There were always two love stories going on. “Our first date was a geology field trip, Linda and I shared a sandwich on an outcrop.”
That comes from this year’s winner of the Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award, Charles A. Sternbach, and the Linda to whom he refers is Linda Sternbach, his spouse, a geoscientist in her own right, and someone who’s been with him on every step of his geological journey.
She is the first love.
His second?
Let’s put it this way. His email name is “Carbodude.”
AAPG gives the Halbouty Award for exceptional leadership in the petroleum geosciences and past winners, including the most important names in Geology. The award speaks to their commitment, focus and passion for teaching and leading geologists. And to that extent, Sternbach fits right in.
But this is more of a love story.
“In graduate school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Linda and I took turns as AAPG Student Chapter president. We organized department seminars, and attendance soared. Recruiting speakers is a talent we share that has come in handy for AAPG and affiliated societies. We run an exploration company together and are field trip partners for life,” said Sternbach.
Sternbach, who has a master’s and a doctorate in geology from RPI, did his undergraduate work at Columbia University in New York. After university, he was first a staff geologist for Shell Oil Company, then exploration manager for Tom Jordan at Jordan Oil and Gas before becoming president of First Place Energy. Currently, he is president of Star Creek Energy and has been since 2004, as well as an adjunct professor and energy fellow at the University of Houston.
“I never met a subject I liked better than geology,” he said.
Tying It All Together
Sternbach’s career and the indelible mark he continues to leave on AAPG cannot be overstated. He joined the organization in 1980, helped to make it the international association it is today, and, among other accolades, received its Honorary Life Membership in 2011. He was elected its 101st president in 2017.
When it comes to the AAPG mission, he is proud of the organization and his place in it.
“AAPG’s core is petroleum geoscience and professionalism – new ways to produce energy, preserve the environment and improve economics have evolved around this mission. A reliable petroleum baseload will enable energy additions long into the future,” he said.
He calculates he has dedicated more than 15,000 hours to hands-on petro-positive programs, such as the Discovery Thinking forum, the “Legends in Wildcatting” panel discussions, Playmakers, the Super Basins conferences and “Giant Field” Memoirs 113 and 125.
When he speaks of them, the excitement in his voice is noticeable, even if you’re just reading about it in his correspondence.
“As in the movie ‘Field of Dreams,’ we built it, and 500-plus fellow content creators and tens of thousands of attendees came. Together, we achieved audacious comfort-stretching goals that packed the house, made money for the host organization, and built a legacy,” he said.
As to the notion of leadership, he said it embodies a process, a continuity of sorts between past, present and future.
“A friend,” he said, “recently asked how I get so many people to volunteer for projects. Inspiring volunteers is easy – just add leadership,” said Sternbach.
That formula for leadership, he explained, is as follows:
“Step 1: Hard work. I don’t ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t or haven’t done myself. Given my service record, it seems I can ask anyone to do almost anything.
“Step 2: Personal relationships. Organizations don’t volunteer. People do. And people need respect, support and credit. The best mentoring occurs working alongside others on worthwhile projects.
“Step 3: Set geoscience goals that unite and motivate. People want their time and efforts to produce tangible results that benefit them and their community.”
He said his work at AAPG has provided him with something else: contentment and fellowship.
“My initiatives have been analog-driven at various scales: human, field, play and basin, and have brought me great joy in building relationships with fellow content creators and appreciative attendees.”
Of those initiatives, he has a special place in his heart and mind for the Discovery Thinking forums.
“With a long history of excellent co-chairs (current co-chair Mike Forrest), we have put on 29 DT forums, 12,000 attendees and 183 speakers (and co-authors). I have been at the podium for 16-plus years, ensuring integrated case histories and analogs of success to inspire us all,” said Sternbach.
Heritage Is What Stands
He said the Association and industry should always keep its past within sight and reach.
“Energy professionals need to master petroleum-rich basins where new recovery methods and changing conditions continue to provide evolving energy opportunities,” he said.
These mature basins are also analogs for frontier basins, he explained, which require new looks with innovative engineering, seismic imaging and geologic concepts.
“I recommend that the 21st-century geologist study the 20 global basins described in four Super Basin special issues of the AAPG Bulletin and the many basin overview videos on the AAPG website,” Sternbach said.
As for the rocky road ahead in the industry, including the decline in enrollment among geology majors, he suggests focusing on “the good AAPG does, the geoscience that unites us and work on consensus goals to constantly improve.”
One of the ways to do that is to inspire members with measurable results, he offered.
“It can be done by doing the right things with the right people in the right order. We need to plan courageously for long-term goals beyond the high-frequency oscillations of a cyclic industry. We need discipline to stay the course and follow our mission closely,” he said.
His heroes in the business are the content creators and oil and gas finders, including but not limited to Tom Jordan, Professor Gerry Friedman, Marlan Downey, Norman Rowlinson and Bob Gunn.
“Jeff Lund, Deborah Sacrey, Jim Gibbs and Paul Sigmund have been long-term friends and I thank fellow content creators Dick Bishop, Bob Fryklund, Pete Stark, Mike Party, Bob Merrill, Claudio Bartolini, John Dolson, Paul Weimer, Ed Dolly and Katya Casey,” he said.
To Sternbach, the Halbouty Award is another opportunity to get out the message of the profession’s beauty and importance.
“This award allows me to say to you: give a technical presentation, write a scientific paper and organize a geoscience program. Plan to build your brand and improve your geoscience relevancy on AAPG platforms like IMAGE, Datapages and Search and Discovery,” he said.
But this award is also deeply personal, and it has to do with the man for whom it is named: Michel T. Halbouty
Sternbach met the legendary geologist and author of “Wildcatter” in 1997 at a panel in which Halbouty was featured.
“I sat in the front row and took ten pages of notes,” he said.
A field trip ensued.
“I was first on the bus and ended up sitting with Mike. That was the beginning of many extended conversations,” he added.
Through the years, they shared meals at Halbouty’s dedicated tables in restaurants throughout Houston where a deep bond between the two formed.
“Our discussions always trended to wildcatting and AAPG,” said Sternbach.
The connection was so strong that Halbouty, when he knew he was dying, asked Sternbach to speak at his funeral.
“Now that Mike is in Heaven with Saint Peter, he has undoubtedly seen all the maps of undiscovered oil and gas fields in the world,” Sternbach said at the service. “I raised my hands and eyes upward and asked, ‘Mike, can you please send a clue to your friends down here who are still searching and struggling?’”
Even as he sat on that outcrop with Linda decades ago, sharing a sandwich, Sternbach knew there was nothing else he wanted to do with his life and nobody else he wanted to do it with.
“A valuable lesson from Mike Halbouty is his imperative regarding heritage. The geoscience we have available to us is a great gift to all geoscientists. AAPG provides us with an incredible foundational library searchable at our fingertips where we can quickly learn about areas and topics that others may have studied for years. This heritage is not free, and this is the part that must not be forgotten: it is our obligation to leave our heritage better than we found it,” he said.
Very much channeling his old friend, Sternbach said, “Let’s all strive for excellence in geoscience that unites us and leaves our geologic heritage better than we found it, as Michel Halbouty challenged us to do.”
For Sternbach, “carbodude” isn’t just an email name.