like many, I find the Discovery Thinking forums fascinating because they show how technical expertise, professional skills and persistence are combined to turn prospects into discoveries. Speakers share their personal stories about the process of bringing their ideas forward that lead to discoveries. Topics to be discussed are ExxonMobil Guyana exploration and discovery; discovery of oil in Belize after 50 dry holes; Permian Basin Wolfberry and Wolfbone: “Discovery of world class resources in a mature basin and new insights” and “Discovery to Commerciality of the unconventional Vaca Muerta Shale play in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina.”
This will be the 10th anniversary of the Discovery Thinking Forum and I look forward to seeing your there. Thank you, Charles, for your ideas and the work you put into them.
Next will be the DPA Annual Luncheon on Tuesday, May 21.
Our featured speaker is past DPA President Deborah Sacrey, who has held many other offices in AAPG, SIPES and other organizations. I invited Deborah to be our speaker because she is a great example to all geologists that you can thrive in good and bad times. I believe her greatest qualities are her optimism and belief in herself. The title of her talk is, “Re-inventing Yourself to Stay Relevant in an Ever-Changing Geoscience Technical Climate.”
Thank you, Deborah, for being our featured speaker and thank you, Mark Norville and John Jordan for co-chairing our ACE events.
Robert “Bob” Shoup is also a DPA past president and has been very active AAPG. Bob will chair ACE Session 2, “Deals and Investments Decisions,” which is co-sponsored by the DPA. He also recommends that DPA members attend Session 1: “Opportunity Valuation” and Session 3: “Financing.”
The DPA is fortunate to have had great leadership and volunteers throughout the years. DPA members Charles Sternbach, Rick Fritz, Joe. Alberts, Deborah Sacrey, John Jordan, Mark Norville, Bob Shoup, current DPA officers and committee chairs have provided so much to the AAPG and its membership. We cannot thank them enough for their ideas and time. There are some other folks we sometimes forget, and that is our headquarters staff. Again, there are so many staff members to thank, but I want to especially thank Vicki Beighle, Diane Keim and Karin Alyea for their support to the DPA and the AAPG.
I keep this note pasted to my work station: “Optimism Pays Dividends.” I use it as a constant reminder that optimism is one of the greatest skills we can possess as geologists.
Thank you, and happy New Year.