Houston organization names annual energy industry award winners

who's who

ALLY Energy's eighth annual GRIT Awards and Best Energy Workplaces named its winners this week across nine categories plus several people's choice winners. Photo via ALLY Energy/LinkedIn

A Houston company identified the top players in the energy industry — with this year's honorees being recognized for their growth, resilience, innovation, and talent.

ALLY Energy's eighth annual GRIT Awards and Best Energy Workplaces named its winners this week across nine categories plus several people's choice winners.

"The GRIT Awards honor those who have shaped the industry and continue to inspire future generations. These winners have demonstrated extraordinary leadership and dedication to driving innovation across the energy landscape," says Katie Mehnert, founder and CEO of ALLY Energy, in a news release.

According to ALLY, submissions are open to the public and a group of judges evaluate and decide on each of the GRIT Award finalists, which were announced in September, as well as the winners.

The 2024 winners were:

The Professional Award - Obianuju Igbokwe, technology strategy consultant at SLB
The Executive Award - Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDP Renewables North America
The Entrepreneur Award - Tara Karimi, co-founder and chief science officer at Cemvita
The Sustainability Award - Maru Williams, ESG manager at Chevron
The Best Affinity Group, Employee Resource Group, or Business Resource Group Award - Occidental Petroleum, FRIEND
The Best Energy Team Award - 1PointFive, Direct Air Capture
The Top Energy Voices Award - Kithairos Solutions
The Best Energy Workplaces Award - EDP Renewables North America
The Best Energy or Climate Startup Award - Syzygy Plasmonics

The People's Choice awards, decided by online judging, named winners, including:

The Best Affinity Group, Employee Resource Group, or Business Resource Group Award - Baker Hughes, Multicultural ERG
The Best Energy Team Award - ADNOC Offshore, Project Light PMO
The Best Energy Workplace Award - Baker Hughes
The Best Energy or Climate Startup Award - Solaires Enterprises Inc.
The Top Energy Voices Award - Sarah Magruder, Founder and President of Savvy Oil & Gas Consulting

In addition to these winners, the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Awards honorees were recognized too. The recipients were:

Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Occidental
Jan E. Odegard, consultant and former executive director of Ion
Sivasankaran "Soma" Somasundaram, president and CEO of ChampionX

ALLY Energy celebrated over 50 honorees at its annual awards event. Photo via LinkedIn

Top Houston energy teams, individuals, and companies honored at annual awards

meet the winnenrs

The brightest stars in Houston's energy community celebrated wins at an annual awards event this week.

ALLY Energy, a company that works with its clients to make the energy industry more equitable, hosted its seventh annual GRIT Awards and Best Energy Workplaces on October 26 — and named its prestigious winners. EnergyCapitalHTX, as well as its sister site InnovationMap, was a media partner for the event.

“Every year, we are astounded at how many impressive, committed people are demonstrating leadership and grit in their work to advance the energy transition and build more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces,” ALLY Energy CEO Katie Mehnert says in a news release naming the finalists. “This year is no exception. This is the time to celebrate so many crucial achievements that may otherwise go overlooked in the energy sector and in broader society.”

In addition to naming its winners, ALLY celebrated three Lifetime Achievement Award honorees who have distinguished careers championing change in energy and climate in the private or public sector in the areas of technology, policy, and workforce: John Berger, CEO of Sunnova Energy; Rhonda Morris, vice president and chief human resources officer of Chevron; and Amy Chronis, vice chair, US energy and chemicals leader, and Houston managing partner at Deloitte.

The big winners of 2023 are as follows.

The Professional Award

Alex Loureiro, Scientific Director at EnerGeo Alliance
Crystal McNack, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisor at Enbridge Inc.
Dani Milling, Gulf of Mexico Environmental Engineer & Mexico HSE Coordinator at Chevron
Katie Zimmerman, Decarbonization Director, Americas at Wood
Mark Klapatch-Mathias, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Natalie Valentine, Director - Business Performance at Worley
Syed Fahim, Global ESG Lead at SLB
Tane Bates, Regional Operations Manager at Certarus LTD
Ujunwa Ojemeni, Senior Policy Advisor - Energy Transition & Technical Assistance Delivery at E3G - Third Generation Environmentalism

The Executive Award

Cara Hair, SVP of Corporate Services, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Helmerich & Payne
Emma Lewis, Senior Vice President USGC Chemicals & Products at Shell
Jeremy Campbell-Wray, Strategic Accounts and Enterprise Growth Market Executive at Baker Hughes
Maggie Seeliger, SVP & Global Head of Strategy, Energy & Resources at Sodexo
Max Chan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development Officer at Enbridge
Megan Beauregard, Chief Legal Officer, Secretary, and Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Enel North America, Inc.
Sarah Delille, Vice President of US Country Management at Equinor
Whitney Eaton, EVP, People & Sustainability at TGS Energy

The JEDI Award

Jason Limerick, Sustainability Strategy Lead at Woodside Energy
Melina Acevedo, Associate & Partnerships Lead at DE Shaw Renewable Investments

The Entrepreneur Award

Charli Matthews, CEO at Empowering Women in Industry
Mike Francis, Co-Founder and CEO at NanoTech

The ESG & Climate Champion Award

Andrea Hepp, Deal Lead at Shell
Brittney Marshall, Senior Advisor, Climate Strategy and Policy at Woodside Energy
Gabriel Rolland, Vice President, Corporate QHSE at TGS Energy
Sandhya Ganapathy, Chief Executive Officer at EDP Renewables North America

Gritty Girl Award

Deepasha Baral, Student at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

Best Affinity Group, Employee Resource Group Award, sponsored by ChampionX

Baker Hughes
ChampionX
Shell
TPI Composites
Women's Energy Network Houston
Wood Mackenzie
Worley

Best Energy Team Award, sponsored by Ovintiv

Advisian Material Handling
Halliburton Labs
NOV Marketing
Syzygy Plasmonics, Rigel Manufacturing & Launch Team

Best Energy Workplaces Award

Aera Energy LLC
Baker Hughes
ChampionX
EDP Renewables North America
Enel
Global Edge Group
Shell
Southwestern Energy
Sunnova Energy International
TGS Energy
Wood
Woodside Energy

ALLY Energy has named its 2023 GRIT Awards finalists. Photo courtesy of ALLY Energy

Houston energy workforce solutions company names finalists for annual awards

energy honorees

For the seventh year, a Houston-based company that's working to make the energy industry more equitable has named the finalists for its annual award.

ALLY Energy's GRIT Awards and Best Energy Workplaces, which will take place on October 26, has announced the finalists for the 2023 awards program.

“Every year, we are astounded at how many impressive, committed people are demonstrating leadership and grit in their work to advance the energy transition and build more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces,” ALLY Energy CEO Katie Mehnert says in a news release. “This year is no exception. This is the time to celebrate so many crucial achievements that may otherwise go overlooked in the energy sector and in broader society.”

The finalists are leaders, teams, and companies from around the world and across industry verticals — oil and gas, power and utilities, wind, solar, hydrogen, nuclear, climate tech startups, and academia. EnergyCapitalHTX, as well as its sister site InnovationMap, is a media partner for the event.

This year, ALLY has named three Lifetime Achievement Award honorees who have distinguished careers championing change in energy and climate in the private or public sector in the areas of technology, policy, and workforce: John Berger, CEO of Sunnova Energy; Rhonda Morris, vice president and chief human resources officer of Chevron; and Amy Chronis, vice chair, US energy and chemicals leader, and Houston managing partner at Deloitte.

This year's finalists for the award categories are as follows, according to ALLY Energy.

The Professional Award

Alex Loureiro, Scientific Director at EnerGeo Alliance
Allie Thurmond, Asset Manager at Equinor
Catherine Fuller, Senior Learning Strategy Leader at Baker Hughes
Crystal McNack, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisor at Enbridge Inc.
Dani Milling, Gulf of Mexico Environmental Engineer & Mexico HSE Coordinator at Chevron
Diego Barreto, CFO Americas Region at Baker Hughes
Gayle Bowness, Technical Director Studies at Wood
Katie Zimmerman, Decarbonization Director, Americas at Wood
Kim Sabate-Strazde, Interim DEI Programs Manager at Baker Hughes
Krithika Kannan, IT HSE & Security Manager at Occidental
Lynn Buckley, Head of Supplier Development at Baker Hughes
Mark Klapatch-Mathias, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Megan Suggs, Project Manager at BASF
Natalie Valentine, Director - Business Performance at Worley
Prajakta Kulkarni, Pricing Agreement Management Digital Platform Lead at Baker Hughes
Priscilla Enwere, Senior Well Engineer at Rano-Accrete Petroleum Development Company
Samantha Howard, Senior Organizational Development Specialist at Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline
Syed Fahim, Global ESG Lead at SLB
Tane Bates, Regional Operations Manager at Certarus LTD
Ujunwa Ojemeni, Senior Policy Advisor - Energy Transition & Technical Assistance Delivery at E3G - Third Generation Environmentalism
Yogashri Pradhan, Reservoir Engineer at Coterra

The Executive Award

Andy Drummond, Executive Vice President Exploration and Development at Woodside Energy
Cara Hair, SVP of Corporate Services, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Helmerich & Payne
Claire Aitchison, Executive Operations Leader at Baker Hughes
Emma Lewis, Senior Vice President USGC Chemicals & Products at Shell
Jeremy Campbell-Wray, Strategic Accounts and Enterprise Growth Market Executive at Baker Hughes
Kathy Eberwein, Chief Executive Officer at The Global Edge Group
Kim Holder, Senior Executive of Digital Technology at Baker Hughes
Leveda Charles, Director of PMO & Business Enablement at Baker Hughes
Maggie Seeliger, SVP & Global Head of Strategy, Energy & Resources at Sodexo
Max Chan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development Officer at Enbridge
Megan Beauregard, Chief Legal Officer, Secretary, and Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Enel North America, Inc.
Nikki Martin, President at EnerGeo Alliance
Pamela Skaufel, Vice President of Procurement at ExxonMobil
Sarah Delille, Vice President of US Country Management at Equinor
Shiva McMahon, Executive Vice President International Operations at Woodside Energy
Soma Somasundaram, Chief Executive Officer at ChampionX
Toby Begnaud, Chief Commercial Officer & SVP of Oilfield Services and Equipment at Baker Hughes
Trevor Mihalik, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at Sempra
Whitney Eaton, EVP, People & Sustainability at TGS Energy

The JEDI Award

Alex Fleming, Senior Manager at Deloitte
Doug Peck, Head of Reserves at Woodside Energy
Jason Limerick, Sustainability Strategy Lead at Woodside Energy
Melina Acevedo, Associate & Partnerships Lead at DE Shaw Renewable Investments
Shengke Zhi, Director for Growth and Development at Wood

The Entrepreneur Award

Charli Matthews, CEO at Empowering Women in Industry
Mandeep Patel, Founder at ElecTrip
Mike Francis, Co-Founder and CEO at NanoTech
Nick Valenzia, Founder at Leafr

The ESG & Climate Champion Award

Andrea Hepp, Deal Lead at Shell
Brittney Marshall, Senior Advisor, Climate Strategy and Policy at Woodside Energy
Freya Burton, Chief Sustainability Officer at LanzaTech
Gabriel Rolland, Vice President, Corporate QHSE at TGS Energy
Lisa Larroque Alexander, SVP, Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer at Sempra
Misty Rowe, Global CCUS Account Manager at Halliburton
Sandhya Ganapathy, Chief Executive Officer at EDP Renewables North America

Gritty Girl Award

Deepasha Baral, Student at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

Best Affinity Group, Employee Resource Group Award, sponsored by ChampionX

Baker Hughes, Asian Pacific American Forum (APAF)
Baker Hughes, Generation STEM
Baker Hughes, D&I Group Celle
Baker Hughes, Parenting Tribe
Baker Hughes, Pride@Work
Baker Hughes, Multicultural ERG
ChampionX, PLAN
ChampionX, PRIDE
ChampionX, RISE Gender Equity ERG
ChampionX, SEED
Ovintiv, Leveraging Inclusion, Networking and Knowledge (LINK)
Sempra, Growing Responsibilities and Opportunities for Women
Shell, WAVE - Women Adding Value Everywhere
Shell, DE&I Council
TPI Composites, LEAP for Women
Women's Energy Network Houston, Women's Energy Network Houston
Wood, Launch
Wood Mackenzie, Pride Working Group-Americas
Woodside Energy, EmBRace - Employees Beyond Race
Woodside Energy, Spark
Woodside Energy, VIBE LGBTIQ+ Employee Resource Group
Worley, PRIDE@Worley

Best Energy Team Award, sponsored by Ovintiv

Advisian Material Handling
Baker Hughes, Sustainability Team
ChampionX, Asset Integrity Team
ChampionX, Brunei Supply Chain
EIC Rose Rock/Rose Rock Bridge
Halliburton Labs
NOV Marketing
Sempra Infrastructure
Syzygy Plasmonics, Rigel Manufacturing & Launch Team
TGS New Energy Solutions

Best Energy Workplaces Award

Aera Energy LLC
Baker Hughes
ChampionX
Consolidated Asset Management Services
EDP Renewables North America
Enel
The Global Edge Group
Shell
Solar Energy Industries Association - SEIA
Southwestern Energy
Sunnova Energy International, Inc (6-time finalist)
TGS Energy
Wood
Woodside Energy

ALLY Energy's annual GRIT Awards is still accepting applications — but not for long.

Deadline approaches Houston company's energy awards

A Houston company that advocates for equity and inclusion in the evolving energy sector is closing it nominations for its annual awards program on August 12.

ALLY Energy's 2023 GRIT Awards — honoring companies, nonprofits, and individuals with growth, resilience, innovation, and talent — is slated for October 26. For now, ALLY is looking for the best in the biz to honor at the program.

"We honor the energy industry’s brightest and grittiest talent who contribute to their companies, the energy industry, and their communities," reads the website. "Our awards program recognizes individuals, students, and for-profit and nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated (GRIT) growth, resilience, innovation, and talent with a focus on driving a (JEDI) just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive culture. Best Energy Workplaces℠ give recognition to outstanding energy and climate technology employers."

The nomination categories are as follows:

The Lifetime Achievement Award
The Professional Award
The Executive Award
The Entrepreneur Award
The ALLY JEDI Award
The Gritty Girl
The ESG and Climate Champion
The Best Affinity Group, Employee Resource Group, or Business Resource Group Award
The Best Energy Team Award
The Best Energy Workplaces Award

The full description and requirements for each category is detailed online.

Once applications close on August 12 at midnight, ALLY's team will decide the finalists and reveal them before September 15.

Last year's honorees included representatives from many Houston energy companies, including Baker Hughes, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Marathon Oil, Rice University, Saudi Aramco, Shell, the University of Houston, Syzygy Plasmonics, and Wood Mackenzie.

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CenterPoint gets $50M DOE grant to improve Houston power grid

grid grant

A $50 million federal grant will help Houston-based CenterPoint Energy strengthen Houston’s power grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant will support power substation upgrades in the Houston area.

“Our mission is to build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation for the 2.9 million customers we proudly serve in the greater Houston area … [The grant] will directly fund industry-leading technology improvements that are expected to strengthen resiliency, reliability, and meet the growing energy needs of our region,” Jason Ryan, CenterPoint Energy’s executive vice president for regulatory services and government affairs, said in a release.

CenterPoint says the project will make it one of the first U.S. utilities to install Siemens Energy’s grid-stabilizing technology.

The project will create more than 500 construction and installation jobs, CenterPoint says.

“Generations of CenterPoint customers and families in the region will benefit from the advanced technology this grant is funding,” said Kathleen Jackson, a member of the Public Utility Commission of Texas. “And any time companies make improvements like this to their systems, the long-term impact is making the entire grid stronger for Texans.”

The $176.7 million substation project is part of CenterPoint’s Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative, which launched in 2024.

So far, the initiative has:

Installed nearly 82,400 storm-resilient poles and equipment
Trimmed and cleared more than 13,700 miles of trees and vegetation near power lines
Added nearly 820 grid automation and intelligence devices
Put more than 880 miles of power lines underground

The initiative kicked off three years after Winter Storm Uri. CenterPoint received harsh criticism for what customers complained was the utility’s slow response to the 2021 storm. Uri caused a massive power outage and at least 246 deaths across Texas.

CenterPoint blamed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the power grid for most Texans, for not supplying the utility with enough electricity during and after the storm.

EnergyTech Cypher names 7 startup winners from Pilotathon pitch event

startup spotlight

Houston Energy and Climate Week was full of fast-paced pitches and inspiring technology, showcased during some of the week's signature events.

EnergyTech Cypher's annual Piloathon and Startup Showcase was one of the places to be, bringing together 16 pilot-ready startups to present their best seven-minute pitches before investors, plus 52 companies that demonstrated their technologies on the showcase floor.

"This year's cohort raised the bar," Nada Ahmed, co-founder of EnergyTech Cypher, shared in a news release. "Working with these founders through the pitch preparation process, we saw firsthand the depth of technology and commercial readiness they brought to the stage. Three ties in four categories says it all."

Seven startups took home top honors in various categories, all under this year's theme of "The NEW Energy Industrial Revolution," with three categories ending in a tie. Judges included leaders from Baker Tilly, NRG Energy, Shell, Aramco Ventures, Baker Hughes, Avatar Innovations, Kanin Energy, NoviDigiTech, aiCTO Services, and the FIFA World Cup Houston Committee.

Here's who won in their respective categories:

Future of Industrial Work: Houston-based BigMachine AI, an AI engineer for industrial projects, and Oslo, Norway-based OTee, an automation machinery manufacturer. Otee was also named one of the 10 most-promising startups at the Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum during HECW.

Industrial Decarbonization: Berkeley-based Oleo, which is developing a biomanufacturing platform to transform biomass waste into carbon-negative, cost-competitive oil feedstocks for advanced fuels

Grid Infrastructure and Distributed Energy: Edinburgh-based Mocean Energy, which works to deliver renewable ocean energy to power offshore industry, and Tulsa-based RyuGen Energy Solutions Inc., which works to turn underused commercial power into distributed AI infrastructure

Critical Minerals and Resource Security: Houston-based Resollant, which is working to produce battery-grade graphite and ultra-low-cost hydrogen, and Berkeley-based Sunchem, which provides precision separation of critical metals from sources including e-waste, evaporator scrap, solar panels, and mining ores and concentrates.

Last year, the Pilotathon named eight winners from the competition, which focused on the theme of "Energy Access and Resilience." See the winners here.

EnergyTech Cypher rebranded from EnergyTech Nexus earlier this year. The energy transition hub also launched Cephyron, EnergyTech Cypher's new investor relationship management platform, built specifically for energy and climatech founders.

ENGIE inks deal to supply wind energy for Oracle’s Texas operations

wind deal

Houston-based renewable energy company ENGIE North America has made a deal to supply up to 568 megawatts of renewable electricity for tech giant Oracle's projects in Texas.

The power will come from ENGIE’s wind resources serving the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid. Oracle is developing data centers in Abilene and Shackelford, Texas, according to its website.

The Oracle deal is part of ENGIE’s efforts to bring substantial new electricity supply to the grid. In the past six years, ENGIE has developed 12 gigawatts of new renewable generation and battery storage capacity in North Americas, equaling $11 billion in capital, according to the company.

"Our customers are looking for reliable, scalable energy solutions that can support long-term growth," Anne-Laure Chassanite, interim CEO of ENGIE North America, said in a news release. "ENGIE has invested heavily in developing new generation resources across North America, and we're pleased to support Oracle as it continues to expand its operations in Texas. These agreements reflect the strength of our portfolio and our ability to deliver customized energy solutions that help customers meet their business objectives.”

Computer technology and cloud computing company Oracle is working towards its goal to match 100 percent of AI data center electricity use with carbon-free electricity by 2035.

"Oracle is taking a responsible approach to meeting the energy needs of our growing AI and cloud operations in Texas — investing in carbon-free electricity without shifting costs to consumers," Julia Robin, head of infrastructure planning and sourcing for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, added in the release. "Our agreements with ENGIE advance Oracle's goal to match 100 percent of our AI data center electricity use with carbon-free electricity by 2035, while supporting long-term economic growth with no cost impact to the state of Texas.”

ENGIE also recently won the 2026 Green Power Leadership Award in the Market Innovation category for its work advancing 24/7 renewable energy solutions. The awards honor individuals and companies advancing sustainability and renewables in the energy industry through innovation and leadership.

The company has inked major deals to supply renewable energy to other major companies like Meta, Daikin and others.

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