2024 SPE President
Terry Palisch is the vice president of technology and engineering at CARBO Ceramics in Richardson, Texas. He began his career with ARCO, during which he served 4 years in Algeria and 10 years as a senior petroleum engineer in Alaska. Palisch joined CARBO in 2004 and in his current position leads a team of technologists developing and championing new products and services and advising clients on completion and fracture optimization.
Palisch has been an active SPE member serving in various roles, including past chairman of the SPE Dallas Section, past chair of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) technical program and former SPE Completions Technical Director. He is an SPE Distinguished Member and received the award for Distinguished Service, as well as the SPE Mid‑Continent Regional Completions Optimization and Technology Award and the Regional Service Award.
In 2013, he was named one of the Top 15 Best Engineers by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, and in 2015 he was named the SPE Dallas Section Engineer of the Year. He has authored more than 50 SPE technical papers and holds several patents.
Palisch holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from University of Missouri‑Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) and was recently recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus.
2023 SPE Directors
North America Regional Director
Robert C. Martinez is president and CEO of Titan Rock Exploration & Production and president of Alpine Gas. He has more than 23 years of experience developing and optimizing oil and gas assets throughout the US, including conventional assets, unconventional horizontal development programs, and enhanced oil recovery projects.
Prior to joining Titan Rock and Alpine, Martinez held key leadership roles at public and private operating companies such as XTO Energy, EXCO Resources, and Compass Production Partners. He previously also worked for service companies such as Schlumberger and internationally with Repsol‑YPF.
He has been part of the leadership of the SPE Dallas Section since 2016, in membership, program, and chairperson roles. He has authored two SPE papers related to reservoir modeling and completion design in the Haynesville Shale. He currently serves on the Texas Energy Council Board, Texas A&M’s AggieSTEM Advisory Board, and on the Boy Scouts of America–Circle Ten Council Executive Board.
Martinez holds a BS in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.
Middle East and North Africa Regional Director
Mohamed Al Marzouqi is senior vice president of development at ADNOC Upstream Directorate. He has been with ADNOC since 2005. He joined ZADCO (ADNOC Offshore) as a petroleum engineer in field development to head the maximum-reservoir-contact (MRC) well-design team during which first production began through MRC wells from an artificial island. As a senior manager for reservoir development at ZADCO, he developed reservoir management strategy to redevelop a multibillion-dollar project in the Upper Zakum field through artificial islands. He led the team in the development of integrated reservoir management for ADNOC Group.
He is the first UAE national to win the SPE Middle East Regional Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award. He has served as an SPE Abu Dhabi Section Chairman and has authored more than 10 SPE technical papers and served as a speaker, committee member, and session chair in several conferences and has chaired multiple international symposiums. He has been a member of the ADIPEC Executive Committee since 2017 and the technical program chairman since 2019. Al Marzouqi has served as an IPTC Executive Committee member since 2020 and is currently serving as a member of the SPE Middle East Advisory Council.
He holds a degree in petroleum engineering from the State University of Louisiana in addition to various technical and managerial credentials.
Drilling Technical Director
Robin Macmillan is the chief sales officer at Data Gumbo. He was previously senior vice president for business development at NOV, manager of Schlumberger drilling and measurements in Canada, and president at drill-bit company ReedHycalog. In his early career he worked in offshore and onshore drilling operations in several countries across North and Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. He is the current vice president of drilling services and a member of the Executive Committee at the International Association of Drilling Contractors, where he is also Chair Emeritus of the Advanced Rig Technology Committee and a member of the Drilling Engineering Committee.
Macmillan has published six SPE technical papers focused on drilling technology, chaired an SPE technical forum, and has been a member of the program committee for several editions of the IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, and other SPE events. He has served as vice chair and membership chair of the SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section, where he is currently a board member.
He holds a geology degree from Leeds University in England.
Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability Technical Director
Susan (Sue) Staley is the sustainability director for vPSI Group LLC where she leads the company’s sustainability practice.Prior to joining vPSI, she was the general manager of soil and groundwater technology at Shell and held various positions there during her 18-year tenure. Prior to Shell, she worked as a consultant at ERM. Staley has been an environmental and safety engineer for 30 years.
She currently chairs the SPE International Sustainability and Stewardship in the Oil and Gas Industry Award Committee and has chaired and co-chaired HSSE/SR regional and international conferences and committees. She was awarded the Gulf Coast Regional Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Award in 2017.
Staley holds a master’s degree in engineering (environment emphasis) from Purdue University and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Production and Facilities Technical Director
Hamad M. Al-Marri is the manager of Shaybah producing department at Saudi Aramco. He has more than 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He began as an apprentice at Chevron in 1990, joining Saudi Aramco the following year. Currently, Al-Marri is handling oil and gas processing facilities in one of Saudi Aramco’s most challenging and high gas/oil ratio fields. During his career with Saudi Aramco, he has provided technical expertise and guidance on an array of topics related to production, reservoir, facilities, and drilling engineering.
He is the recipient of the 2020 SPE Middle East and North Africa Regional Completions Optimization and Technology Award, the 2021 Saudi Aramco President’s Award for Safety Excellence, the 2020 Saudi Aramco CEO Operational Excellence Award, and various regional awards related to operational excellence, production optimization, technology deployment, and well intervention.
Al-Marri has been an SPE member for more than 20 years. He has been a member of technical and executive steering committees as well as a member of SPE International awards committees for both production and facilities. He has served on program committees for IPTC and MEOS. He has published five SPE technical papers related to production optimization, technology optimization, and operations.
He holds a BS degree in chemical engineering and an MS degree in petroleum engineering from University of Tulsa and an MBA from Malaysia with emphasis on talent development and succession planning for subject‑matter experts.
How SPE Board Members Are Selected
SPE is governed by a Board of Directors comprising 20 members from around the world, including three officers and 17 representatives of geographic regions and technical disciplines.
Here is a look at the nomination and election processes for board members.
Nominating a Candidate
The nomination period opened in October 2021 and ended in June 2022. Any SPE member may nominate a candidate for a position on the board. The process involves submitting an online nomination form and supporting documents such as a curriculum vitae, resume, and letters of support.
The Election Process
Candidate nominations submitted online are reviewed by the SPE Nominating Committee. Chaired by the immediate past president, the committee met in June to make recommendations for the available positions. These recommendations are submitted to the SPE International Board of Directors for approval at a special meeting of the board, which was held on 17 June 2022.
Following Board Approval of Nominees
SPE members will have the opportunity to review the board-approved nominees’ biographical information in the July issue of JPT and on www.spe.org.
Nominees approved by the board stand as elected unless SPE members nominate additional candidates by petition. Additional nominations require a petition from at least 1% of SPE membership. A ballot election will be held if any qualified petitions are received.
The Board Takes Office
If the board slate is elected, the person nominated as president would take office as president-elect at the close of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. This year, the conference will be held 3–5 October 2022.