Advisory Board
Tim Coburn - Professor of Systems Engineering
Dr. Coburn joined the Systems Engineering faculty and Energy Institute at Colorado State University after serving as Director of the School of Energy Economics, Policy and Commerce at The University of Tulsa and as Professor of Energy and Operations Management. In addition to his current position at CSU, Dr. Coburn holds a joint appointment in the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is a research affiliate at the University of Colorado - Boulder. Dr. Coburn serves on the Energy Statistics Committee of the American Statistical Association, an advisory/consultancy panel for the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and collaborates as an advisory consultant with the Asia Pacific Energy Research Center (APERC). He also serves as Associate Editor of Natural Resources Research and on the Editorial Advisory Board of PDPU Journal of Energy and Management. Dr. Coburn holds a Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University - Statistics/Industrial Engineering; M.S. Oklahoma State University - Statistics; B.S. Abilene Christian University - Math/Physics.
William L. Leffler - Best-selling author / consultant
Dr. Leffler is a prolific petroleum industry writer of magazines and books. He has written or co-authored books covering refining, petrochemicals, deepwater exploration & production, natural gas liquids, pipelines, and oil & gas production, and all have the words "in Nontechnical Language" in the title. Dr. Leffler earned an MBA and PhD from New York University and a BS from MIT. After a commission in the US Navy, he worked in the oil and gas and petrochemicals industries for 36 years in the US and abroad. Following that, he taught courses in universities and in companies on the upstream, downstream, and petrochemicals for 20 years while pursuing his writing career.
Thomas Miesner - Best-selling author / consultant
Tom spent over 25 years at Conoco Pipeline, retiring as President in 2003. Over those years, Tom held many industry positions including serving as Chairman of the Association of Oil Pipeline, and the Chairman of the Board of Explorer Pipeline Company. After retiring from ConocoPhillips, Tom founded a boutique consulting business, serving clients in the oil and gas midstream industry. Over the years Tom has become known as a world class instructor. He has over 25 midstream lessons and has produced 18 of those into videos. Tom has taught over 175 classes to over 3,000 people over the past 15 years. He is the author of Local Distribution Pipelines in Nontechnical Language and the 1st & 2nd Edition of Oil & Gas Pipelines in Nontechnical Language. Tom holds a B.S degree in Engineering Management from University of Missouri-Rolla. He can be contacted at tom@pipelineknowledge.com, or by visiting Pipeline Knowledge.
Tom Seng - Director, School of Energy/Mervin Bovaird Professor of Energy Business; The University of Tulsa
Tom Seng is the Mervin Bovaird Professor of Energy Business and Director of the School of Energy Economics, Policy & Commerce at The University of Tulsa. His other teaching experience includes serving as an Adjunct Instructor for TU, The University of Oklahoma, Penn State University and, Texas Christian University. Mr. Seng has over 30 years of experience in the natural gas and natural gas liquids industry including; physical and financial commodity trading, risk management and hedging, pipeline and midstream operations, transportation & storage capacity marketing and, risk control. He holds a Bachelor's degree from the State University of New York and an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. He is the author of Energy Trading & Hedging: A Nontechnical Guide. Tom can be contacted at tom-seng@utulsa.edu, or by visiting TU Master of Energy Business.
Robert "Bob" Tippee - Award winning industry consultant
Bob is an energy writer and oil and gas industry analyst who has won many awards for his commentary, articles, and speeches. He was a member of the Oil & Gas Journal editorial staff for 42 years and the magazine's editor-in-chief for 20 years. During his career with OGJ, Tippee wrote every weekly editorial beginning in 1981 and a weekly column, The Editor's Perspective, starting in 1996. A Journalism graduate of the University of Tulsa, he served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. He is an alumnus and occasional lecturer of the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, a Department of Defense Regional Center. Bob can be reached at bobtip@hotmail.com.
Frank Viscuso - Best-selling author / leadership-development consultant
Frank is a retired deputy fire chief and the best-selling author of seven books on leadership, team development and customer service. He is the author of It's Time to Step Up! Leadership Lessons from the Fire Service. Frank is an international speaker who travels throughout the world providing leadership training to various teams and industries including the emergency services, professional athletics, sales teams, the healthcare industry, small businesses, and large corporations. His popular keynotes, seminars and books are designed to introduce people to the top traits associated with leadership and to equip them with the skills needed to lead, inspire, and motivate their teams. Frank can be reached at frank@commonvalor.com, or by visiting Common Valor.
Paul Westervelt - VP / Group Publisher Oil & Gas Journal and Offshore
Paul joined PennWell in 1999 and held various roles including the PennWell Books publisher. He currently manages the Oil & Gas Journal, Offshore, Subsea Tieback Forum, Deepwater Operations and Topsides to help achieve the marketing objectives and business communication needs of a technically advanced clientele around the world. Paul holds an B.S. degree in Radio, TV, Film Management from Oklahoma State University with a M.A in Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary.