Pitch Perfect 2.0 - More on Creating a Great Business Plan!

Natalya Brooks is a Sr. Strategy Advisor in Equinor’s Corporate Strategy and Innovation team. In this capacity, she works with Equinor’s leadership team, advising on a range of innovation related initiatives and industry trends. She has been with Equinor since 2008, most recently as the head of the US Strategy organization and the BD manager for the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to Equinor, she worked for a research and consulting company J. S. Herold (now part of IHS Energy) in the strategy consulting team. Natalya has an MBA degree from Monterey Institute of International Studies in California (2001) and a BA in Foreign Languages (1997). She is a member of several professional organizations, including AIPN (Association of International Petroleum Negotiators) and HPF (Houston Producers Forum).

Anoop Poddar has 20 years of Investment Management, Operational and Corporate Finance experience in the Energy Sector. Prior to re-joining Energy Ventures, Mr. Poddar was CEO and founding member of the private equity firm First Reserve Momentum (2013-2016) and Partner of Energy Ventures (2008-2013). His previous experience also includes corporate finance advisor role at Simmons and Company and various operational roles at Schlumberger and Essar Oil Limited.

As CEO and founder of WaterLens, Keith is responsible for the overall management and growth of the company. Keith has grown, turned around, and started companies across different industries. During the recent Great Recession and Offshore Drilling Moratorium, he led the turnaround efforts for Delcor USA, Inc., an offshore fabricator of subsea production modules and topside buildings for the deep water oil and gas industry.

Keith earned his Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin in 1988. He also obtained his law degree from Southern Methodist University in 1993 and was a member of the International Lawyer Law Review.

Keith is very active in the Alumni Association for The University of Texas, where he is a former President of the Houston Alumni Chapter and a current member of the Texas Exes Council in Austin, Texas. Keith also serves on the Government Relations Advisory Council for the UT Health Science Center at Houston (now UTHealth) and chairs the Texas Exes Public Affairs Committee.

Igor Kuvaev is CTO and co-founder of ROGII inc, Houston-based IT company developing real-time geosteering and well placement solutions for the oil and gas industry.

ROGII was founded 6 years ago and at the moment serves 250 oil and gas companies worldwide, the company has 8 offices in different countries and employs 75 people. Since its inception, the company growth rate was 200-300% a year.

Igor manages the development and marketing of ROGII's IT products, his job consists of a little of coding a lot of communication with the clients and the team. Prior to ROGII Igor worked for a number of oil companies on various roles ranging from geoscientist to director of field development.

Murat is the Founder and CEO of Rheidiant. Prior to Rheidiant he spent 12 years at Schlumberger, holding various positions in research, engineering, and manufacturing. He managed and contributed to various projects in drilling, artificial lift, intelligent completions and sand control verticals, providing expertise in wireless sensor networks, smart materials, acoustics and electromechanical design. He is a named inventor in 20 US patents.

Murat holds a B.S. from Middle East Technical University, M.S. from Pennsylvania State University, and a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in Mechanical Engineering.

Ryan Malone joined BP in 2002 and has held a number of posts in both operations and projects.

Ryan’s career with BP began as an operations engineer in Onshore USA and then led to a number of project engineering and management roles. Ryan worked has worked US onshore operations, on the Mardi Gras Transportation System deepwater pipeline project as a construction engineer, and on the Atlantis and Thunder Horse projects in various subsea and project management roles.  Ryan was the Project Manager for the Mad Dog Phase 2 Floating Systems scope, and held the position of Director – Global Subsea Systems responsible for delivering all of BP’s subsea systems designs and equipment globally.   Ryan was Executive Assistant to the COO - Global Projects, where he helped in the creation of BP’s global projects organization (GPO).

Ryan has a Mechanical Engineering degree with a Minor in Mathematics from Baylor University.   

Jim Lawnin is a Managing Partner of BBL Ventures - a VC and consulting firm focused on emerging energy tech.  He is recognized as an innovation leader in helping large enterprises digitally transform their business operations through emerging technologies. He has a career in building and leading global consulting practices in the oil and gas, utilities, and manufacturing. 

He is an active angel investor where he serves on the board of Houston Angel Network (HAN) and co-leads their energy sub group. He has mentored startups at Station Houston, Rice University, Stanford University and Surge Accelerator.  He is also co-founder and board member of the Energy Blockchain Consortium, a nonprofit industry organization focused on building industry blockchain standards and use cases.  He is also on an oil and gas strategic advisory group for the City of Houston. 

Jim has a BS in Petroleum Engineering, MBA and Accounting degrees. He has held the following designations: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and Licensed Professional Engineer (PE).

Tim is the CEO & Co-Founder of GoExpedi. Tim formerly led Global Market Strategy for TSC, a leading drilling parts/equipment manufacturer. At TSC, Tim helped identify multi-million dollar opportunities for introducing new product lines in global markets, spending 4+ years developing OEM relationships in China. He also led an incubator at TSC, pursuing new ventures on behalf of the CEO.

Tim is a Partner of Blue Bear and oversees the operational performance of portfolio companies. An engineer by training, since 1998 Tim has served in various leadership and operational roles at NASA including as Flight Engineer and Commander of the International Space Station. Tim has been responsible for numerous technology development, deployment, and operations programs including for Space Shuttle launch operations, Space Station hardware and communications systems, and spacewalk interface verification and testing.

Prior to NASA, Tim served in the US Army for 25 years as an Army aviator. He deployed to Operations Desert Shield and Storm and then commanded an AH-64 Attack Helicopter Company. Following studies at Georgia Tech and completing the US Navy Test Pilot School, Tim served as the Developmental Test Director for the Army’s Comanche Program until his assignment to NASA.

Will Fraizer is VP Technology Development for Eunike Ventures, a first of a kind hybrid accelerator which gives energy technology startups the help they need to become commercially successful, through field trials, management support and funding. Will has over 25 years of experience in the international energy industry, including a series of technical, HES, and project management roles with Chevron.