Today we had the honor of hosting Pablo Vegas, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Pablo was appointed as CEO by Governor Abbott in October 2022, after previously serving as Executive Vice President of NiSource and Group President of NiSource Utilities. His previous management roles included senior positions with both American Electric Power and IBM. Pablo also serves on the Global Advisory Board for the Harvard Business School and is a member of the Texas Adv...
Nov 27, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 256
Today we were honored to host Mayor Lori Blong of Midland. Lori is a proud Midland native and previously served on the Midland City Council and as Mayor Pro Tempore before being elected Mayor in 2022. In addition to her duties as Mayor, Lori is a Founder and Partner of Octane Energy. She began her career as an educator in the Permian Basin and has deep ties to the community. We were thrilled to hear her insights on the Midland energy sector and broader community. In our discussion, Lori shares d...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 255
Today we had the pleasure of hosting Michelle Manook, CEO of FutureCoal, for an insightful discussion on coal from a global perspective – an important yet often overlooked topic. Michelle joined FutureCoal in 2019 and previously held senior roles at Orica, Archer Energy, Brockman Mining, and Woodside. As CEO, she leads FutureCoal’s mission to support key players across the coal value chain and advocates for balanced and inclusive international energy policies that respect the sovereign rights of...
Nov 13, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 254
Happy Veterans Day to all who served and Happy Remembrance Day for our British, Canadian, and Australian friends. Today (and every day), we thank you and your families for your service and sacrifice. With the election behind us and the transition of a new administration on the horizon, we brought together three esteemed friends of the firm and previous COBT guests for a Special Edition of COBT. We wanted to brainstorm with them what happens next in energy policy-making. We were honored to host A...
Nov 11, 2024•56 min
Today we had the honor of hosting Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who has served in the US Senate since 2002 and is now in his fourth term. Senator Cornyn has been a steadfast advocate for Texas interests and supports policies that promote responsible domestic traditional energy production while exploring new energy sources to strengthen US energy independence. Senator Cornyn has held several key leadership roles including Republican Whip and currently serves on the Senate Finance, Intelligence, a...
Oct 30, 2024•49 min•Season 2Ep. 253
Today we had the privilege of hosting Peter Lake, former Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). Peter was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to stabilize and strengthen the Texas electrical grid following Winter Storm Uri in 2021. He concurrently served as a Board Member of ERCOT and concluded his term with the PUCT in June 2023. Previously, Peter chaired the Texas Water Development Board. Since leaving public office, Peter has served as an independent strategic advisor and te...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 252
Today we were delighted to welcome Dr. Carolyn Kissane, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Global Affairs at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. Dr. Kissane is a Lifetime Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Senior Fellow at the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, Co-Host of “The Clean Energy Revolution” Podcast, and Founding Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab. Carolyn earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Education and Political Science from C...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 251
Today we had the opportunity to visit with Dr. David Spence, Chair in Natural Resources Law at the University of Texas and Author of “Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the U.S. Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship.” Dr. Spence joined the University of Texas faculty in 1997 and his research focuses on the law and politics of energy regulation. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University and serves as a professor of Business, Government & Society at the McCombs School of B...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 250
We are excited to share this Special Edition COBT focused on the impact of the recent dockworkers’ strike and its implications for the energy sector. As we send this out, you may have heard the strike has been suspended. It was and is a fascinating situation… and wait until you meet who we found to discuss the issues. We were lucky enough to connect with Dr. Salvatore Mercogliano, Associate Professor of History at Campbell University. In addition to his role at Campbell, Dr. Mercogliano also ser...
Oct 04, 2024•53 min
Today we were delighted to host Toni Stojcevski, General Manager of Project Sales & Development at Wärtsilä Marine alongside David Millar, Principal of Markets, Legislative, and Regulatory Policy at Wärtsilä Energy. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Wärtsilä, the company is a famous Finnish provider of marine engines and also a large player in onshore power. Toni has served at Wärtsilä for over 20 years ago and specializes in marine engineering and business development, including med...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 249
Many of you have likely noticed, as we have, some of the news coming out of Delaware about certain rulings, the debate around those rulings, and the subsequent debate around actions taken by the legislature to clarify Delaware law. As we’ve read about these developments, we were intrigued and turned to the team at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (WLRK) for their thoughts on these matters. We were extremely pleased to have Ryan McLeod, Partner, and Dan Neff, Partner and Member of the Executive...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 2Ep. 248
Today we were delighted to welcome back our good friend Roger Pielke Jr. for an engaging discussion on the evolving climate policy and energy landscape. Roger is the author of “The Honest Broker” on Substack which reaches 30,000+ subscribers across 153 countries. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he focuses on science and technology policy, the politicization of science, government science advice, and energy and climate. Since 2001, Roger has served as ...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 247
Today we had the pleasure of hosting the team from Cornerstone Government Affairs for an engaging discussion on energy policy and the upcoming US Presidential Election with Jack Belcher, Principal, John Sandell, Principal, and Sarah Venuto, Principal and Counsel. Cornerstone is an independent bipartisan consulting firm specializing in federal and state government relations, public affairs, political and grant consulting, and business advisory services. Jack, John and Sarah are seasoned experts i...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 246
We are thrilled to share this COBT episode recorded live from Plant Vogtle featuring John Williams, Senior Vice President of Technical Services and External Affairs at Southern Nuclear, John Kotek, Senior Vice President of Policy Development and Public Affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), and Bill Flores, Vice Chairman of ERCOT and Veriten Senior Advisor. Brett Rampal and I had the pleasure of traveling to Waynesboro, GA for an exciting tour of Vogtle to see the completed units before ...
Sep 04, 2024•46 min•Season 2Ep. 245
We were honored this week to welcome Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Rutherford for this Special Edition COBT. Senator Hutchison is a Founding Member of the KBH Energy Center at the University of Texas and has had a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors, including serving as the US Ambassador to NATO. We previously had the pleasure of hosting Senator Hutchison on COBT in November 2023 (episode linked here ). John is an expert energy and finance executive and serves on...
Aug 29, 2024•43 min
Today we were delighted to welcome our good friend Bill Von Gonten, Founder and CEO of W.D. Von Gonten Engineering (WDVGE). Bill is a renowned oil and gas expert and entrepreneur. He founded W.D. Von Gonten & Co. in 1995, pioneering the volumetric assessment of US gas shales. In 2013, Bill established W.D. Von Gonten Laboratories, a core testing facility specializing in unconventional resources, data science and frac modeling. In 2022, these entities were combined to form WDVGE, which later ...
Aug 28, 2024•57 min•Season 2Ep. 244
We are thrilled to bring you this Special Edition COBT, featuring an exciting preview of the upcoming Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week taking place from September 9th – 13th. We had the pleasure of visiting with the event’s key organizers including Jane Stricker, Senior VP Energy Transition and Executive Director of the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), Brad Burke, Executive Director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Dale Winger, Managing Director of Hal...
Aug 23, 2024•30 min
Today we had the pleasure of hosting Samantha Dart, Head of Global Natural Gas Research at Goldman Sachs. Samantha first joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 as an energy strategist and returned to the firm in 2018. Between her tenures at Goldman Sachs, she served as Global Head of Gas and Power Research at Noble Group and as Head of Gas & Power Research at Mercuria Energy America. Samantha specializes in global natural gas fundamentals research and marketing and holds a PhD in Economics from the Un...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 243
Today we were thrilled to welcome back Erik Milito, President of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA). Erik has served as President of NOIA since 2019 following 17 years in several leadership roles at the American Petroleum Institute and prior experience as an attorney in the Solicitor’s Office of the US Department of the Interior. Erik served on active duty in the US Army as a Judge Advocate from 1995 to 2000 and continued his service in the US Army Reserve from 2000 to 2004. NOIA’s...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 242
For today’s discussion, we were pleased to host Julia Weller, Principal at Energy Law International. Julia has worked in electricity and natural gas regulation and transactions for over 30 years. She served at both Hunton & Williams and Pierce Atwood before starting Energy Law International in 2017. Energy Law International advises governments, private investors, international finance institutions and electricity transmission system operators across Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, ...
Aug 07, 2024•57 min•Season 2Ep. 241
Today we were pleased to host Gerald Kepes, President of Competitive Energy Strategies, and Sudan Maccio, Chief Legal Counsel of PetroTal, for a discussion focused on Venezuelan politics, energy and economics. Jerry has over 40 years of experience as a consultant and petroleum geologist and is a regular contributor to Al-Monitor on the geopolitics of energy in the Middle East and North Africa. Sudan started his career at PDVSA and brings over 30 years of extensive legal experience in global ener...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 240
Today we had the pleasure of hosting our good friend Dr. David Gattie, Associate Professor of Engineering at the University of Georgia. In addition to his role in the College of Engineering, David is a Senior Fellow at the University’s Center for International Trade and Security. David has a robust background including 18 years at the University of Georgia and 15 years in the energy private sector across production engineering, energy services engineering, and environmental engineering. His rese...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 239
Today we had the honor of hosting former Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Senator Landrieu served for three terms from 1997 to 2015 and chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee. She also served on the Armed Forces Committee. During her time in Washington, Senator Landrieu gained a reputation for working across the aisle on important energy and other national priorities. Curre...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 238
Today we were thrilled to be joined by Sean McGarvey, President of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), to discuss a critical topic: the nation’s energy workforce. Sean was elected to his position as President in 2012 and first started his building trades career with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in 1981. In addition to his role at NABTU, Sean serves on several private and public sector boards and co-chairs labor-management committees of the American Petroleum ...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 237
Today we were delighted to welcome back George Bilicic for an engaging discussion on the current power and energy landscape. George serves as Vice Chairman and Global Head of Power, Energy and Infrastructure at Lazard. In his long and distinguished career, George has over 20 years of experience at Lazard in the investment banking business with previous senior roles at Cravath, Merrill Lynch, KKR, and Sempra Energy. We last hosted George on COBT on May 2, 2023 (episode linked here ) and were exci...
Jul 03, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 236
Today we had the very exciting and interesting opportunity to visit with Russell Hagen, Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Weyerhaeuser. Russell is responsible for Weyerhaeuser’s real estate, energy and natural resources businesses. Prior to his appointment as Chief Development Officer, Russell served as Chief Financial Officer from 2016 – 2021. Weyerhaeuser is the largest private owner of timberlands in North America, with 10.5 million acres in the US and 14 million acres li...
Jun 26, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 235
Today we had the honor of hosting Reginald DesRoches, President of Rice University, in Veriten’s offices at the Ion. Reggie assumed the role of President in July 2022, after previously serving as Rice’s Provost and the Dean of the Engineering School. Additionally, Reggie serves as a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and as a professor of mechanical engineering. Before his tenure at Rice, Reggie was Chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atla...
Jun 19, 2024•51 min•Season 2Ep. 234
Today we were thrilled to welcome back Dr. Francisco Monaldi, Director of the Latin America Energy Program, along with his colleague Dr. Tony Payan, Director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, with Rice University’s Baker Institute. Francisco last joined us on COBT in December 2022 (episode linked here ) and is an expert on Latin American energy, policy, and economics. In addition to his role at the Baker Institute, Tony is a Professor of Social Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 233
We are sending out this Special Edition COBT at 6:30 AM CT. We are doing so because 80 years ago today, at 6:30 AM at Omaha Beach in Normandy, American troops (at an average age of 22) landed as part of the largest amphibious assaults in all of history. Over 4,000 Allied troops died this day 80 years ago as part of the effort to free Europe from the Nazis. To help us fully grasp the gravity of D-Day, we invited acclaimed author and historian Alex Kershaw to join us on COBT. Alex is the author of...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Today we had the pleasure of hosting Lynn Calder, CEO of INEOS Automotive, for an engaging discussion on vehicles, decarbonization, and the future of transportation. As you may have heard, INEOS Automotive has just launched a new vehicle called the Grenadier. Lynn is a fellow energy enthusiast and brings a fascinating background, having previously served at Lime Rock Partners and Talisman before joining INEOS and leading their Shale (CEO), Phenol (Commercial Director), and Composites (CEO) busin...
Jun 05, 2024•57 min•Season 2Ep. 232
