Dolty Cheramie lll

Pipe Exchange

Dolty was born in Houma, Louisiana and lived in the general vicinity most of his childhood life. His father moved his marine towing business to the West Bank of New Orleans where he spent his junior and high school years, graduating from Archbishop Shaw High School in 1969.

CiCi and Dolty met when they were 14 years old, and got married right out of high school. They moved back to Houma while Dolty attended Nichols State University. Out of college, he started his working career in the finance business working for Industrial Finance and Thrift for a little over eleven years.

Wanting to expand his horizon, he accepted an offer in Houston, Texas with Williams-Patterson, an OCTG distributor in 1981. This started his long journey in steel and the oil patch. In 1984, he joined Mitsui & Co, a worldwide Japanese trading company working in the tubular division for the next ten years. Then in 1994, he became a partner and President of Pipe Exchange up until selling his ownership in June 2016. Today Dolty is still active as a Senior Advisor to Pipe Exchange and the new ownership.

CiCi and Dolty have been married now for 53 years, in which they have been blessed with two daughters, two son-in-laws and now five grandchildren. They spend most of their down time with the family down at their bay house on the north shores Galveston, Texas.

Energy Panelist: Chad McDougall

Vice President of JMA Energy Company, LLC

Chad McDougall has served as Vice President for the JMA Energy Company, LLC since August 2004. He joined JMA in October of 1994. Mr. McDougall is the Chairman of The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma (The Alliance), the state’s largest trade association representing the oil and natural gas industry and one of the largest statewide oil and natural gas trade associations in the nation. It was formed by the merger of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA) and Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association. He is also a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for The Alliance, and the former Vice Chairman and Treasurer. With the OIPA, he served as a member of the Board of Directors, as Treasurer, and as Chairman of the Legislative and Membership Committees. In 2012 and 2017, Mr. McDougall was OIPA’s Member of the Year. He is also the Treasurer of the Oklahoma Energy Education Foundation and serves on its Board of Directors. McDougall is the past Chairman of the Board of Advisors for the Energy Management Program at The University of Tulsa, and a past Board member of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance and Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma. Prior to being named as Vice President of JMA, McDougall served in various engineering, exploration, and land capacities for JMA. Prior to joining JMA, he was employed as a Petroleum Engineer by Mewbourne Oil Company. Mr. McDougall is a 1992 graduate of The University of Oklahoma where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering.

Energy Panelist: Lance Griffin

Director of Supply Chain at Continental Resources 

Lance Griffin joined Continental Resources in 2022 as the Director of Supply Chain. Before joining the company, Mr. Griffin was the Supply Chain Director for Red Bluff Resources, a former portfolio company of Pinedale Energy Partners, which was transacted to Citizen Energy in Summer of 2022. While at Red Bluff Resources, Mr. Griffin was responsible for the company’s capital, expense and indirect spend.  Prior to Red Bluff, Mr. Griffin was the Manager of Category Management and Strategic Sourcing at Chesapeake Energy, where he was responsible for the strategic supply chain for the company’s drilling, completions, facilities, and indirect spending departments, totaling more than $1.5 billion in annual spend.

Prior to his time with Chesapeake, Mr. Griffin held numerous roles in manufacturing, including large-scale project management, business development, and global logistics.

Mr. Griffin holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston, specializing in energy supply chain and risk management.

Energy Panelist: Richard Spears

Vice President of Spears & Associates, Inc.

Richard Spears is one of the owners and managing directors of Spears & Associates, an oilfield market research firm founded in 1965. The firm has over 200 clients worldwide, including all major oil companies, and most major investors. In addition to oilfield market-related client work, Richard is an investor in private and public oilfield service companies and sits on the boards of multiple companies, some as board chairman.

Spears & Associates, Inc. provides business planning, analysis, activity forecasts and market research-based consulting services to the worldwide petroleum equipment and service industry. Clients include petroleum equipment manufacturers, oilfield service firms, financial institutions, and research groups. Spears & Associates has served the oilfield since 1965. Its services are divided between off-the-shelf unique data driven products, private and multi-client Consulting, and the Spears Insider, a subscription to weekly insight emails. The staff of Spears & Associates provides a wealth of experience in the oilfield from the service perspective and the oil company perspective.

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Gene Marks

Economist

AUTHOR. COLUMNIST. KEYNOTE SPEAKER. BUSINESS ADVISOR.

A past columnist for both The New York Times and The Washington Post, Gene now writes regularly for The Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and The Guardian.

Gene has written 5 books on business management, specifically geared towards small and medium sized companies. His most recent is Want More Cash?: 100+ Ideas And Strategies For Increasing Your Company’s Cash Flow This Year.

Nationally, Gene appears regularly on Fox Business, MSNBC, as well as CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor and SiriusXM’s Wharton Business Channel where he talks about the financial, economic and technology issues that affect business leaders today.

Through his keynotes and breakout sessions, Gene helps business owners, executives and managers understand the political, economic and techno­logical trends that will affect their companies and—most importantly—the actions they can take to continue to grow and profit.

Gene owns and operates the Marks Group PC, a highly successful ten-person firm that provides technology and consulting services to small and medium sized businesses.

Prior to starting the Marks Group PC Gene, a Certified Public Accountant, spent nine years in the entrepreneurial services arm of the international consulting firm KPMG in Philadelphia where he was a Senior Manager.

Gene also hosts two very popular podcasts: Thrive, sponsored by Paychex; and Small Biz Ahead, sponsored by The Hartford Insurance.

Kari Watkins

President & CEO of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum

Kari Watkins, a third-generation journalist, became the Oklahoma City National Memorial's first staff member as the Communications Director in March 1996. She was named Executive Director in 1999. Today, as President and CEO, she oversees the operations of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum; one of Oklahoma’s most visited sites and is Race Director for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

Looking Back. Thinking Forward. written by Kari and Founding Memorial Chair, Robert M. Johnson, reveals the story of the violence of the Oklahoma City bombing turning to hope as the world witnessed a response characterized by courage, compassion and unity in the building of the Memorial.

Locally, she has been recognized with several awards including the 2000 Women in Communications Byliner Award, 2005 Journal Record Woman of the Year, 2006 Stanley Draper Award for Community Excellence, 2011 University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism Distinguished Alumni Award, 2016 Lee Allan Smith Oklahoma Legacy Award, and the 2017 John F. Kennedy Community Service Award.

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