In 2020, the TWA Editorial Board launched a new concept under the TWA banner called the "TWA Energy Influencers: Young Professionals Who Energize Our Industry.” Since then, 73 young professionals (YP) have received the distinction of being named a TWA Energy Influencer.
Hear from three TWA Energy Influencers, Natan Battisti (2025), Cassandra Dewan (2022), and Pushpesh Sharma (2020).
How has winning this award impacted your career or professional opportunities?
Natan Battisti (NB): Being recognized is always meaningful, especially when it reflects the work we do for society through the oil and gas industry. I have always been passionate about what we do, and early in my career I gained clarity on why oil and gas will continue to be needed for decades and beyond. For example, my dad’s tractor still needs a lot of diesel to produce foods.
Through LinkedIn and other platforms, I have consistently shared my views about energy, particularly at a time when they represented a clear minority. My goal was never to convince everyone, but to keep an open, respectful, and fact-based debate alive. I wanted to highlight that energy security matters, that energy priorities are defined locally rather than globally, and that young professionals have a role beyond SPE, universities, or companies. We also have a responsibility to engage with our communities, explain the difference between power and energy, and reinforce why diversity of energy sources has been, is, and will continue to be critical.
I believe this award recognized the impact of that effort and, more importantly, gave me additional motivation to continue doing it.
Cassandra Dewan (CD): Winning the SPE TWA Energy Influencers Award in 2022 was a pivotal inflection point in my career. It elevated my visibility beyond the traditional YP space and positioned me within broader international industry conversations around process optimization, digitalization, and energy transition. This visibility supported my transition from serving as SPE Young Member Engagement Committee Chair (2022–2023) to incoming chair of the SPE ATCE Energy Transition Subcommittee (2023–2024).
It opened doors externally, including opportunities to contribute to panels across regions such as Africa and the Middle East, collaborate across industry networks such as AAPG and the Society for Low Carbon Technologies, and take on more active leadership roles within SPE, including serving as SPE Leadership Development Committee Chair (2024–2025).
Equally important, the award reinforced credibility and accelerated trust, enabling me to contribute more meaningfully to technical and strategic discussions and supported my appointment to the board of directors of the SPE Sustainable Development Technical Section (SDTS) in 2023.
Overall, the recognition acknowledged my contributions and gave me a stronger platform to drive impact, both within the organizations I am part of and across the broader industry.
Pushpesh Sharma (PS): When I received the TWA Energy Influencers recognition in 2020 as part of the inaugural cohort, I had just finished my PhD and was early in my career at a data analytics startup. The timing mattered more than I realized. The award gave me something that's hard to earn on your own: external validation that the unconventional path I was on, bridging data science and energy, actually resonated with the broader community.
That confidence was transformative. It changed how I showed up in SPE and in my professional life more broadly. I went from being someone who attended events and contributed papers to someone who actively shaped the conversation around data and AI in energy.
The recognition gave me the confidence to reach out to people I admired, to initiate collaborations I might have otherwise talked myself out of, and to network with intention rather than hesitation.
I started getting involved in SPE workshops, leading technical programming for conferences, and leading the SPE GCS Data Analytics Study Group. That trajectory eventually led me to chair the SPE Data Science and Engineering Analytics Technical Section with 12,000+ professional members and 2,500+ student members.
Looking back, I don't think that version of my career exists without the TWA recognition as a catalyst.
C. Susan Howes has recommended having an “awards nomination posse,” a committee of four to five people that works to match candidates with the awards that best suit them. What advice do you have for YPs to help them connect and form a nomination posse for awards like the TWA Energy Influencers award and other SPE awards?
NB: I agree that this can be a very effective approach. At the same time, we must be careful not to turn awards into recognition for simply being the loudest person in the room or part of a close circle of friends. Nominations should be grounded in facts and tangible impact, ensuring that the award truly reflects value delivered.
Having a nomination posse should help balance perspectives, reduce bias, and ultimately improve the quality of nominations. It encourages more thoughtful discussions around why someone deserves recognition and what makes their contribution meaningful.
Suggesting someone for an award is, in many ways, similar to mentoring. While receiving an award is gratifying, recognizing others can be even more impactful.
CD: Recognition plays a critical role, especially for students and YPs. It creates a sense of inclusion, builds confidence, and motivates continued engagement within SPE.
In my experience, some of the most effective nominations come from strong peer networks. Over the past several years, we developed an informal nomination posse where we actively supported and nominated each other for opportunities. This created a culture where achievements were recognized rather than overlooked, strengthening both individual growth and the broader community.
Having a nomination posse is valuable because it allows you to share experiences and lessons learned from previous nominations, refine how you position impact, and strengthen the overall quality of submissions. It also helps ensure that strong candidates are not missed simply because they did not self-nominate or were unaware of the opportunity.
My advice to YPs is to be intentional about building this network. Stay connected within your section, region, standing committees, and technical sections, openly support your peers, and do not hesitate to advocate for one another. Often, others can see and articulate your impact more clearly than you can yourself.
PS: I think the most important thing is to realize that a nomination posse isn't something you build for awards. It's something that forms naturally when you invest in genuine professional relationships. The people who nominated me and supported my candidacy were colleagues I had collaborated with on research at the University of Houston (UH), fellow volunteers who I served alongside in the SPE UH Student Chapter, and mentors who watched my work over time.
My practical advice: start by being someone else's posse first. Nominate a peer whose work you admire for the TWA Energy Influencers award. Write that recommendation letter for a colleague. Champion someone for SPE awards or publicly on LinkedIn. When you consistently advocate for others, you build a network of people who understand the value of recognition and are naturally inclined to reciprocate.
Beyond that, get involved in SPE at the regional or technical section or student chapter level, not just as an attendee, but as an organizer or volunteer. Those working relationships produce the kind of people who can speak credibly to your impact because they've witnessed it firsthand. And don't limit your posse to people who look like you or work in your exact discipline. Some of my strongest advocates came from completely different technical and cultural backgrounds.
As SPE student members transition into SPE professional membership as YPs, what is the importance of participating in programs and initiatives like the TWA Energy Influencers award early in one’s career?
NB: I see this more as an outcome than a goal. YPs should not work with the objective of winning awards. Instead, they should focus on being their best selves and serving their companies and society with purpose. Producing energy in a safe, reliable, and responsible way is already a meaningful contribution.
An informal mentor once gave me advice when I asked how to grow during times of uncertainty. The response was simple but powerful: be so good they cannot ignore you. I think that mindset is far more important early in a career than any recognition, as awards tend to follow impactful and consistent work rather than lead it.
CD: Participating in programs and initiatives like the TWA Energy Influencers award early in your career is important because it builds visibility. Opportunities often come from being known for your work and impact, not just from who you know. It also helps you build your personal brand.
Developing a professional identity that complements your role within your organization allows you to be recognized for your individual contributions, making you more marketable and positioning you to shape your own legacy within the industry and within SPE.
Equally important, it provides early exposure to industry leaders, cross-functional work, and global perspectives, which can significantly accelerate your learning curve and professional growth.
PS: I think about this in terms of compounding. Early in your career, every bit of visibility, every connection, every piece of recognition sits in your professional portfolio and earns interest. The TWA recognition I received in 2020 was built on years of prior SPE involvement as a student member: presenting papers, volunteering at conferences, engaging with the SPE Gulf Coast Section (even just as an attendee at SPE GCS events).
None of those felt like major career moves at the time. But each one created the conditions for the next.
What the award did was accelerate the compounding rate. Suddenly, senior leaders knew my name before I introduced myself. Peers across the globe became collaborators. Opportunities to lead started coming to me instead of me having to chase them. That acceleration is what I would like students transitioning into professional membership to understand. The value of programs like the TWA Energy Influencers award isn't the award itself. It's the compounding effect it has on everything that comes after.
TWA recently opened the nominations for the 2026 TWA Energy Influencers. Click here to nominate a YP in the oil and gas industry (under the age of 35) who has displayed excellence and integrity, or demonstrated innovation, social responsibility, sustainability, and passion for safety. Nominations are open until 1 July 2026.
