M.L. (Lee) Blanton
During his previous 29-year career with Shell Oil Company, Lee held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility. As General Manager Health Safety & Environment, Mr. Blanton had responsibility for establishing policies and directions for safety and environmental protection for all of Shell Oil Company’s Exploration and Production operations. As Division Production Manager for Shell’s Western Division, Mr. Blanton had complete P&L responsibility for a 4000 person, 150,000 BOE/D oil & gas drilling and producing operation. At an oil price of $50 / barrel this would have been a $3 billion / year business. In the position of Manager Deep-Water Production, Mr. Blanton led teams to develop new technology and build new equipment that set world records in deep-water drilling. Mr. Blanton set the direction of computing for Shell E&P as Manager Information Technology. As a member of the leadership team of Shell E&P Technology Company, Mr. Blanton helped transform an internally focused research and technology organization into a customer focused consulting firm.

After leaving Shell Oil Company, Mr. Blanton became President of a manufacturing firm in Houston, Texas. While in this position, Mr. Blanton led the design and implementation of numerous new systems and business processes, which greatly improved financial performance and positioned the company for the future. Mr. Blanton’s management experience in both large corporations and in small entrepreneurial environments led him to become a co-founder of Business Fundamentals Group.

Mr. Blanton holds a BS degree in Agricultural Engineering from New Mexico State University.

Dr. J. Roger Hite
Roger has experienced insight into how technology serves business. During his previous career with Shell, he held a variety of positions in engineering management, technology management and project management. As engineering manager, Roger led a large engineering organization responsible for Shell’s E&P assets in California which were producing approximately 125,000 B/D. At $50 / bbl this would be $2.3 Billion in annual revenue. He also served as chief petroleum engineer in Shell’s Head Office with technical oversight over all of the company’s production properties.

Roger has extensive experience in providing technical support to litigation and has given numerous depositions. He has testified as an expert witness in cases involving tax related issues.

He recently served as Chairman of the SPE Gulf Coast Section. He was co-Chair of the 2008 Digital Energy Conference and co-Chair of the recent SPE/IBP Joint Workshop on the Digital Oilfield in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Roger is the recipient of the 2008 SPE International award for Management and Information.

Dr. Hite has published numerous articles. He has a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University and a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.