Chairperson's message for October 2006

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View from the chair. . . Inaugural Message from Scott McGurk 2006-2007 Chairperson Dear Los Angeles Basin SPE Members, I am honored to be the Chairperson of the Los Angeles Basin SPE for the next year.  As many of you know, I accepted the Vice-Chair position this year, but the unexpected departure of in-coming Chairperson Rod Kane forced me to ascend to the Chair position a year early.  I want to thank Rod for his SPE efforts over the last year and wish Rod the very best in his new job in Bakersfield.  I would also like to thank Pat Shuler, last years Chairperson, for all the dedicated, hard work he did in promoting the LA SPE, leading our many activities, and keeping the section strong.  Congratulations to Brandy Fellers, a recently added Director, on being appointed Vice-Chair for the upcoming year. I expect most of the LA SPE activities to continue as before.  Our monthly Forum program has been successful in providing cutting-edge technical information, updates about our industry, and a focus on where we are heading.  We will continue to provide education opportunities to members through LA SPE sponsored workshops.  I am pleased that Rudy Weibel has agreed to chair our section’s efforts in this area.  We will continue our various out-reach programs, working with school-aged children to promote an interest in engineering and the sciences.  And we will grant many scholarship awards to deserving high school seniors and college students. LA SPE Basin activities are only possible because 1) people volunteer to get involved and 2) we raise the necessary funds to finance our activities.  One of my main goals as this year’s Chairperson will be to get more people involved.  In particular, I plan to focus on getting many of the newly-hired, young engineers to take active roles in our section.  The future of the SPE and our industry lies with these young people.  Our main fund-raising event is our annual golf tournament and we are again fortunate to have Mark Shemaria lead this event. Finally, this upcoming year is expected to be an incredible opportunity for promoting our industry.  The national American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the SPE International Annual Technical Conference and Exhibit are both in Southern California in 2007.  This will make 2007 a very busy year for us.  I ask everyone to think about how you can participate and contribute. Scott McGurk Chairperson, SPE Los Angeles Basin Section