Our 2025 Winter Meeting Speakers
Maribeth Anderson is the Director of Government Relations for Antero Resources. She came to Antero at the end of 2017, after serving in similar roles for Southwestern Energy and Chesapeake Energy since 2007. Prior to entering the energy sector, Maribeth was the news director for WSAZ Television. Maribeth has served in industry leadership roles across four states, as the former board President for the WV Oil and Natural Gas Association, the current Vice President of the Gas and Oil Association of WV (GO-WV), and a board member of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program. In former roles, she was elected to the boards of the Oil and Gas Associations in Kentucky and Virginia. She is currently on the executive committee of the WV Chamber of Commerce. A graduate of Marshall University, Maribeth lives in Huntington with her husband and has two children in college.
Shawn Bennett is Energy and Resilience Division Manager at Battelle.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was elected by the people of West Virginia to the United States Senate in 2014, and re-elected in 2020. She is the first female U.S. senator in West Virginia’s history and was elected with the largest margin of victory for a Republican in state history—winning more than 70 percent of the vote and all 55 counties, surpassing the previous mark she set in 2014 when she won more than 62 percent of the vote and all 55 counties. After serving West Virginia’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, and as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for four years prior, Senator Capito decided to run for Senate to be an even stronger voice for the Mountain State. She also saw an opportunity to restore order to a Senate stuck in gridlock for far too long.
She believes that today’s challenges demand bipartisan solutions and cooperation across the aisle to advance legislation that benefits West Virginia and the country as a whole. Senator Capito is committed to being accessible and responsive to her fellow West Virginians and regularly travels, with proper health and safety precautions in place, to hear from and meet with West Virginians.
Senator Capito serves on the Appropriations Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee; and the Rules and Administration Committee. This committee portfolio puts her in a strong position to create new opportunities in the Mountain State and fight for West Virginia priorities, jobs, and families. As a member of the Committee on Appropriations, Senator Capito works to ensure West Virginia’s priorities are represented when our nation’s funding decisions are made. During her time on the committee, she has served as chair of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, and the Homeland Security Subcommittee. Senator Capito currently serves as the top Republican on the Homeland Security Subcommittee, where she oversees funding for a range of national security resources and agencies. She has been a member of the Appropriations Committee since she became a Senator in 2015. On the EPW Committee, the senator serves as Ranking Member. As the top Republican on the committee, Ranking Member Capito has advocated for policies that protect vital West Virginia energy and manufacturing jobs and encourage investment in West Virginia’s infrastructure. As a leader on the EPW Committee, Ranking Member Capito is committed to promoting a commonsense regulatory strategy and protecting affordable, reliable energy production; building our nation’s infrastructure, and encourage economic development. She has been a member of the EPW Committee since she became a Senator in 2015.
On the Commerce Committee, Senator Capito oversees ways to address many issues that are critical to West Virginia, most notably broadband expansion, which she has been a leading voice on since she came to Congress. This committee assignment allows Senator Capito to continue advocating for improved connectivity in West Virginia. A lifelong West Virginian herself, Senator Capito was born in Glen Dale in the Northern Panhandle. She holds a B.S. in Zoology from Duke University and a M.Ed. from the University of Virginia. She and her husband Charles L. Capito Jr. reside in Charleston. They have three adult children: two sons, Charles (wife Laura) and Moore, and one daughter, Shelley (husband Colin Macleod). They have also been blessed with seven grandchildren: Celia, Charlie, Eliza, Rose, Arch, Macaulay, and Lewis.
Craig Colombo has over 38 years in the Oil and Gas Industry and is Vice President of Gas Supply for Hope Gas. Colombo worked with Dominion Energy West Virginia (DEWV) for 34 of those years, where he has established and developed countless relationships with producers and individuals in the oil and gas industry and the business community. During his
years with the DEWV, Craig was responsible for the procurement and contracting of natural gas supplies and the contracting of pipeline and storage capacity with multiple upstream interstate pipelines. Owing to a knowledge of the industry, gained over his career, Colombo has been called on to participate in State Regulatory proceedings as an
expert witness and to testify before the WV House Energy Committee in support of producers of West Virginia. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) for over 14 years. NAESB serves as an industry forum for the development and promotion of standards which lead to a seamless marketplace for wholesale and retail natural gas, the business community, participants, and regulatory entities.
Dominic J. Dell’Osso, Jr. serves as President, Chief Executive Officer, and on the Board of Directors at Expand Energy Corporation, having previously held the same positions at Chesapeake Energy Corporation since October 2021. Dell’Osso joined Chesapeake in 2008 where he served in positions of increasing responsibility including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2010 to 2021. Before joining Chesapeake, he was an energy investment banker with Jefferies & Co. from 2006 to 2008 and Banc of America Securities from 2004 to 2006. Dell’Osso currently serves on the board of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC). He graduated from Boston College and earned his M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Prior to Fidelis New Energy, Pete Hollis was the CEO of Cronus Capital Partners, a produced water management company targeting asset acquisitions in the Midland Basin with the goal of developing a water midstream supersystem. Prior to his role as CEO of Cronus, Hollis served as COO of Lagoon Water Midstream, a water midstream, disposal, and recycling company where he led the operations team through the buildout of 17 disposal wells, 200+ miles of pipeline, and a large water recycling facility supporting multiple oil & gas operators in the STACK. Before being recruited to Lagoon, he progressed through multiple leadership positions at Marathon Oil where he served on the senior leadership team for the Midcontinent Basin and Global Supply Chain holding positions including Supply Chain Manager – Midcontinent Operations, Category Manager – North America Drilling and Completions, and Market Intelligence. Hollis began his career working for NASA Johnson Space Center where he was a Contracting Officer managing projects in support of human spaceflight operations. Prior to his tenure at NASA, he worked with Shapiro, Jarlsjo and Boulmay as an MBA intern at The Shaw Group Inc. and earned the Top Intern 2006 Award. Hollis holds a B.A. in economics and political science along with an MBA from Louisiana State University.
Mike John founded NNE in 2009 and continues to serve as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. John previously served as Vice President of Operations of the Eastern Division for Chesapeake Energy from 2005-2009. Prior to joining Chesapeake Energy, Mr. John held various senior executive roles at Triana Energy/Columbia Natural Resources, where he also served on the company’s Board of Directors until Columbia Natural Resources was sold to Chesapeake in 2005. During this time with Chesapeake, Mr. John was instrumental in the drilling, completion, and operation of Chesapeake’s initial 100 horizontal Marcellus wells in Appalachia. Mr. John is a West Virginia native and a 1981 graduate of West Virginia University with a degree in petroleum engineering. He serves on the Board of Directors for the WVU Alumni Association and resides in Charleston, WV with his family.
U.S. Senator-elect James C. Justice, II was born April 27, 1951, to James Conley Justice and Edna Ruth Justice. He attended Raleigh County public schools and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1969, attended Greenbrier Military Academy as a post graduate. Justice went to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and was captain of the golf team for two years before earning his undergraduate degree and a Masters in Business Administration. He joined his family’s business in 1976. Because of his strong interest in nature and the outdoors, he started Justice Family Farms in 1977 in beautiful Monroe County, West Virginia. Under his direction, Justice Farming Operations has grown to be a major agricultural enterprise. His companies farm more than 50,000 acres of corn, wheat and soybeans in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Justice is the largest farmer east of the Mississippi River. Upon the death of his father in 1993, and over the next 15 years, he launched a massive expansion of multiple businesses which included significant coal reserve expansion, Christmas tree farms, cotton gins, turfgrass operations, golf courses, timber enhancement and land projects just to mention a few. Before being elected the 38th governor of West Virginia, Justice was the president and CEO of 102 different companies. In 2009, Justice rescued The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, from bankruptcy. He brought major events like the PGA Tour, training camps for the NFL and NBA, and countless high-profile acts and conferences to The Greenbrier. Jim has carried on his family’s tradition of being major supporters of youth programs in Southern West Virginia. Since 1992 he has been President of Beckley Little League. He has coached basketball teams of all ages for the past 36 years and is currently the head girls and boys basketball coach at Greenbrier East High School in Lewisburg, WV. On November 29, 2016, Jim was honored when he coached his 1,000th career win in basketball.
Joe Leonoro focuses his practice in labor and employment law and has significant experience preparing cases for trial. Leonoro has represented companies in defense of claims involving state and federal employment laws. He works aggressively to tailor a strategy for each client’s litigation needs, and also counsels employers, prior to litigation, in order to resolve labor and employment disputes they encounter. He has defended employers in wage-and-hour class actions and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, Prevailing Wage Act, and other wage-and-hour statutes in Texas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; represented employers in state and federal court in claims for discrimination and retaliation under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the State Workers Act; Compensation Act, the State Human Rights Act, the State Patient Safety Act, and Harless claims for retaliation; sought injunctive relief and damages for violation of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements; represented national companies, local businesses, non-profits, and government agencies in claims for breach of contract, deliberate intent, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution, false arrest, and invasion of privacy; and drafted employee policies and procedures, employment agreements, and independent contractor agreements. Licensed in West Virginia, Leonoro earned his B.A. from Transylvania University and his J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law.
Patrick Morrisey was elected as Governor of West Virginia on November 5, 2024, following his three-time election as Attorney General for the State of West Virginia in 2012, 2016 and 2020. Patrick Morrisey was the first Republican to serve as Attorney General in West Virginia since 1933, and as a resident of Harpers Ferry, Morrisey is also the first Attorney General from Jefferson County in our state’s history. As Attorney General, he made fighting fraud, waste, abuse and corruption a top priority of the Office. Shortly after taking office, he instituted a new policy for hiring outside counsel that dramatically increased transparency and saved the state more than $37 million. He also returned more than $57 million in monies to the state and has brought in many millions more to state agency clients and consumers. In late 2015, Attorney General Morrisey established a partnership with the Social Security Administration to fight disability fraud. That program saved $24.6 million since its inception in West Virginia. Morrisey was one of the most active Attorneys General in the country fighting federal overreach by filing lawsuits and submitting amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts on a number of issues, ranging from protecting the Second Amendment to defending state jobs and our valuable energy resources. Morrisey led a 19-state coalition to victory in the U.S. Supreme Court after a multi-year challenge to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, one of the most illegal and unprecedented regulations in our country’s history. The Office’s 2022 win in West Virginia v. EPA is among the most significant administrative and environmental law decisions of recent decades. Most recently, he led a 13-state effort challenging a provision in law preventing states from lowering taxes. During his tenure in office, Morrisey also transformed the Office to aggressively fight the state’s substance abuse epidemic. That includes development of best practices for prescribers and dispensers, a first-of-its-kind initiative in West Virginia endorsed by a broad array of state and national stakeholders. Morrisey fought the opioid epidemic on multiple fronts, including realizing more than $712 million in settlements with opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and marketers, while preserving the ability of counties and cities to realize over $400 million more. He filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that achieved sweeping reforms to the nation’s drug quota system – in part due to his lawsuit, illicit prescribing has declined significantly. In October 2020, Morrisey scored a historic victory in securing a $101.35 million settlement to recoup state road funding and restore competition in the state-approved asphalt and paving market. It marked the largest, single-state antitrust settlement in West Virginia’s history. Morrisey secured a $160 million Internet settlement in December 2015, which marked the largest, independently negotiated consumer protection settlement in West Virginia’s history. He also strengthened the Office’s Consumer Protection Division, enabling it to vigorously enforce the state’s laws and proactively educate citizens about scams and ways to protect their identities. In practice since 1992, Morrisey worked on many high profile health care matters in private practice prior to serving as Attorney General, and possesses a broad array of experience on regulatory issues, Medicare, Medicaid, policy, fraud and abuse investigations, legislative matters, strategic counseling, and legal and policy challenges to federal statutes and regulations. Between 1999 and 2004, Morrisey served as the Deputy Staff Director and Chief Health Care Counsel to the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, helping draft and negotiate major legislation, including the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 and the Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness Act of 2002. Morrisey served as the principal liaison for the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on health care issues to the White House, the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Morrisey graduated with honors from Rutgers College in 1989 earning Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and political science. He received a juris doctor from Rutgers Law School-Newark in 1992. Prior to law school, he also served as a tennis umpire, working his way up to officiating at the U.S. Open in 1988 and 1989. A product of a working-class family, Morrisey is married and has a stepdaughter. His father was a World War II veteran and his mother was a registered nurse with the Veterans Administration.
Scott Murray is a Manager of Project Development in Tenaska’s Development group. He is responsible for project design, scheduling, budgeting, permitting, community engagement, contract negotiations, land acquisition, government relations and industry partnerships in furtherance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) development. His current focus is on CCS hubs in Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Murray joined Tenaska as Manager of Project Development in 2023. Prior to joining Tenaska, he held several engineering positions in the energy industry including Nuclear Plant Engineer at Omaha Public Power District’s Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station, Development Engineer at Clearway Energy’s Omaha and Minneapolis districts energy plants and Program Engineer at Olsson Engineering working on data center and utility substations. Murray is a registered Professional Mechanical Engineer in the state of Nebraska and has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architectural Engineering with an emphasis in Mechanical Systems from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Morgan K. O’Brien is Hope Gas’s and Hearthstone’s Chief Executive Officer. He is a native Pittsburgher who was raised by a blue-collar Irish-Catholic family to value all people and all forms of work. His work ethic and value of other people helped him rise to become CEO at Duquesne Light Company the electric provider for Western Pennsylvania. He later moved over to become the CEO at Peoples Gas serving Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Chris Ventura serves as the Midwest Executive Director for Consumer Energy Alliance. Chris specializes in monitoring and advocating on energy and environmental policies impacting the Midwestern region’s infrastructure, energy sector and markets. Over the past several years, Chris has developed coalitions in multiple Midwestern states including Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio around energy infrastructure and resource development leading to the enactment of multiple pieces of legislation and increased regulatory certainty.
Prior to joining Consumer Energy Alliance, Chris served as Senior Project Manager for the Ohio House of Representatives under Speaker William Batchelder. Previously, he also served as Legislative Aide and Clerk of the Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee for State Representative Michael Dovilla.
Chris holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from The American University with a focus on State / Local Government and Management Consulting, and a B.A. in Adolescent Young Adult Social Studies Education from Baldwin Wallace University.
Curtis Wilkerson founded Orion Strategies in 2006 with a vision of creating a full-service firm which would enable consistent quality and dependable results. Wilkerson has guided the company through layered expansions with experienced teams in multiple states. Understanding that clients look beyond borders for both policy and economic development, he developed a fully integrated structure within the firm to maximize talent. Wilkerson has advised numerous organizations and companies as well as state, regional and national trade associations. These efforts include policy influence, permitting, tax abatement, environmental and crisis communication. Prior to founding Orion Strategies, Wilkerson served as political director for a public relations firm and had consulted for campaigns in Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia. He has received numerous awards including being named a Young Gun. Wilkerson has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History.
