Speakers

Steve Begg is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Adelaide. His focus is on tools and processes for decision-making under uncertainty; bias identification, impact quantification and mitigation; and project/asset and portfolio evaluations. He has twice been a Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) on uncertainty & decision-making topics. In 2014 he was elected to the Board of the Society of Decision Professionals (SDP). In 2016 he received the SPE’s global award for his work on biases in decision-making. He is co-author, with Reidar Bratvold, of the book “Making Good Decisions”, has given many industry short courses and workshops, and is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences.

Mike Benefiel is the General Manager, Decision Analysis for Chevron. Mike received his BSc. in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. Mike has extensive energy industry experience including research, data acquisition, data processing and interpretation for energy exploration and development.
Mike joined Chevron in 2006 as a Decision Analysis Advisor and has held DA/DQ technical and leadership positions supporting teams and decision-makers throughout Chevron. He assumed his current role in October 2020.

After starting his working life as an actor in BBC drama Byker Grove alongside Ant and Dec, Caspar studied economics at Cambridge before making the momentous decision to move to Las Vegas and become a professional poker player. Now a veteran of over 2,000 speeches in 30 countries, Caspar uses this unique experiences to deliver challenging messages about risk-taking and decision-making to maximize returns in an increasingly uncertain world.

J. Eric Bickel is a professor in both the Operations Research & Industrial Engineering (ORIE) graduate program and the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management (IROM) at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include the theory and practice of decision analysis. He is past president of the Decision Analysis Society and a Fellow of the Society of Decision Professionals. Prof. Bickel joined Strategic Decisions Group in 1995, where he remains a partner and member of the board of directors. He has practiced decision analysis for over 25 years in a range of industries including oil & gas, electric power, life sciences, financial services, metals and mining, and packaging. He holds an MS and PhD from the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University.

Cath competed in rowing at 3 Olympic Games, winning World Championships gold in 2003 and Olympic silver in Athens 2004. As a diplomat for the British Foreign Office for 12 years, Cath specialized in policy and negotiations on conflict issues, with postings to Bosnia and Iraq. Cath now works as a leadership consultant, executive coach, facilitator and author, and teaches on Executive Education programmes at the Judge Business School, Cambridge University and other business schools. She works with leaders across education, sport and business on developing high performing teams, resilient and inclusive environments, sustainable performance and cultures where people can thrive.

Cath speaks at events globally on topics of leadership, learning and cultural change. Her first book ‘The Long Win: the search for a better way to succeed’ was described by the Financial Times as ‘a deep and rewarding exploration of human motivation in sport, politics, business and our personal lives.

VP for CCS and low carbon solutions within Equinor’s Technology, digitalization and innovation unit with a focus on technology development for CCS, Hydrogen, Ammonia, and low carbon fuels like Biofuel and e-fuel. She holds a Master's Degree in geology from the University of Tromsø and started as a geologist in Statoil back in 1996. She has held various technical and leadership positions in Equinor within exploration, petech and research and technology. Through these positions, she has been working with all subsurface disciplines and has really seen the impact and the value multidisciplinary teams can create to deliver value in the O&G business. She grew up in a small industrial town in the western part of Norway that back then was heavily polluted. However, the local focus on the nature and environment back in the 1980s transformed the small town and it is today known for its beautiful nature. A small-scale transformation that has given her faith that collaboration, competence and technology are key enablers for the energy transition. Elisabeth is married and has 4 children and we are all passionate about nature and outdoor activities.

Member of the Senior Executive Group of Shell Plc since 2010. As from January 2021, SVP Opportunity Value Assurance, leading a team of ca. 25 professionals located in The Hague, London, and Houston. My team provides independent assurance as well as investment appraisal advice, on all capital expenditures and New Business Development proposals which go to the Executive Committee and Board. Previous role Global Head of M&A for Shell, overseeing the successful delivery of the $30 bln divestment program. Non-Executive Director at d.light, a global leader and pioneer in delivering affordable solar-powered solutions designed for the two billion people in the developing world without access to reliable energy.

Reidar B. Bratvold is a partner at ThinQ Decisions and a professor of Decision and Data Analytics at the University of Stavanger. His research interests include decision and data analytics, data assimilation, portfolio analysis, real-option valuation, and behavioral challenges in decision-making. He is the co-author of the SPE book Making Good Decisions. Reidar has thrice served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer and was the 2017 recipient of the international SPE Management & Information Award. He was the executive editor for the SPE Economics & Management journal and is a Fellow in the Society of Decision Professionals, the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences and the Stavanger Academy of Sciences.

Reidar holds a PhD in petroleum engineering and an MSc in mathematics, both from Stanford University and has business and management science education from INSEAD and Stanford University.

Ellen Coopersmith is an expert in decision quality and decision analysis implementation and its practical application in multiple industries. She consults, facilitates, and trains organizations across the globe, utilizing her extensive experience in strategy development, scenario planning, decision framing, probabilistic analysis, and value of information. An engineer by degree from The Colorado School of Mines, Ms. Coopersmith has specialized in decision analysis for last 25+ years. As of 2022, she’s trained over 7,500 professionals while assisting companies with both corporate DQ implementations and strategic decisions at all levels of the organization. Ms. Coopersmith is the president of Decision Frameworks, a decision quality enablement firm providing consulting, training and software around the globe. She was the 2017 – 2018 president of the Society of Decision Professionals, a published speaker on decision analysis, a Professional Engineer and SDP Fellow.

Chris Dalton is CEO/co-owner of Syncopation Software, publisher of the DPL and DPMX business analytics software products. Mr. Dalton has over 20 years of experience consulting in decision analysis, risk analysis and real option valuation. He has advised a variety of clients in the pharmaceutical, energy, high tech, and logistics industries in proven methods to improve performance and reduce risk. His focus is on engagements creating decision processes and systems which leverage management science, data science and technology to improve decision quality on an ongoing basis. He has trained hundreds of professionals in decision analysis and related methods and tools.

Richard Dearden is a Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial intelligence (AI) scientist who has spent 15 years in a variety of industries and 7 years as a university academic. He’s been with AstraZeneca for 3 years, and has recently moved from a role building decision-support tools for designing and running clinical trials. He now leads the AI and ML team for Clinical Pharmacology and Safety Sciences.

Before joining AstraZeneca, Richard worked in Oil and Gas mostly on automation and planning for drilling operations, and before that was an academic at the University of Birmingham, working on robotics, autonomous underwater vehicles, and sequential decision-making problems with a particular interest in decision-making under uncertainty. He also spent five years at NASA Ames Research Centre working on state estimation, fault diagnosis and planning for Mars Rover and satellite operations. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.

Lan Ding is a Decision Science Director at GSK with over a decade of successful experience in data analytics, forecasting and investment decision analysis across R&D, supply chain and Commercial. High intellectual curiosity and learning agility, associated with proficient communication and problem-solving skills, enables Lan to deal with ambiguity and support complex decision making in cross-functional settings.

Ralph L. Keeney is an expert on decision making and his passion is to help individuals and organizations improve their decision making skills. He received his doctorate from MIT, has been a professor at MIT, the University of Southern California, and Duke University, and created and managed the decision and risk analysis group in an engineering-environmental consulting firm. He is currently a consultant and lecturer on decision making.

Keeney is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is the author of several books; the most recent is Give Yourself a Nudge: Helping Smart People Make Smarter Personal and Business Decisions (2020).

Patrick Leach is a Professor of Practice at the Colorado School of Mines and an independent strategy consultant. He is the author of Why Can't You Just Give Me the Number? - An executive's guide to using probabilistic thinking to manage risk and to make better decisions, now in its Second Edition, and is a Past President of the Society of Decision Professionals. He has written numerous pieces about the need to move toward sustainable business practices and how to use the principles of decision science and behavioral economics to develop strategies to do so.

Ritske van der Meer has 15+ years’ experience in strategic decision support in large international corporations of which seven years in a strategy consulting role with Strategic Decisions Group (SDG). His experience is mostly in business-to-business environments, and within a wide range of industries. He has worked extensively internationally, spending a lot of time in Western-Europe and briefly lived in California while being at SDG. At SDG in Europe, Ritske was part of the Executive Education Faculty, designing and delivering courses on the topic of Decision Quality. Ritske leads the Strategic Decision Support (SDS) team after switching back from his consulting work in 2019. In this role he guides the SDS team to address organizationally and/or financially complex strategic and high-stake business decisions across the company. Ritske is the chairman of the Dutch foundation Decisioni Sustentatio (Latin for Decision Support) which in the past 10 years has enabled a peer-to-peer network of professionals working with decision sciences in strategy and decision support in Western-Europe – aka EDPN. With that being achieved, the foundation is currently on idle and orienting for a next endeavour.

Florian Methling is an engagement manager at Strategic Decisions Group and a research associate at RWTH Aachen University. He is co-author of the book “Reflektiert Entscheiden”. His long-term research goal is to advance the practical application of decision analysis methods and to develop decision support tools such as www.entscheidungsnavi.com . He holds a PhD in economics and a MS and BS in mechanical engineering and business administration.

Charles Persinger is an Executive Director in Portfolio Strategy at Eli Lilly and leads their Decision Sciences group.  He joined Lilly after receiving his MBA from Duke University.  Charles has 20 years of experience helping enable Organization Decision Quality at Lilly, with a focus on drug development and portfolio management decisions within Research and Development.  He and the Decision Science team at Lilly work directly with decision makers and drug development teams to enable Decision Quality across the R&D organization through a combination of direct decision consulting, developing and enabling decision processes, and education efforts.  Charles led Lilly’s application for the Raiffa-Howard award, has been a member of the Society of Decision Professionals since its inception and was program co-chair of the 2021 SDP Annual Conference.

Jan is a Vice President at Decision Frameworks and has led the company’s software development within since 2005. He’s an excellent decision analyst practitioner and instructor, although he specializes in software engineering, software development, user interaction and user interface design, and high performance computing.

He has a BSc Hons in Computer Science and Business from Warwick University and was Previously a Software Developer at Merak and Schlumberger, as well as a member of SDP and SPE.

Dr. Mark Seidler, chief executive officer, joined SDG in 2001 and previously led the firm’s European operations and global Life Sciences practice from 2012 to 2020. He has more than 30 years of experience in structuring and development of strategies for global leaders in pharmaceuticals, agrosciences, fine chemicals and energy technology in Europe, the U.S., and Asia.

Dr. Seidler’s experience spans a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary, international projects, including supporting clients in defining the focus of product development, business unit, and corporate strategy. He guides clients through major business transitions, including decisions to enter new geographic markets or business sectors, to align innovation and product portfolio strategy, and to transform business models in the face of industry change. He is broadly experienced in the application of decision analysis methodology as well as the structuring and modeling of complex strategic alternatives.

Prior to entering consulting, Dr. Seidler held a variety of positions at Bayer AG in Germany, both in business operations in product development and production, as well as in the pharmaceutical and corporate strategy departments.

Dr. Seidler holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and a BS in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

After his undergraduate degree from Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal, Miguel completed his graduate work at Stanford University, USA, with a PhD from the Information Systems Lab with a minor in Management Science and Engineering, as well as an MA in Political Science. As the Director of the INSEAD Middle East Campus from 2013 to 2019 he led the establishment of the new campus in Abu Dhabi. He is currently based at INSEAD’s Asia Campus in Singapore. Prof. Lobo’s work has appeared in leading publications such as Management Science, Operations Research, Journal of Finance, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Harvard Business Review.

Deepak Veeraraghavan is a partner at Strategic Decisions Group. He leads the firm’s global life science practice and the strategy consulting practice in Europe. He is experienced in strategic decision-making, corporate strategy development and implementation, and operational excellence. His clients include companies in such diverse areas as pharmaceuticals, energy, chemicals, sports marketing, engineering, and manufacturing. Deepak Veeraraghavan received his postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management at Calcutta and a bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai, India.