Speaker Bios
Glenn R. Archambault is a property owner along an interstate gas pipeline. Glenn and his wife, Terri Magruder DVM., and son Malcolm (Mac), own and operate a sheep farm with 300-500 ewes and lambs in Phoenix, Oregon. Mr Archambault has 30 years experience as a heavy equipment mechanic, welder/fitter, automotive electronics technician and has been employed in the mining, forest products, and agriculture industries. His Academic background includes diesel power management, metallurgy, welding technology, and automotive electronics. He has 15 years of experience with pipeline safety as a citizen volunteer and landowner dealing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the federal Office of Pipeline Safety, pipelines/ land use planning, and local and state government. Currently, he is a board member of the Pipeline Safety Trust and a task team member (Protecting Communities) of the Pipelines Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA).
Glynn Blanton serves as State Evaluator, State Programs for the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) in the U.S. Department of Transportation. Prior to coming to PHMSA he was with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority for 18 years as Chief, Gas Pipeline Safety Division. He has experience in enforcement of pipeline safety regulations, state program grant applications and reimbursement requirements and damage prevention practices. His work there included the Tennessee One Call Systems damage prevention committee on proposed changes to Tennessee’s Underground Utility Damage Prevention Law to meet federal guidelines. Prior to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, he was with the Georgia Public Service Commission for 13 years as Section Chief. While there he directed the activities of the Commission’s Natural Gas Pipeline and Gas Utilities Engineering Section. Mr. Blanton has held many positions on various committees including the U.S. Department of Transportation Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, the Common Ground Alliance as a Board Member, and numerous committees within the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) and National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC).
Terry Boss is a mechanical engineer by training. He joined Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America in 1974, where he held positions in field operations, construction, plant and pipeline safety, development engineering, computer engineering and pipeline safety. He joined the Gas Research Institute in 1993 as a principal technology manager in Transmission. His responsibilities there included the Non – Destructive Evaluation program and Pipeline O&M Program. In September 1995, Mr. Boss joined the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) as director of Environment, Safety and Operations. In 1996, Mr. Boss was promoted to Vice President, Environment, Safety and Operations and in 2001 to Senior Vice President.
Alan Burks is the President and founder, Enterprise for Education, Inc, publisher of the Safe at Home pipeline safety education program (enterpriseforeducation.com). Founded in 1978, Enterprise for Education specializes in curriculum-based educational materials, which are distributed primarily in the U.S. but more recently in China, India, the Middle East and Europe. Most of Enterprise’s materials are provided at no cost to requesting educators, courtesy of private and public sector organizations. The U.S. Department of Education has called its materials “…the best of their type we have seen.” Clients include ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, Enterprise Products Co, Kinder Morgan, American Electric Power, Allegheny Energy, PacifiCorp, Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power, and CenterPoint Energy. The company’s products focus on issues related to energy and the environment. A particular area of concentration is its library of electric, gas and pipeline safety related titles for elementary and middle school students, the most recent of which is the Safe at Home pipeline safety education program. Mr. Burks has a BA in History from Stanford University, and a MA in Educational and Documentary Film Production from San Francisco State University.
Jerry Burns is Vice President of Canadian Association of Pipeline Landowners Association (CAPLA). Prior to becoming involved with CAPLA Jerry is a cash crop farmer in southwestern Ontario and operates Burns Seed Service, a seed processing plant. Jerry lives within 10 miles of the largest natural gas compressor station in North America and is surrounded by underground natural gas storage wells. In 1997 an application by Union Gas Company ( St Clair Pipelines ) was approved to install a 36 inch natural gas pipe line called the Millenium Line across the Burns property, that is when Jerry became involved with a landowners group to negotiate issues with regards to the pending pipeline installation. In 2000 CAPLA was formed, an umbrella group that united numerous pipeline landowner associations. CAPLA has expanded across Canada with member associations in the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and has helped pipeline landowners in the eastern provinces to organize and get involved in successful negotiated settlements.
Karen Butler is currently a Regional Project Manager for the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) in the Central Region Office located in Kansas City, MO. Karen has been with PHMSA a little more than 5 years. Karen brought to this position in excess of 20 years experience in the natural gas utility business. This experience included operations associated with gas transmission, gathering and distribution systems. As previous Director of Compression Operations for Kansas Pipeline Company, her previous responsibilities included due diligence on mergers and acquisitions, rate case assistance, daily operations oversight for the compression facilities, SCADA projects and training, project and personnel management. She has worked in transmission operations, construction and design departments. Karen received an Electrical Engineering degree from Kansas State University and has worked for Panhandle Eastern, MGE and Kansas Pipeline Company (MidCoast Energy, Enbridge). Her home is in Spring Hill, Kansas.
Catherine “Cat” Drose lives in Comer Georgia, and is a member of Citizens Organized for Pipeline Safety (COPS). Three of the nine acres she and her husband live on are encumbered by a right-of-way for the Williams/Transco Pipeline. Her front door is 32 feet from the edge of that right-of-way. When she bought her property the restrictions that went along with the right-of-way were not explained to her. Ms. Drose also lives one mile from a Williams/Transco pipeline compressor station. Last summer Ms. Drose’s drinking water well was found to have arsenic in it at levels nearly twice the safe drinking water standard set by the U.S. EPA. Ms Drose is concerned that the water contamination may be coming from historical practices at the Transco compressor station. She also is concerned about the high levels of air pollutants being discharged from the same compressor station. Cat is retired from the U.S. Marines.
Steve Fischer serves as the Director of Program Development for the Office of Pipeline Safety in the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). In this capacity, Mr. Fischer leads several programs to enhance PHMSA’s pipeline safety damage prevention and community involvement initiatives, public awareness, grant programs, research and development, and the National Pipeline Mapping System. While previously serving as the GIS Manager, Mr. Fischer was responsible for the technical development and management of the National Pipeline Mapping System. Prior to joining PHMSA, Mr. Fischer worked both in the private sector and for the City of Niagara Falls, New York on multiple geospatial data conversion projects and on the implementation and operation of city and county level geographic information systems. Steve holds a bachelors degree in geography from the University of Central Arkansas and a masters degree in geography from Binghamton University.
Ruth Garcia is the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Town of Buckeye (AZ). In her capacity with the Town, Ms. Garcia manages external affairs with other local, regional, state and federal public agencies. In addition, Ms. Garcia is the Town’s registered lobbyist at the Arizona Sate Legislature and is the Town’s liaison to Arizona’s Congressional delegation. Ms. Garcia became involved with the Pipeline Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA) with the advent of the Transwestern Pipeline Phoenix Expansion Project traversing through the Town and its metropolitan planning area. Ms. Garcia represents the National League of Cities (NLC) on the Protecting Transmission Pipeline (PTP) PIPA committee. Ms. Garcia graduated from Pepperdine University (CA) with a Masters in Pubic Policy (emphasis in economics and international relations) and from Evergreen State College (WA) with a Bachelor of Arts (emphasis in education and social studies).
Carl T. Johnson is the Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of U.S. Department of Transportation. Mr. Johnson was nominated for the post by President Bush on October 30th 2007 and received U.S. Senate confirmation on December 19th, 2007. As Administrator Mr. Johnson is responsible for overseeing a budget of $148 million to support PHMSA’s ability to reduce hazardous materials and pipeline related incidents, deaths, injuries, and property damages. He directs PHMSA’s national programs, and establishes PHMSA’s policies, objectives and priorities. Mr. Johnson comes to the department having served as a president of the Compressed Gas Association. Prior to this he served as special assistant to Representative Amory Houghton of New York. Earlier in his career, he served as director of federal government relations at Corning Glass Works. Mr. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his master’s degree from The George Washington University. He and his wife, Joyce, reside in Virginia. They have two grown children.
Eric “Rick” Kessler currently serves as President of Dow Lohnes Government Strategies, a lobbying group in Washington DC. Most recently Mr. Kessler served as Director of New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine’s (D) Washington, DC office. Mr. Kessler is best known as the longtime chief of staff to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-MI) and as a professional staffer handling energy and environmental issues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, where he was the primary staffer to all the Democratic Committee Members on issues such as cogeneration, renewables, efficiency, hydro-power, public lands, oil, gas, coal, pipeline safety and energy-related research, remediation and tax policy. While serving as Chairman Dingell’s chief of staff, he also was responsible for all political, legislative, policy, press and administrative matters. Previously Mr. Kessler was the Associate Director of Government Affairs for Princeton University, worked as a top aide to Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), held legislative positions with Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and former Representative William J. Hughes (D-NJ). Mr. Kessler is a graduate of Kenyon College and Rutgers University and also attended the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK.
Elizabeth Komiskey is a Senior Engineer for the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety in Washington D.C. Prior to joining PHMSA in 2006, Elizabeth worked for the Minerals Management Service in New Orleans, Louisiana and was the lead engineer responsible for reviewing pipeline design, repair procedures, and performing offshore inspections during pipeline construction and operation for the Gulf of Mexico. During the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she was a primary member of the MMS COOP team responsible for handling all pipeline emergency and safety issues, and the continuance of permitting activities for the temporary office located in Houston, Texas. Elizabeth worked as pipeline design engineer for Project Consulting Services, Inc. in Metairie, LA from 1997 until 2002. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering for the University of New Orleans and is a registered professional engineer in Civil Engineering in the state of Louisiana.
Richard Kuprewicz is president of Accufacts Inc., a pipeline-consulting firm based in Washington State providing independent “Clear Knowledge in the Over Information Age.” He brings over 35 years experience in the energy industry offering special focus on appropriate pipeline design and operation in areas of unique population density or of an environmentally sensitive nature. He provides neutral third party analysis to assist decision makers in reaching appropriate and informed conclusions regarding pipelines, including their risk assessment and management. He is currently a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee (THLPSSC) and is presently the chairman of the Washington State Citizens Committee on Pipeline Safety that advises various organizations and citizens on all aspects of pipeline safety.
Jerry Lobdill is from Fort Worth Texas, where he has been active regarding urban gas drilling. He is a member of Fort Worth CANDO, the Fort Worth Ridglea North Neighborhood Association, the Sierra Club, and has served as an advisor to Gary Hogan, a member of the Fort Worth Gas Drilling Task Force. As part of those efforts he has analyzed the PHMSA and Texas Railroad Commission historical data to extract the probability of significant incident occurrence per year per 1000 gas wells for any given gas play. Mr. Lobdill was also a technical advisor and member of a special committee of the Philmont Staff Association (Boy Scouts of America) to monitor El Paso Natural Gas efforts to get permits to do coal bed methane drilling in the Valle Vidal of the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. Congress halted that proposed drilling in 2007. Mr Lobdill had a 34 year career as R&D physicist working for Tracor, Inc., Austin, Texas, General Electric Ocean Systems, Syracuse, NY, The MITRE Corporation, Reston, VA, Hydroscience Technologies, Inc., Mineral Wells, TX. He has a B. S. Ch. E. from Texas Tech and 3 years graduate school in physics from the University of Texas.
Freya Margand is currently the national program manager for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program. Ms. Margand started her career at the EPA under the Outstanding Scholars Program. Since joining the Agency, she has worked within the Office of Solid Waste and, since 2001, within the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation on projects related to public involvement in hazardous waste issues. Ms. Margand holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in geography from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor’s of fine art from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
James Mergist is the Assistant Director of Pipelines for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. James has been with the LDNR for 19 years with the last 10 in the Pipeline Division. Mr Mergist is a past Chair of the NAPSR Southwest Region, a member on NAPSR’s Risk Based Inspections Committee and state Staffing Formula Committee.
Anthony Moscarelli is a retiree from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He has lived in Suisun City, California for twenty years. His residential housing subdivision borders a pipeline corridor that supplies Travis Air Force Base with a 16” and a 32” buried high-pressure natural gas pipelines. He also has two military pipelines that run parallel to the natural gas pipelines through his backyard. He lives about one mile from Travis Air Force Base. He has gotten involved in pointing out the lack of Public Safety concerns that the Local City Government and Travis AFB Officials have shown towards the Military’s pipelines.
Cynthia Munyon is utility specialist/paralegal with the Safety and Engineering Section of the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB). The IUB regulates various aspects of electric, natural gas, communications, and water utilities and generally supervises all pipelines and the transmission, sale, and distribution of electrical current. Ms. Munyon is in her twenty-fourth year at IUB. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Common Ground Iowa, currently holding the office of Vice Chairperson, and on the Regional Telecommunications Council. She was just recently re-elected to a fourth term on the Board of Directors for the Urbandale School District.
Shirley Neff has been the President and CEO of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) since November 2006. In addition to her responsibilities at AOPL, Ms. Neff is a member of the National Petroleum Council (NPC) and the federal Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee. She also serves on the advisory board of the Center for Energy Economics at the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin and is a Senior Associate with the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior to joining the AOPL, Ms. Neff held the position of Adjunct Professor and Research Scholar at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. Previously, she spent seven years as the economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and worked in economic and policy positions for Shell Oil Company, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and the Kansas Corporation Commission. She is a Senior Fellow and past President of the United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) and has written and lectured extensively on energy policy matters.
Chris Nidel is an environmental attorney in Washington, DC and the founder of Nidel Law, P.L.L.C. an environmental and toxic tort firm. Mr. Nidel represents individuals and groups across the country injured or threatened by exposures to toxic chemicals in the workplace and environment. Mr. Nidel also represents groups and non-profit organizations on several environmental issues including coal fired power plants and fly ash, groundwater contamination, and natural resource damages. Mr. Nidel has a Bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and a Masters degree in chemical engineering from M.I.T. After completing his Masters in engineering, Mr. Nidel spent five years doing process research and development at a major pharmaceutical company. After attending law school at the University of Virginia, Mr. Nidel went to work for Fred Baron, at the premier environmental and toxic tort firm, Baron and Budd in Dallas, Texas, before ultimately starting his own firm.
Carol M. Parker is an environmental attorney. She is an Assistant General Counsel for the New Mexico Environment Department where she focuses on drinking water enforcement as well as other environmental laws. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico School of Law in May 2004 where she was awarded a Natural Resources Certificate, the Albert E. Utton Natural Resources Law Award and the Law Alumni/ae Association Prize. The latter prize was awarded for an early draft of her thesis, The Pipeline Industry Meets Grief Unimaginable: Congress Reacts with the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 (https://pstrust.org/docs/0525_parker_proofs.pdf). After she graduated, she clerked for the Honorable Bruce D. Black, U.S. District Judge in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Before she went to law school, she was an Associate Vice President for Morgan Stanley for eighteen years. She received her M.B.A. summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico Robert O. Anderson School of Management. She also has a M.S. and B.A. in Biology from the University of Rochester. Ms. Parker currently serves on the Board of the Pipeline Safety Trust. She lives in Placitas, New Mexico with her husband.
John Pepper is a Project Manager for the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Southwest Region in Houston, Texas. He has worked for PHMSA for almost 5 years as both a Senior Inspector assigned to numerous Gas Integrity Management inspections and as a part-time Community Assistance engineer. Prior to joining PHMSA, John worked in the natural gas industry for 22 years. His most recent industry assignment was as the Manager of Codes at Duke Energy ensuring that the Duke jurisdictional pipelines complied with Part 192 of the Pipeline Safety Regulations. John has a degree in Chemical Engineering from LSU where he graduated in 1980.
Cathy Pratt is the Manager of the Engineering & Development Services Group for the City of St. Peters, Missouri. She is a Co-Chair of the Protecting Communities for the Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance Task Force. Ms. Pratt has been involved with residents in her community concerning pipeline concerns and has worked with elected officials to enact several Ordinances to address pipeline concerns. She has a B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Houston as well as a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University.
Greg Rizzo is group vice president of Rates and Regulatory Affairs and head of the Project Management Office for Spectra Energy Transmission (SET). He also serves on the board of directors for Spectra Energy’s publicly traded partnership, Spectra Energy Partners. Previously, he served as group vice president for Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT). He was responsible for Texas Eastern Transmission, Algonquin Gas Transmission, Market Hub Partners and the marketing efforts of the storage and transmission business of Union Gas. Previously, he was named vice president of rates and regulatory affairs for Texas Eastern in 1993, served as vice president of marketing, and before that, as vice president of pricing, regulatory affairs and system planning. Prior to that, he was president of Duke Energy Risk Management Company. He was named senior vice president in March 2002 and executive vice president in February 2003. He was named group vice president of DEGT in March 2004 and group vice president of Northeast transportation and storage in April 2006. Before joining the company, Rizzo served as a gas revenue accountant for Texaco Inc. Rizzo graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia at Athens with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in banking and finance, and received his Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Houston. He serves on the executive committee of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) Foundation and on the board of directors of the Southern Gas Association. Rizzo received Duke Energy’s 1998 Pinnacle Award, the company’s highest award for outstanding contribution to Duke Energy’s business success. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native was born in 1956. He and his wife, Barbara, have two daughters, four sons and 10 grandchildren.
Christina Sames is the Managing Director of Engineering Services at the American Gas Association (AGA). Her responsibilities include pipeline safety advocacy support and implementation, damage prevention, and oversight of the AGA Best Practices Program, publications, and operations conferences and workshops. She is AGA’s liaison to the CGA and the National Association of State Fire Marshals, and works with both groups on preventing third party damage and pipeline communications. Other duties include natural gas research and development, standards coordination, and a variety of government/industry projects. Prior to joining AGA, Christina worked for the Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) and spent 12 years with the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. She holds a B.S. in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University
Sarah Spence is a third generation member of a Northwest construction family. Spence became the second woman hired by Morrison-Knudsen as a senior construction engineer. Projects included a major hospital expansion and schools in Alaska, the LA Light Rail, and Denver International Airport. In 1993 Spence found her dream property in the beautiful Chuckanut Mountains near Bellingham. Although Olympic Pipeline had a 670 foot easement across the property, she didn’t think it would impact her right to quiet enjoyment of her property. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In the 15 years she has owned the property, half that time has been spent in conflict and litigation with Olympic over damage to her property. Despite a strong easement, resolution has always required costly litigation most landowners could not afford. Spence believes federal enforcement is the only way to level the playing field when the easement grantor is an individual landowner and the “grantee” is a hazardous pipeline owner/operator. The development of a Landowner Bill of Rights is the first step.
Bill Stephens is the Public Affairs Program Manager for Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. Based in Houston, Bill serves as the public awareness coordinator for the approximately 17,000 miles of U.S. oil and gas pipelines that the company operates in 18 states. He also serves as the public affairs lead on community and media relations for the Enbridge U.S. natural gas assets, and as the backup on the company’s crude oil systems. He also serves on API, INGAA and CGA committees related to communications and public awareness. Bill joined Enbridge in 2006 after nearly 17 years in various public affairs roles for Amoco and BP. Graduates of Ball State University, Bill and his wife Sue have two sons, Ryan, a college freshman, and Gordon, a high school sophomore, plus one spoiled Jack Russell Terrier.
Cheryl Trench is widely recognized for her work on understanding the safety performance of pipelines. For pipeline industry trade associations and for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, she has written reports reviewing the record of oil pipelines, gas transmission pipelines and gas distribution systems. Under contract to the American Petroleum Institute, she also analyzes the data for the oil pipeline industry’s incident reporting initiative, the API’s Pipeline Performance Tracking System (PPTS), and has done so since the system’s inception in 1999. She works closely with industry groups to understand and communicate the findings drawn from the information submitted to PPTS. She also works for individual companies to help them understand their accident and spill performance. Ms. Trench also frequently takes a look at the bigger picture, analyzing the role of infrastructure on the way the oil market functions. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, PHMSA and trade groups have particularly relied on her expertise in this area.
Carl Weimer is the Executive Director of the national Pipeline Safety Trust. He also serves on the Governor appointed Washington State Citizens Committee on Pipeline Safety, as a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, and the steering committee for the Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance. Mr. Weimer has testified to both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on pipeline safety issues, organized four national pipeline safety conferences, pushed for stronger pipeline safety legislation on the national and state level, runs the national Safe Pipelines and LNG Safety listserves that include over 700 people from around the country, and regularly serves as an independent source of pipeline safety information for news media, local government, and citizens around the country. Mr. Weimer was elected in 2005 to a four-year term to the Whatcom County Council, and currently serves as chairman of that Council. He has a degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Education from the University of Michigan, as well a degree in Industrial Electronics Technology from Peninsula College.
Bobby Welch is a Pipeline Technician with Targa Midstream Services in Lake Charles Louisiana and has over 26 years of service with Targa Resources and it predecessor company’s. His current job responsibilities include pipeline operations and maintenance, testing of lines, dealing with land owners, R.O.W. issues and public awareness both in schools and general public. He helped develop and present the school public awareness programs Targa is currently using at this time. He has been involved in public awareness for over 15 years. Targa Resources owns or operate over 11,300 miles of natural gas gathering and NGL pipelines, with natural gas gathering systems covering approximately 14,400 square miles.
Jeff Wiese serves as the Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in the U.S. Department of Transportation. In this capacity, Mr. Wiese leads PHMSA’s overall efforts to improve the design, construction, operation and maintenance, and spill response planning for the Nation’s pipeline transportation system. Previously Mr. Wiese served as PHMSA’s Director of Program Development for pipeline safety where he led several programs to enhance PHMSA’s pipeline safety damage prevention and community involvement initiatives, public awareness, field implementation of the Integrity Management Program rules, research and development, and the National Pipeline Mapping System. Mr. Wiese also directed budget development, user fee assessment, and oil spill planning and preparedness for PHMSA’s pipeline safety program. Prior to arriving at PHMSA, Mr. Wiese worked for fifteen years in matters related to offshore oil and gas safety for the Minerals Management Service including stints as Director of Safety and Environmental Management and Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Performance Measures Programs as well as its Chief of Staff for Offshore Operations and Safety Management.
Libby Willis is Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods. She is chairman of that group’s Gas Drilling Committee. Since 2005, she has served as president of the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association, one of the earliest Fort Worth neighborhoods to become involved in gas drilling. She is currently a consultant to Partners for Sacred Places and has worked as the Director of the Southwest Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and as the executive director of Preservation Texas. She is a 1981 magna cum laude graduate of Baylor University where she earned a B.A. in English and French. She also holds a Masters degree in international journalism from Baylor.