2020 Young Leaders Institute: Energy and the Environment

About the Speakers

Andrew Deighan is general manager of Exploration for Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company, based in Houston, Texas, a role he assumed in April 2019. In this role, he is responsible for Chevron’s North America exploration program, and is a member of Chevron’s Global Exploration Leadership Team. Deighan joined Chevron in 2008 as an appraisal geophysicist for the Greater Gorgon assets of NW Australia. Prior to joining Chevron, he worked for BG Group for 11 years, based in the UK and Canada. He has workedon exploration, appraisal, development and business planning projects in the UK, Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Trinidad, Egypt, Mexico, Suriname and Morocco. From 2015 to 2017, Deighan was the Exploration Manager for Frontier Exploration and Appraisal inChevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company in Houston, and immediately prior to his current role, he was the Manager of Chevron’s Exploration Review Team, responsible for the technical assurance of Chevron’s global conventional and unconventional exploration portfolio. Deighan is a native of Glasgow, Scotland, holds a bachelor’s degree in physics with geology from the University of Glasgow, a master’s degree in geophysics from the University of Durham, and doctorate in geophysics from the University of Glasgow. He is a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.

Kelly Sims Gallagher is Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. She directs the Climate Policy Lab and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at Fletcher. From June 2014-September 2015 she served in the Obama Administration as a Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as Senior China Advisor in the Special Envoy for Climate Change office at the U.S. State Department. Gallagher is a member of the board of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and she also serves on the board of the Energy Foundation.

Broadly, she focuses on energy innovation and climate policy. She specializes in how policy spurs the development and deployment of cleaner and more efficient energy technologies, domestically and internationally. Shei s a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of Titans of the Climate (The MIT Press 2018), The Global Diffusion of Clean Energy Technologies: Lessons from China (MIT Press 2014), China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development (The MIT Press 2006), and dozens of other publications.

Ruth Reitmeier is the Assistant Director for Coaching at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders. Ruth oversees the hiring, training and managing of professional coaches who work directly with Rice students to increase their leadership capacity.   

Ruth is an ICF-certified coach and received her coach training at Rice University through the Doerr Institute. She has 20+ years of experience in developing leaders and she is passionate about helping leaders grow, flourish and maximize their potential. 

Ruth graduated magna cum laude from Rice University (Brown College, 1992) with a double major in cultural anthropology and Latin American Studies. She is married to Tyler Reitmeier and has three children, Reagan, AveryAnne and Reece. 

Al Vickers is the Chief Executive Officer of BP Wind Energy. He is a member of BP’s Alternative Energy executive team and has worldwide responsibility for BP’s Wind Energy activities. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Al held a number of executive leadership roles spanning a wide range of BP’s business. Most recently Al held Senior Vice President positions in both Upstream Production Operations and Wells Organizations in which he was responsible for a wide range of BP’s global activities in both areas. Al also held the role of Vice President Safety and Operational Risk for BP’s Wells organization in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon incident and was heavily involved in leading BP’s response and recovery from the event.

The majority of Al’s career has been spent in operations and engineering roles in oil and gas and petrochemicals businesses but he has also held roles in strategic planning, business development and in BP’s global executive office. During his career, Al has worked across five continents including work in two joint ventures.

Al is a Member of the Board of Directors of BP Bunge BioEnergia, the world’s second largest biofuels company. Al also chairs the Board HSSE Committee.

Al has a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from Manchester University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is a graduate of the Executive Operations Academy at MIT.

Al has been an active representative for BP and the energy industry over a number of years. He has served on a number of industry committees and trade associations handling a range of issues such as fiscal policy, human capability, risk management and safety and environmental regulations. Al is the executive sponsor of several diversity and inclusion programs within BP and is a board member of the Asia Society, a non-profit organization which promotes business understanding between Asia and the Rest of the World.

In Al’s spare time he runs marathons, travels and enjoys both golf and cycling. He also enjoys cooking and reading but most of all loves time with his wife Starlee, their three boys, Jack, Cade and Ethan, and their close friends.