When I last wrote, I was getting ready to go to the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Kuala Lumpur. The IPTC organization shares its conferences with AAPG, the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Society of Petroleum Engineers as partners, and as such, each of the presidents were invited to participate in a panel session in the morning on the first day. The theme for the conference this year was: “Energy For All: Reflect, Innovate, Evolve.” While the panel was about future visions for the upstream oil and gas business and how each organization was prepared to move into “transition” space, the most fun was being swamped at the end by students wanting selfies and pictures – and hugs!
Each year the IPTC sponsors about 50 students to attend the conference. This year there were almost 500 applicants from all over the world. The criterion for consideration is membership in a student chapter of one of the sponsoring organizations, excellent grades and submission of an essay on why they felt deserving of the scholarship (need, wanting to meet industry leaders, etc.). I met 50 of the brightest, most enthusiastic students you can imagine – most of whom were AAPG student chapter members.
Pinar Yilmaz and her team did an outstanding job! There were about 11,800 attendees and a huge exhibition area. Major sponsors for the event were SLB and Petronas.
I would encourage everyone to try to get to an IPTC event sometime in the future. It was an experience, and who does not love looking at the twin towers of Petronas! Next year’s conference is going to focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning in the upstream portion of the industry.
Executive Director Search Update
I would also like to give you an update on the Executive Director search.
Since December, when our chosen candidate had to turn down the offer because of issues with their present job, we have collected 12 additional applications. The Committee rejected eight and held in-person interviews with the final four on March 10 and 11.
Because of spring break when some Committee members had plans with family, the final (hopefully!) meeting of the Search Committee will be on Monday, March 24 for a decision (as of this writing – it is March 21) on which one or two of the candidates will be presented to the Executive Committee for consideration. I anticipate the “white smoke” to be forthcoming before the first week of April – hopefully before GeoGulf25 is in full swing!
In all, the Committee has reviewed 60 applications and rejected 55. This Committee has dedicated itself to searching for the best person possible to take this particularly significant role in guiding AAPG into the future. This has not been an easy process, because everyone on the Committee has their ideal executive director in mind. But it has been a fair process and thoroughly vetting the pros and cons of each candidate has taken place without too much bias. Jeff Aldrich, Committee chair, has done an outstanding job of guiding the process to this point. Hopefully, by the time you read this commentary, we will have announced the next executive director!
AC Changes
Lastly, there are some changes to the original thoughts about the Advisory Council that are going through the Bylaws review. Instead of eliminating the AC completely, the members will now be appointed instead of elected (saving some money from the election process). The number of councilors will be reduced to just section and region appointees and one past president. Nominations and honors and awards for AAPG will still be a function moved to the House of Delegates, where everyone is elected. The new Nominations and Honors and Awards committees will include the presidents of each division, and the immediate past president will be the chair, but not a voting member. The role of the Advisory Council will be to put together and keep updated the Long-Range Plan for AAPG. They had been doing that until COVID and the battle over mergers and Reimagine took place, so it needs to be revitalized and brought up to date. The AC will also be sent projects or act as an ad hoc committee for the Executive Committee, maybe something like a liaison to regions and sections or AAPG’s standing committees.
There are enough changes being made to the Bylaws this year to warrant two House meetings. There are small ‘clean-up’ issues, such as the use of the corporate seal, as well as larger rewrites mentioned above. The first meeting will be held on May 2 and the second in June, before the end of the fiscal year. The House leadership wants to avoid lengthy meetings, which is also part of the reasoning behind having two meetings instead of one long one, especially for our international delegates who may be attending late at night or early in the morning.
Next month: student chapters and YPs.
Best,
Deborah