Kurt Rudolph worked as a petroleum geologist from 1978 to 2015, mostly in exploration and research. The last 13 years of his industry career, he served as Chief Geoscientist for ExxonMobil. Kurt is currently an Adjunct Professor at Rice University and the University of Houston. He has won best paper awards for the AAPG Bulletin (1992 and 2017) and the Mountain Geologist (2015). Kurt was an AAPG-SEG Distinguished Lecturer in 2001-2002 (DHI/AVO Analysis) and 2023-2024 (Laurentian Orogenesis). His interests are tectono-stratigraphy, sedimentary basin evolution, sequence stratigraphy, seismic interpretation, and uncertainty analysis (risk/assessment/economics). Areas of active research include the evolution of late Paleozoic basins of North America, the transition from Sevier to Laramide orogenesis, and New Mexico stratigraphy.

This year, Andy celebrates the 45th year of his career as a geologist, petroleum systems analyst, and leader, including at BP as Network Leader for Petroleum Systems; at Hess as Chief Geologist and then Director of Conventional and Unconventional New Ventures; and at BHP as VP Geoscience and VP Unconventional Exploration. He founded This is Petroleum Systems LLC ‘t!Ps’ in 2015 as a vehicle to collaborate and innovate in Petroleum Systems concepts, modeling, and training. t!Ps has delivered several offshore evaluation projects for Staatsolie. Andy is also an adjunct Professor at the University of Houston, where students under Paul Mann have a strong focus on the Central and Southern Atlantic basins.

Johannes works as a Petroleum Systems Analyst with TotalEnergies Exploration in Paris, France. He has a career of > 35 years of expertise in basin modeling, fluid and pressure analysis, software development, and basin and petroleum studies with IFP, Shell, and TotalEnergies, where he held various positions as manager in R&D and Exploration, and as expert and senior exploration advisor. Over the last 30 years, Johannes has been at the forefront of modern basin modeling, in areas as diverse as stratigraphic forward modeling, 3D fluid and migration, compositional modeling, uncertainty estimation, geomechanics coupling, and how to apply modeling concepts in exploration risk assessment. Johannes holds a PhD in Applied Earth Sciences from Stanford University and is the current Oil and Gas Chair of EAGE.