The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) today announced results of its 2023 Board of Directors and District Representatives election.
John Eastwood was selected by SEG Voting Members to serve as President-elect for 2023–2024. Following his one-year term as President-elect, Eastwood will assume the office of SEG President following IMAGE 2024 scheduled for 25–30 August 2024 in Houston, Texas.
Since joining SEG in 1993, Eastwood has been an active volunteer, including service with the Development and Production Committee/workshop chair; The Leading Edge Editorial Board including chair; SEG secretary-treasurer and SEG Finance Committee/chair; SEAM Board of Directors and chair; SEG Executive Director Search Committee member; Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force member; and North American Regional Advisory Council chair.
Eastwood was recognized in 1998 with the J. Clarence Karcher Award for outstanding contributions from a young geophysicist. He has received the Best Paper in The Leading Edge award(and Honorable Mention) as well as Best Paper from the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists. He has five patents and numerous publications.
Eastwood graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1987 (BSc honors co-op physics) and from the University of Alberta in 1992 with a PhD in geophysics. Eastwood worked for ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil for more than 30 years. He started his career in research where he pioneered the use of active and passive seismic monitoring in oil sands. He led ExxonMobil research groups in quantitative geophysics, seismic imaging, and acquisition. Eastwood also spent time in ExxonMobil’s production company as geoscience manager for Canada East, and in exploration as manager pursuit and capture for Canada. He held company executive positions in technical and managerial realms as geophysics manager for seismic imaging/acquisition/full-waveform inversion (FWI), and as senior principal geophysicist. Eastwood led ExxonMobil’s resurgence into seismic imaging and FWI including the re-establishment of Exxon’s leading position in high-performance computing.
Eastwood credits SEG’s conferences, publications, workshops, courses, lectures, networking, and volunteering as having been instrumental to success throughout his career and looks forward to giving back to the Society during his term as president. Experience from his exploration, development, production, and research geophysical technical and managerial roles, as well as volunteer roles with SEG provide him with the credentials to lead SEG.
As SEG president, Eastwood stated he will (1) embrace all aspects of the “exploration of geophysical solutions” to meet society’s needs while preserving a sustainable future; (2) ensure SEG provides world-class conventions, workshops, educational opportunities, and publications to serve geophysicists at every career stage across the globe; (3) promote and equip SEG members to be “JEDI champions” in their host organizations so we do not become stuck in the past; (4) enhance intersocietal collaboration; and (5) maintain a strong balance sheet to provide a compelling and invaluable product to members, sponsoring companies, academia, and stakeholders.
Also elected to the Board of Directors were Marianne Rauch, Second Vice President; Kyle Spikes, Vice President, Publications; and Directors at Large Lillian Flakes and Constantine Tsingas. Completing the slate of directors for the 2023–2024 term is incoming President Arthur Cheng; Mauricio Sacchi as First Vice President; Mike Mellen as Treasurer; Ken Tubman as Past President; Allen Bertagne as Chair of the Council; and Olga Nedorub, Ana Curcio, Sergio Chávez-Pérez, and Catherine Truffert as Directors at Large. The new Board will take office following the final function of IMAGE 2023.
The following SEG members have been elected to serve as District Representatives: District 1, Bryce Swinford; District 2, Neil Judge; District 3, Ge Jin; District 4, Shannon Jeffries; District 5, Craig Funk; District 6, Walter Gualberto González Eslava; District 7, Laura Bornatici; District 8, Barbara Ciurlo; District 9, Ifeanyichukwu Obi; District 10, Hakim Saibi; District 11, Xinming Wu; and District 12, Chisato Konishi. District Representatives take office on 1 August 2023 and will serve until 31 July 2025.
View the list of newly elected Board Members and District Representatives, complete with their bios, at the SEG Elections page.