Distinguished Alumni Honorees

When Chuck Farmer’s tenuous football career at The University of Texas at Austin was cut short (fortunately) by injuries, he switched to Petroleum Engineering. He graduated with a BS in May 1981 and went to work for Anadarko Petroleum in Denver, Colorado, and then worked for various independents and did rotational drilling duty with Amoco International in the Middle East and North Sea. In 1987, he took a job with Plains Petroleum as an acquisition engineer and soon moved to Midland as a district manager. In the following two years, Plains built its net production from 500 to 3,000 net BOPD; drilled a successful (500 BOPD, 500 MCFD) Canyon horizontal well in Knox County, Texas; and drilled one of the first Wolfcamp horizontal wells in the Midland Basin. In 1990 he was promoted to manager of corporate development, bringing in approximately $80 million in acquisitions, executing multiple infill drilling programs and creating dynamic cashflow growth.

Larry W. Lake is a professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Shahid and Sharon Ullah Chair. He holds BSE and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University and Rice University, respectively.

After graduating from the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems engineering at The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in May 2008, Mariya Townswick began working at DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M), an international consulting company where she had interned as an undergraduate. During her years at D&M, Mariya worked her way up from an associate engineer to a senior engineer and a vice president. She coordinated multiple oil and gas evaluations for companies ranging in size from small, privately held to national in scope, most of which were located in the former Soviet Union.

Nick Steinsberger began his career with Mitchell Energy in 1988 after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering. Nick was promoted to completion manager for the Barnett Shale in 1995 and was responsible for the first slick-water stimulation in the Barnett in 1997, which is referred to as the first modern shale frac.

Eugene B. “Gene” Shepherd, Jr., is a founder and the chief executive officer of ATX Energy Partners, LLC. Prior to ATX, Gene was a founder and the CEO of Brigham Resources, LLC, from 2013 until the sale of substantially all of its southern Delaware Basin assets to Diamondback Energy in February 2017.

William “Bill” Edward Findley, Jr., was born on July 20, 1922, to Sylvia Woods Findley and William Edward Findley. He grew up in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1940. He graduated from North Texas Agricultural College in 1942. He then enrolled and studied petroleum engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

Paul M. Bommer is a distinguished senior lecturer and holder of the Chevron Lectureship in Petroleum Engineering in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2014, he was awarded the University of Texas Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, which recognizes those who serve students in an exemplary manner and as an incentive for others who aspire to such service.

Charles John “Chip” Rimer began his career in 1983 with ARCO Oil & Gas Company in Denver as a drilling and completion engineer. In 1986, he moved to Midland, Texas working in the production and drilling departments.

Michael J. Minarovic is the CEO and co-founder of Arena Energy, an employee-owned exploration and production company. Since its start-up in 1999, the company has invested nearly $4 billion of capital in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico and has been the most active driller in this basin for the past five years.

James Dupree is currently chief operating officer of subsurface, projects and exploration, and a member of BP’s upstream executive team. Dupree’s portfolio includes three upstream functions: global projects, reservoir development and exploration.