C. Susan Howes

C. Susan Howes, PE, PHR, is president at Subsurface Consultants & Associates LLC (SCA) where she is responsible for all facets of the company’s consulting, recruitment, and training services business including maintaining the highest technical quality standards. Howes’ prior experience includes roles of increasing responsibility at Anadarko and Chevron in reservoir engineering, business development, corporate engineering, HR, organizational capability, and reservoir management. She is recognized as an industry leader in petro-technical talent attraction, development, and retention. She has coauthored papers and articles on the topics of ethics, uncertainty management, risk management, and talent management.

Howes holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Texas (UT). She chairs the 2024 Program Committee for SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), chairs the SPE Awards and Recognition Committee, and serves as past-chair of the SPE Management Technical Section.

Howes received the SPE DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal, is an Honorary Member of SPE, and served as a 2019–2020 SPE Distinguished Lecturer. She has served on the Industry Advisory Board, Petroleum Engineering Department at Montana Tech; on the External Advisory Committee, Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at UT; and on the Program Advisory Board, Petroleum Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines.

She is on the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council Board of Directors and chairs the Society of Women Engineers—Houston Area (SWE-HA) Awards Committee. Howes received the 2020 Woman of Excellence award from the Federation of Houston Professional Women and the 2024 SWE-HA Volunteer of the Year Award.