Company
Leadership

Astley L. Blair Jr.

Chief Financial Officer

In his role as Chief Financial Officer, Astley is responsible for managing all finance-related, information technology, and contracting activities for Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC). In addition to his daily responsibilities, Astley acts as the night shift leader in the event MWCC is activated to respond to a well control event.

Astley joined MWCC at its inception in 2010. Prior to MWCC, Astley held senior management positions within Chevron and Texaco. Before joining MWCC, Astley was division finance officer and general manager of Chevron’s global supply and trading organization. At Texaco, before the merger with Chevron, Astley held diverse positions including manager of accounting and trading controls for the company’s trading and transport business, and specialist accounting roles in value added tax.

Astley is active throughout Houston, giving his time to Houston Food Bank, United Way, and supporting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. He serves on the Executive Board of Directors, and is also Chairman of the Audit Committee, for the Houston Grand Opera. He served as Chairman of the Board for the Center of Houston’s Future 2019-2021 and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Houston Partnership and Houston Airport System Development Corporation. Astley’s experience is built on years of technical education with the Association of Accounting Technicians.

Humberto Molina

General Counsel

Humberto (Bert) Molina serves as general counsel to Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC). With more than 30 years of legal experience working for an international law firm and major oil & gas companies, Bert supports MWCC executives by providing legal advice, risk analysis and guidance on regulatory and compliance matters. As a senior member of the MWCC Emergency Response Organization, he maintains a role in assuring compliance and management of all legal issues during incident activation and response.

Bert is an accomplished leader with experience in environmental and regulatory legal risk and compliance. He has served as a commercial attorney in support of upstream and downstream. He held a leading role in assuring BP compliance in managing legal issues surrounding the Plea Agreement, Plea Implementation Plan, and Environmental Protection Agency’s Debarment Agreement, which arose following the Deepwater Horizon incident. In addition, he led internal counsel for interactions and negotiations with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on probation and plea issues.

Bert earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Kolin Ibrahim

Health, Safety, and Environmental Officer

As Health Safety and Environmental Officer, Kolin is responsible for strategic direction on health, safety, security, environmental (HSSE) and emergency response management systems. In addition to his daily responsibilities, Kolin serves as the liaison between Incident Command and MWCC’s Response Leadership Team in the event MWCC is activated to respond to a well control event.

Through his work at both Shell and Hess, Kolin brings more than 20 years of personal and process safety experience in oil and gas operations to his role at MWCC. Over his career Kolin has served in a wide variety of roles with direct accountability for safety including Safety Engineer, Offshore Installation Manager, Operations Superintendent, Operations Manager, and Health and Safety Manager. In these roles Kolin also developed expertise in well control incident response, having held multiple positions within the Incident Command System (ICS) including Incident Commander, Safety Officer, Operations Section Chief, and as member of the Source Control Branch.

Kolin received a Bachelor of Engineering from Imperial College London. He holds professional certification as a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Engineering and Technology. He is also a Lean and Six Sigma Black Belt in Business Improvement.

David Nickerson

Chief Executive Officer

As Chief Executive Officer, David Nickerson leads Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) in achieving its mission of being Continuously Ready to Respond to a future deepwater well control incident. In this role, David is accountable for ensuring that MWCC’s response capabilities are ready to mobilize at all times. In the event of activation, David leads the deployment of MWCC’s Containment System as directed by Incident Command. David brings leadership to his role that drives strategy and engagement with MWCC member companies, government bodies, the industry and in the communities where we operate.

With more than 30 years of experience serving in various leadership roles for Shell, prior to joining MWCC, David’s focus has been on development and production in both domestic and international settings. In these roles, David gained extensive experience in running daily business operations and managing emergency situations. David brings robust maintenance and logistical expertise to bear, which supports the deployment readiness of MWCC’s Containment System and ensures efficient mobilization upon activation. Throughout his career, David has managed a wide variety of well operations including drilling, completion, workover, and abandonment; knowledge that is invaluable to a well control response situation.

David earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Master of Business Administration from Tulane University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer.

Matthew Goldsmith

General Manager, Engineering

As General Manager of Engineering, Matthew supports Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) in the design and execution of capital projects including the development of first-of-its-kind source control solutions. In addition, Matthew works with the Chief Operating Officer to ensure MWCC’s Containment System is preserved and maintained in a deployment ready state. In the event MWCC is activated to respond to a well control event, Matthew leads MWCC’s advisory team imbedded within the Source Control Branch at Incident Command to provide strategic counsel on MWCC’s Containment System.

Matthew has 20 years of experience in global offshore and marine operations. He previously served as senior offshore operations manager at Boa Marine Services, Inc. Here, he managed the operations team in project execution and tender management and was accountable for standardizing the safety controls system as well as deployment and installations procedures for the company. While in this role, Matthew contributed to debris removal and marine operations for the Deepwater Horizon incident. Prior to Boa, he led all vessel operations as vessel superintendent for Aker Marine Contractors where he oversaw the safe execution of several offshore installation projects. Matthew completed large scale offshore projects for Anadarko, BHP, BP, and Chevron. Through his work, Matthew has developed the technical skills for equipping vessels to support some of the world’s largest offshore operators.

Matthew earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering from the Memorial University of Newfoundland. He’s continued his education through executive education programs from Harvard Extension School and the Center for Creative Leadership.

Shannon Straube

General Manager, Planning & Corporate Affairs

As General Manager, Planning & Corporate Affairs, Shannon Straube leads commercial activities, external and government affairs, oversees project management of key business workstreams and directs budget development for Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC). In addition to her daily responsibilities, Shannon serves as the Planning Section Chief for MWCC’s Response Team.

Shannon joined MWCC in 2012, Prior to MWCC, Shannon was a consultant in the Strategy and Transformation practice within Capgemini Consulting, where she was responsible for consulting assignments for energy, financial and manufacturing sector clients. Her experience in planning and operations helped clients adapt to changing business environments.

With roots in Alaska, Shannon began her career in the Alaska State Legislature. At the State Legislature, she served the Senate Leadership, including the Senate President, Senate Majority Leader and Rules Committee. Shannon administered the Senate operating budget and provided analysis for legislative proposals and budget analysis. In her later role at the Senate Committee of World Trade/State and Federal Relations, Shannon developed trade proposals and coordinated with Alaska’s Congressional delegation.

Shannon holds degrees in Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor of Business from the University of Alaska. She also holds professional certificates of Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford University and Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute.

Teresa Naylor

General Manager, Human Resources

As the General Manager of Human Resources, Teresa leads the HR and training functions, driving an industry leading human capital strategy for Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC). She is a vital partner in maintaining a culture of continuous improvement, organizational effectiveness, operational excellence and effective communications among MWCC staff. In addition to her daily responsibilities, Teresa serves on the Response Leadership Team providing human resources oversight in the event MWCC is activated to respond to a well control event.

Teresa joined MWCC already a veteran of human resources in the energy industry. Prior to joining MWCC she served as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Comverge Inc. In this role, she was responsible for the HR strategy and operational services during the company’s transition from public to private ownership. Teresa has held leadership roles for Dynegy, Illinois Power, and MxEnergy with experience in publicly traded and privately held companies, union and non-union environments with employee counts of 100 to over 9,000.

Teresa’s earned her Associate Accreditation in psychology from Western Oklahoma State College, her Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies and Organizational Management from Cameron University, and her Master of Science in Health Service Administration from the University of Saint Francis. Teresa is also an active member of the Society for Human Resources Management and the Human Resources Leadership Network of Houston.

Terry Costlow

Chief Operating Officer

As the Chief Operating Officer, Terry is responsible for leading operations and for continuous improvement of organizational processes and infrastructure. In the event of an incident activation, Terry serves as the Operations Section Chief for MWCC’s Response Team accountable for efficient and effective deployment of the Containment System.

Terry brings 40 years of industry experience to his role at MWCC, with 15 years of direct oversight for Gulf of Mexico assets from his prior roles at BP. Terry has deep experience in facilities, spending more than half of his career focused on asset integrity and systems reliability through implementation of robust maintenance programs in the offshore sector. Terry had direct accountability for developing and leading the delivery of topside central engineering and technical service operations to Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Mad Dog, and Nakika offshore installations. At BP, Terry served as incident commander and qualified person (QP). From April to November of 2010, Terry led BP’s North American Gas operations through the Deepwater Horizon incident. During this challenging period, Terry focused on maintaining employee moral to ensure safe, reliable and efficient operations. He was also responsible for managing 14,000 production, disposal and injection wells — all of onshore oil & gas production operations across North America.

Terry received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Management from Olivet Nazarene University. He holds professional certification through the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE-International) and is a graduate of the Projects and Engineering Academy executive education program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).