As President of Shell USA, Inc., Gretchen Watkins oversees the strategic integration of all Shell businesses in the United States and leads the US Country Coordination Team. Since being named to this post in 2018, she has become the company’s leading voice, with public and private leaders, across a wide range of energy-related policy and societal challenges.

In addition to these responsibilities from May 2018-June 2021, Gretchen also served as Executive Vice President of Shell’s Global Shales business, overseeing the exploration, development, and production of Shell’s Upstream shale oil and gas portfolio, which included assets in the US, Canada, and Argentina. 

Before joining Shell in May 2018, Gretchen served as the Chief Executive Officer of Maersk Oil, following two years as Chief Operating Officer. Gretchen’s tenure at Maersk coincided with a low-price environment for oil, but under her leadership, the company delivered above-target operational and financial results, enabling a safe and successful enterprise sale of Maersk Oil to Total in 2017.

Gretchen began her career nearly 30 years ago as a Facilities Engineer for Amoco in the Gulf of Mexico. She then worked as a Trading Manager for Amoco and BP before commencing an international career that has included a variety of senior executive roles at BP, Marathon Oil, and Maersk Oil in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has led joint ventures and negotiated contracts with countries and companies across the upstream, midstream, and downstream businesses.

Gretchen currently serves as a non-executive director of the Mosaic Company, one of the world’s leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients, and previously served as a non-executive director for W. S. Atkins, a global engineering consultancy and FTSE 200 company from 2014 until its merger with SNC Lavalin in 2017. Gretchen graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and has had executive education at Cambridge and Stanford Universities. 

Maynard Holt is the founder & CEO of Veriten. Built off the momentum created by the “Close of Business Tuesday” podcast, Veriten is an energy-focused knowledge platform that brings diverse perspectives to the energy transition discussion, improving the ability of industry leaders, policy makers, and investors to make investment and strategic choices. Maynard previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. from 2016 to 2021 and has over 27 years of experience in energy investment banking and strategic advice. A co-founder of TPH, Maynard functioned as Co-President from 2007 to 2016 and prior to joining TPH, Maynard worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. At Goldman from 1994 to 2007, Maynard worked in Leveraged / Structured Finance and was last a Managing Director in and Energy & Power / Natural Resources. Maynard launched Veriten to convene the brightest minds in and around energy in a civil, inclusive, and intellectually honest discussion to address the most pressing topics across the space. Like too many of us, he passionately believes there are better ways forward in energy and he wants to find them. Maynard is an avid classic Jeep collector and dedicated patron and supporter of youth sports and holds a BA in Economics and Russian from Rice University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.