I am frequently asked how I got on the SPE Board of Directors or how somebody else can do so. Many people have mentioned to me that they feel that the Board is a “black box” or “insiders’ club.” I can understand how that can be the perception, but let me see if I can open that box a bit and provide some additional information about the workings of the Board and what came out of our most recent meeting at ATCE in Houston in late October. Transparency is a good thing!
The Basics of the Board
First, let’s start with the basics. The SPE Board of Directors is the policymaking and governing body for SPE International. These are volunteer positions. No one on the Board is paid for their time except the SPE CEO/EVP, who is the link between the Board and SPE staff. The volunteer status distinguishes Board members from the SPE staff, who are full-time employees of the Society and, of course, are compensated for their time.
The Board is made up of 21 members divided into three groups: the Officers, the Regional Directors (RDs), and the Technical Directors (TDs). The Officers consist of four positions: the current, incoming and outgoing SPE Presidents, and the SPE CEO/EVP. The Regional Directors include 11 members representing our geographical regions around the world. There are also six Technical Directors who represent SPE’s eight technical disciplines. Each Board member serves a 3-year term (except for the SPE CEO/EVP). The members of the 2026 Board are listed here. Given the 3-year terms, approximately one-third of the Board rotates off each year.
The Board’s composition has evolved over time to reflect changes in SPE membership, both by region and by technical disciplines. For instance, Technical Director positions were added in 2000 to address the increasing need for a focus on worldwide technological exchanges, not just regional ones. At that time, there were just two TDs representing Drilling and Reservoir. Prior to that, all director positions on the Board were strictly Regional Directors. Additionally, as technological priorities shifted, so did the assignments and number of TDs.
For example, I started on the Board as the Production & Operations (P&O) TD when there were also Drilling & Completions and Projects, Facilities, and Construction (PFC) TDs. I ended as the first Completions TD, with Drilling becoming standalone, PFC combined with P&O under one TD, and the addition of what would ultimately become the Data Science and Engineering Analytics (DSEA) TD. In no way was this meant to slight P&O; it was strictly due to membership numbers and the need to rebalance the expansion and contraction of current technical topics at that time.
Likewise, the number of RDs and the areas they oversee have varied over time. You might have seen Olivier Houzé’s column in February 2025 on membership showing the shifting demographics of SPE membership in our SPE regions. Starting around 2014–2015, we observed a shift in decreasing membership from Europe and North America, with an increasing membership in the Middle East North Africa, Asia Pacific, and Africa regions. Therefore, starting in 2017, the Board began to shift the number of RDs representing these regions to eventually arrive at what we currently have today.
The overall Board size has also varied as SPE evolved over the years, from the early days of SPE having Board membership in single digits and, at one time, the Board growing to more than 30 members. There are always ongoing discussions as to what is the right size of the Board to adequately represent the broad diversity of SPE membership, but at the same time, allowing the Board to be nimble enough to actually function. The current blend and total of 21 members seem to work well for now, but I have no doubt that changes will be made down the road as SPE membership needs and focuses evolve.
How the Board Functions
The SPE Board conducts three major 3-day meetings a year with all Board members present in person. These meetings are held at various locations, generally early in the calendar year and early/mid-summer, but one is always held on the days just prior to ATCE.
These major meetings are conducted in person to maximize Board discussions, facilitate interactions with local SPE members and companies, and provide business development opportunities for the Society. Given the diversity of our membership, the various cultures in which we interact, and the need to understand local concerns, these meetings provide all Board members—not just the one RD representative—with tremendous insight. In addition to these three major meetings, Board members attend multiple virtual meetings throughout the year based on the committees on which they serve and for other necessities. Short-term work groups are also frequently convened when a specific topic requires more in-depth analysis and discussion than can be accomplished during the 3 days. These work groups include both Board members and non-Board members, depending on the requirements of the work group topic.
Operationally, the Board is divided into two major committees, the Technical Content (TC) Committee and the Membership & Engagement (M&E) Committee. Each of the Board members, sans the current president and the SPE CEO/EVP, serves on either the TC or M&E Committee. As the names might imply, the Technical Content Committee oversees such areas as OnePetro, JPT, and events, while the Membership & Engagement Committee oversees member offerings such as the Distinguished Lecturer Program, awards, and section/chapter topics. Additionally, 12 SPE Standing Committees each report to one of these two major Board committees. At each of the three major Board meetings, each of these two major committees have parallel day‑long sessions, where the lion’s share of the work is accomplished before presenting it to the full Board.
There are also formal Board committees for Finance, Audit, Nominations, and Compensation, which have varying memberships aligned with their objectives and the Board’s bylaws. The Finance Committee is chaired by the outgoing President and oversees the SPE annual budget and the Society’s investment portfolio. The Audit Committee directs the internal and external audit requirements for SPE and includes non-Board, at-large membership. The Compensation Committee oversees compensation for the senior members of SPE staff. The Nominating Committee consists of Board members in their third year of Board service, as well as non-Board members, and oversees the provision of nominations for the following year’s slate of new incoming Board members (more on this later).
In addition to the formal committees, time is set aside at each meeting for the TDs and RDs to meet as individual groups to discuss topics that are pertinent to them and their Board duties. Topics discussed by the RDs generally include best practices, new ideas that they’ve seen work in their regions, concerns that have been raised to them by SPE members, SPE sections or student chapters, and other timely topics. TDs also focus on best practices observed across various Technical Section operations, how different technical disciplines can collaborate, and where gaps may exist in SPE’s technical offerings.
Any recommendations that come from the TC, M&E, Audit, Finance, Nominations, and Compensation committees must be presented and approved by the full Board before they are official. Meetings follow established organizational practices, with Robert’s Rules of Order applied as procedural reference when necessary.
So, if you’ve completely lost track of things, here is a summary of Board meetings:
- Three major Board meetings a year
- Day 1—Finance and Audit committees meet; TDs and RDs each meet as separate groups; interactions with local stakeholders are conducted.
- Day 2—Technical Content and Membership & Engagement committees each meet concurrently.
- Day 3—Official Board of Directors Meeting, where all recommendations from other committees are voted on. The Board of Directors Meeting is open to any SPE member to attend in person and observe the proceedings.
- In between the three major annual Board meetings, the following take place:
- Committee meetings as necessary
- Work group meetings as necessary
- Additional duties carried out by the individual Board members as required by their positions
Communication Workflows
Now that you have the basics of how the Board works in general, let’s talk about how information, data, and other insights flow up to individual Board members and Board committees.
To start with, there are the 12 standing committees that manage various functions of SPE and report to one of the two major Board committees on their activities. Three standing committees report to the Technical Content Committee, including the ATCE Program Committee, the Forum Series Coordinating Committee, and the Oil & Gas Reserves Committee. Nine standing committees report to the Membership & Engagement Committee (Awards & Recognition, Leadership Development, Distinguished Lecturer, Diversity & Inclusion, Education & Accreditation, Engineering Professionalism, Membership, Student Development, and Young Professionals).
If you’re curious about these standing committees and their specific charges, you can find more information here. Each standing committee averages around 15 to 25 members from around the world, and several have additional subcommittees for various reasons. For instance, the Awards & Recognition Standing Committee has 19 subcommittees to manage the numerous international awards that SPE bestows on its members each year.
Turning to the individual Board positions, the six TDs also have different groups that provide them with feedback related directly to the eight SPE technical disciplines they represent. First, each TD has an advisory committee that provides them with feedback, suggestions, and recommendations. No one person can be an expert in everything, and these advisory committees help to make sure that all sectors of a technical discipline are being represented. Additionally, each TD interacts with whichever of the 24 SPE Technical Sections that fall into their sphere of responsibility.
On the RD side of things, it varies somewhat due to the needs of that region and the diversity and culture in that area, but RDs communicate with their regional constituents via Section officer meetings, emails, and blogs.
As an SPE member, if you’re not getting email updates for your region, make sure you are set up to receive them in your SPE profile. If you don’t want to receive the emails, but still want to read the various blogs and other updates, you can access them directly from the Board of Directors webpage here by clicking on your RD’s profile.
Additionally, most regions have Advisory Councils that interact with the RDs to provide both company and individual member perspectives. Members of these Advisory Councils are often senior professionals in their companies and experienced SPE members. Given the importance of corporate sponsorship to SPE, the Advisory Councils provide a voice to the RDs and, ultimately, the Board by representing that constituency.
Fig. 1 is my attempt at showing how all these committees, councils, companies, and individuals feed information to the Board. It is a rough estimate, but as I count it, there are roughly 1,500 individual members providing feedback directly to the Board members via these various routes, and that’s just the first degree of separation. Incidentally, serving on one or more of these committees or councils is a great way to become more involved at the international level, and is almost imperative for anyone who aspires to eventually serve on the Board.
Serving on the Board
Now, returning to the Nominations Committee. As mentioned, this committee consists of Board members in their third year of Board service, as well as three members-at-large. Per SPE’s Bylaws (which can be reviewed here), the Nominating Committee is “responsible for nominating candidates for President-Elect and successors to any director whose term is expiring.” These candidates are selected from an open nomination process and as stated in the bylaws, “the Committee shall give first consideration to those persons who have qualified themselves for office by virtue of prior service to the Corporation (SPE).”
Circling back to my opening statements about an “insiders’ club,” this is why the nomination process might appear to be such—people that serve on the Board have already been extremely active in SPE and, depending on what activities you are involved in, you have likely seen them time and time again. In fact, all positions—President, RDs, and TDs—have specific qualifications that candidates must meet, as listed here. Although by no means an exhaustive list, these qualifications include significant prior SPE service, an overall understanding of the Society, management support for the time commitment (average of 5 or more hours per week), commitment to attend all the Board meetings, and an ability to strategically think for a worldwide organization. (For the full list of requirements, I again refer to the qualifications listed on the nomination page here.)
I will unequivocally stress that nominations are open to all SPE members who meet the qualifications for a given position. No one is ever preselected for any of the positions, and I encourage you—if you are interested, meet the necessary requirements, and can dedicate the time needed to serve (a very critical component; consider everything you have read to this point in this article)—to submit your nomination here. SPE needs passionate people that are willing to serve the Society and its membership!
Once all nominations are submitted, each RD or TD whose position will be filled in the coming year convenes a subcommittee consisting of SPE members that represent that specific area to review the applications for that position. For instance, an RD’s subcommittee may have Section Chairs from their region on their subcommittee and/or seek input from their regional Advisory Council. Whereas a TD’s subcommittee may consist of representatives from their Advisory Committees or Technical Sections officers. After performing their evaluations of all nominees and having associated discussions, these subcommittees submit two to three (sometimes four) finalists to the Nominations Committee for final consideration.
For the President position, the Nominations Committee reviews the applications as a whole and selects two to three finalists. Video-recorded interviews of these finalists are then conducted by the current and outgoing Presidents using a consistent set of questions. All members of the Nominations Committee then review these videos. The finalists for each position are then discussed by the Nominations Committee and written, confidential ballot votes are taken for each position to select the final nominee that will be taken forward to the SPE membership via publication in JPT. The Nominations Committee strives to recommend a slate of final nominees who represent the diversity of the organization, demonstrate the skills needed for SPE, possess knowledge of the Society, understand the fiduciary duties of serving, and, of course, meet all requirements for that position as outlined in the Bylaws.
Once the final nominees, put forward by the Nominations Committee for each position, are approved by the full Board of Directors, they are published in JPT, and a 45-day period begins during which members petition to add additional nominees to the slate provided by the Nominations Committee. The requirements to add an additional nominee vary slightly by the position, and the details for each (e.g., President, RD, or TD) are outlined in the SPE Bylaws. If additional nominations are received that have both the appropriate qualifications and secure the number of required signatures as stated in the Bylaws, an election is subsequently held for that position or positions. As required by the SPE Bylaws, the election is conducted by a third party hired by SPE. If an election is held for a position, the nominee that receives the plurality of the votes in the election is declared elected by the Board of Directors and subsequently takes that position on the Board.
The timing of this column is intentional, as the nominations cycle for the new positions for 2026–2028 are now open. Nomination packages for the 2028 President position are due 8 January 2026, and for the open RD/TD positions on 23 January 2026. These open RD and TD positions include the TD for Data Science and Engineering Analytics and the RDs for Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America (Canada and Rocky Mountain), and Russia and the Caspian.
And if you aren’t eligible or the timing isn’t right in your career, consider applying in the future. The timing for each annual nomination cycle is fairly consistent, with submission packages being required in January.
How Can You Get Involved?
Obviously, not every single SPE member can sit directly on the SPE Board of Directors (nor likely has the time required or desire to do so). But as you can see in Fig. 1, there are multiple ways to serve the Society and have your voice heard. Get involved or run for office in your local section or one of the 24 technical sections. Volunteer to serve as a technical editor for SPE Journal. Indicate your interest in serving on one of the Standing Committees via the SPE Volunteer Portal. Reach out to your Regional Director or your Section officers for suggestions or opportunities. There are multiple ways to be involved in SPE at any stage of your career. You can check out many of these opportunities here. And as a former SPE President once told me, as people see your passion and ability and willingness to contribute, additional opportunities will continue to come your way. And if, ultimately, you do want to run for the Board of Directors, that is brilliant, and this type of service is what will make you an excellent candidate!
Highlights of the Board Meeting at ATCE in October 2025
Summary slides for the official Board of Directors meetings are always provided on this website with significant detail, and I’d encourage you to take a look if you are interested. However, I want to take this opportunity to point out a few items that the Board approved and/or discussed at ATCE that may be of interest to you (in no particular order).
- A new Publications Ethics Policy was approved.
- A new model and pricing structure for Section Event publishing was approved, providing three options for TC-approved, section-organized regional conferences to publish papers in OnePetro. These options require that the events meet defined SPE criteria and standards and are designed to ensure that SPE International’s technical quality requirements—including plagiarism checks—are maintained and that SPE International’s costs are fully recovered.
- Dubai was approved as the location for ATCE 2028.
- The Business and Leadership Committee was renamed the Leadership Development Committee to better reflect their activities.
- The RD structure was reviewed to verify that different regions and their membership populations were being adequately served. No changes were recommended until the new strategic plan is developed in the coming year.
- A new program called “NextGen: Early Career Lecture” was approved to provide SPE students and young professionals with the opportunity to present and learn from each other on their experiences and expertise. This is a virtual-only program with minimal associated startup costs.
- A work group was formed to review the Distinguished Lecturer program and verify that it is currently optimized and serves the members as it should be. It has been quite some time since this program was evaluated, and as a flagship program, we want to ensure that it continues to perform optimally as one of SPE members’ more prized programs.
- Approval was given to develop a student dues structure to be implemented in 2027. This dues requirement will help offset student program costs while enhancing engagement with the target groups. Country groups, student-level standing, and other components are being considered in the structure.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into the overall workings of your SPE Board of Directors. Again, a reminder that nominations for Board positions for 2026–2028 are open now. And as always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, you can contact the SPE President at President@spe.org.
