Our 2023 Summer 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.

Senate President Craig Blair is a Classified Certified Water Specialist Class V, Master Electrician, Master Plumber and Refrigeration Engineer. The Martinsburg native is married to Andrea Dendy Blair and they have two children. His affiliations include: Member, National Rifle Association; West Virginia Citizens Defense League; and Eastern Panhandle Business Association. He was elected to the House from 2002 to 2008 and to the Senate from 2012-2020. His legislative positions include: Chair, Committee on Finance, 83rd and 84th Legislatures; Vice Chair, Committee on Education, 84th Legislature; Majority Whip, 83rd Legislature; Chair, Committee on Government Organization, 82nd and 83rd Legislatures.

Charlie Burd has been the executive director of the Gas and Oil Association of WV, Inc., (GO-WV) since it was formed on January 1, 2021 through the merger of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) into the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV).  Charlie had been the executive director of IOGAWV since July 2002.   Charlie’s depth of knowledge of the oil and natural gas industry complements his duties in managing the day-to-day operations of the over 500-member trade association of oil and natural gas operators and those businesses that serve them. Charlie also oversees GO-WV’s legislative efforts. Prior to joining IOGAWV, now GO-WV, Charlie enjoyed a 29-year career at Hope Gas, Inc., where he held a variety of operations, sales and management positions.  He holds an associate degree in accounting from Mountain State College (’76), a Regents BA from Glenville State College (’82) and is a 1995 graduate of the University Of Oklahoma’s “Economic Development Institute” –where he earned the national distinction as a “Certified Economic Developer”. Charlie is also a 2001 graduate and member of the “Leadership West Virginia” program for select business professionals in West Virginia.  Charlie serves on the Industry Advisory Committees for WVU’s College of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, WVU’s Program for Energy and Land Management, and WVU’s West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership.  He is active with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.   Charlie is the official West Virginia state representative to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) of behalf of Governor Jim Justice, and is the Immediate Past 1st Vice Chairman, and chairman of the Commission’s Steering Committee. Charlie was honored as the “2017 West Virginia Oil and Gas Man of the Year” by the West Virginia Oil & Gas Festival Board of Directors. Charlie and Leone, his wife of 28 years, reside in Vienna, WV, with their son Nathan, a senior in the academic honors program in the Benjamin Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources – Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University where he majors in computer science with a minor in cyber security.  His older son Charlie is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Masala Enterprises and resides in New Delhi, India.

Shelley Moore Capito 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. On the Commerce Committee, she 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.  On the EPW Committee, the senator serves as Ranking Member. As the top Republican on the committee, she 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.  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 and seven grandchildren.

Delegate Vernon Criss is a business executive who graduated from Parkersburg High School and West Virginia Wesleyan College. He serves on the board of Camden Clark Foundation. Criss was appointed to the House December 8, 1987 and elected in 1988 and again from 2016 to 2020. He has served as Vice Chair, Committee on Banking, 84th Legislature; Vice Chair, Committee on Finance, 84th Legislature.

Christopher Guith is the senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. He leads the Institute’s efforts to build support for meaningful energy and environmental action nationally and internationally through policy development, education, and advocacy.

The Institute has attracted grassroots advocates across the nation supporting its efforts to capitalize on America’s tremendous energy promise. The Institute also regularly contributes policy analysis and research, including the groundbreaking Index of Energy Security Risk and the International Index of Energy Security Risk, the first tools to quantify America’s energy security on an annual basis, as well as the comprehensive Energy Works for US platform, which provided policy recommendations to secure our nation’s energy future.

Guith offers expertise on an array of energy and environmental issues. He educates policymakers, businesses, energy stakeholders, coalitions, and the public about the importance of a diversified energy portfolio and how it can ensure an efficient, reliable, prosperous, and secure energy future. He also leverages his broad energy expertise as a spokesperson with local, state, and national media.

Guith travels frequently to speak to stakeholder groups, raising awareness of the impact of policy decisions on America’s energy future and encouraging groups to share their perspectives with policymakers. In addition, he consults with state and local chambers of commerce and business groups, advising them how to quantify the importance of safe, reliable American energy to their businesses, as well as how to amplify that message when communicating with energy decision makers.

Prior to joining the Chamber in 2008, Guith served as deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where he developed the administration’s nuclear energy policies and coordinated the department’s interactions with Congress, stakeholders, and the media. He was also deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at DOE and a chief representative of the administration during the drafting and debate of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Earlier in his career, Guith served as Rep. Bob Barr’s (R-GA) legislative director and Rep. Tim Murphy’s (R-PA) counsel and policy adviser. He was also legislative counsel for the Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Guith is a graduate of Syracuse University-College of Law and the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Born and raised in West Virginia, Rusty Hutson, Jr. is the fourth generation in the Hutson family to immerse himself in the oil and gas industry, with family roots dating back to the early 1900s. Rusty spent many summers of his youth working with his father in the oil fields of West Virginia. The first in his family to pursue higher education, Rusty graduated from Fairmont State University (WV) with a degree in accounting. After college, Rusty spent 13 years steadily progressing into multiple leadership roles within the banking industry at well-known institutions such as Bank One and Compass Bank, prior to concluding his time within banking as CFO of Compass Financial Services.

Building upon his experiences in the oil & gas industry and the financial services sector, Rusty established Diversified Energy in 2001 as a cash flow model supported by mature, predictable long-life assets. After years of refining this strategy, Rusty and his team quietly took the company public in 2017 on the AIM growth market of the London Stock Exchange. Since going public, DEC has acquired approximately $2.7 billion in upstream and midstream assets with net daily production of approximately 150,000 barrels of oil equivalency. Since its public debut, the rapid growth of DEC’s asset portfolio led to a move up to the premium listing on the London Exchange and a FTSE250 inclusion. Rusty continues to lead his team and expand the Company’s footprint throughout the United States while remaining focused on operational excellence, financial discipline and shareholder value creation.

Jeff Isner is the CEO and co-founder of Pillar Energy, LLC located in Charleston, WV. Pillar Energy owns and operates roughly 1800 wells in WV, VA and OH and has 30 employees. He received his B.S. in  Economics and International Business from West Virginia Wesleyan College as well as his MBA. He previously served on the IOGA board for 2 terms from 2014-2017 and 2018-the merger of the two  associations. He co-chaired the initial Producer Issues Committee as well as chaired the Communication and Education Committee. As chair of the Communication and Education Committee, he introduced IOGA’s inaugural WV Science Teacher Conference planned in the summer of 2018. He currently serves as the Vice President and Program Chair for GO-WV. Jeff resides in Ripley, WV with his wife, Jessica, and their children, Ava, Cohen and Cason. He attends Calvary United Methodist church in Ripley.

Jerry James has served as President of Artex Oil Company since 1995. Jerry held positions with Conoco Oil Company and Tenneco Oil Company in Texas, Louisiana and Wyoming and as the founder of James Engineering and a member of E.E. Templeton & Associates. He held the position of President of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association 2011-’12. Jerry is a Registered Professional Engineer in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers. He received a B.S. Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College in 1980.

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. Governor 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.

The Governor 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.  Gov. Justice is the largest farmer east of the Mississippi River.

Upon the death of his father in 1993, and over the next 15 years, Jim 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 governor, Jim was the president and CEO of 102 different companies.

Governor Justice spent his career creating thousands of jobs and understands how to put people to work.

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. As governor, he wants to do everything possible to put West Virginia in a positive light.

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.

In May 2015, Jim announced his campaign to seek the office of governor of West Virginia. After 19 months on the campaign trail sharing his vision for transforming West Virginia, Jim was elected the 36th governor of West Virginia. He won with a broad coalition of support from Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Jim and his wife Cathy have been best friends since high school. They recently celebrated their 40th wedding ​anniversary.  The Governor and the First Lady have two adult children, James (Jay) C. Justice, III, and Dr. Jill Justice.

Charlotte R. Lane was appointed to the Public Service Commission and as Chairman on July 1, 2019. She previously served on the Commission from 1985-1989 and 1997-2003, serving as Chairman from 1997-2001. She has a long career of public service in addition to her prior work on the Commission, having been elected to three terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates (1979-1980, 1991-1992 and 2017-2018). She served on the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2003-2011, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. She has practiced law in State and Federal Courts in West Virginia for many years and has been admitted to practice in the Third and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Chairman Lane has served as President of the West Virginia Bar Association, the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (MACRUC) and the Charleston Rotary Club. She has also served on the Boards of Directors of the Rotary Foundation of Washington, D.C.; the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC); the Charleston Chamber of Commerce; on the Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar and as a member of the West Virginia University College of Law Visiting Committee.

Chairman Lane graduated from Marshall University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Political Science and received her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the West Virginia University College of Law. She has been awarded the Justitia Officium Award from the WVU College of Law, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Marshall University and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the West Virginia Bar Foundation. She resides in Charleston and has a daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren living in South Carolina.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was sworn into the United States Senate on November 15, 2010 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. For Senator Manchin, serving as West Virginia’s Senator is truly an honor and a privilege.

Born and raised in the small coal mining town of Farmington, W.Va., Sen. Manchin grew up learning the values that all West Virginians share — family, common sense, fairness and hard work. As a small businessman, he learned firsthand from his grandfather, Papa Joe, who was an Italian immigrant and the town grocer, the importance of serving the public. As a young man, his beloved grandmother, Mama Kay, inspired Senator Manchin’s belief in public service through her unflagging compassion and desire to help those less fortunate.

From his days as a state legislator to his six years as Governor to his current role, Senator Manchin has always been committed to his philosophy of “retail government” — in other words, connecting with all of his constituents and making service to them his top priority.

As a Senator, Joe Manchin is committed to bringing this same spirit of bipartisanship to Washington. As he has done throughout his entire life, he remains committed to working with Republicans and Democrats to find commonsense solutions to the problems our country faces and is working hard to usher in a new bipartisan spirit in the Senate and Congress.

Legislatively, job creation is Senator Manchin’s top priority and he believes that government should act as a partner, not an adversary, in helping to create the environment that produces good American jobs. Senator Manchin also firmly believes that our nation can and must do what he did in West Virginia – put our fiscal house in order. He believes we must find commonsense ways to cut spending while keeping our promises to our seniors and veterans by protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Senator Manchin is strongly committed to developing a balanced national energy plan that utilizes all of our resources and recognizes that fossil fuels will be a vital part of our energy mix for decades to come. He believes that a balanced, commonsense approach that considers the needs of our environment and the demands of our economy, can and must be developed if we are to achieve energy independence within this generation.

Senator Manchin currently serves as the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and also serves on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – four critical committees that tackle the important work of addressing our nation’s energy needs, overseeing discretionary spending, standing up for our Veterans, and defending our nation.

Senator Manchin is an avid pilot, outdoorsman, hunter, angler and motorcyclist. He has been married for more than four decades to the former Gayle Conelly of Beckley. They have three children: Heather, Joseph IV and Brooke, and are the proud grandparents of 10.

Jim McKinney serves as EVP and COO of EnerVest Operating, L.L.C. Prior to this role he was Senior Vice President & General Manager of EVOC’s Appalachia South Asset Team. Before joining EnerVest, Jim worked as Vice President and Regional Manager for Penn Virginia Corporation and in many roles for Royal Dutch Shell. He has extensive experience in operations, marketing, midstream and finance in various geographic areas including the Appalachia, Gulf Coast, Arkoma, Granite Wash, Bakken Shale and Permian basins.

Jim currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Virginia Oil & Gas Association, as a member of the Board of Directors of TruPoint Bank, as a member of the Advisory Board for the West Virginia University Energy Land Management program, and as an Advisory Board member for the Virginia Tech University Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. McKinney served as a member of the Board of Directors and as President of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia, as President of the Virginia Oil & Gas Association, and on the Board of Directors of Summit Leadership Foundation.

Jim earned his B.S. degree from the University of Tennessee and his M.B.A. from Houston Baptist University.

Congresswoman Carol Miller represents West Virginia’s First Congressional District and serves on the Committee on Ways and Means. Miller’s focus in Congress is creating jobs, diversifying the economy, innovating and improving infrastructure, protecting America’s borders and supporting West Virginia’s energy industries like coal, oil and gas.  Prior to her election to Congress in 2018, Miller served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 2006 to 2018 where she rose to become the first female Majority Whip.  A mother of two and grandmother of seven, Miller is married to her husband Matt, and lives in Huntington, where she owns and operates Swann Ridge Bison Farm and manages real estate. Miller was born in Columbus, Ohio and is the daughter of Congressman Samuel L. Devine and Betty Devine.

A 1977 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law, Philip A Reale has served as general counsel for Waco Oil and Gas Company, served on the Board of Directors of Alliance Petroleum Corporation and currently serves as lobbyist for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV). He is a past president of IOGAWV and served as IOGAWV’s representative to Governor Tomblin’s Natural Gas Vehicle Task Force. In 1988, he chaired the transition team for incoming West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton and ultimately served the new governor as his Chief of Staff. He has represented the state to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and served as its Vice Chairman, co-chaired the Higher Education Advocacy Team, served two terms as Chairman of the State College System of WV Board of Directors, served on the WV Judicial Investigation Commission, was as a member of the WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, served on the WV Prepaid College Tuition Trust Fund Board of Directors. He is the recipient of two Distinguished West Virginian Awards of Public Service. Reale has served as Chairman of Special Olympics of WV, is the Chairman of the WV Golf Hall of Fame and President of the WV Golf Association Executive Committee. He serves on the Leadership Council of the WVU Cancer Institute. A 1977 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law, Philip A Reale has served as general counsel for Waco Oil and Gas Company, served on the Board of Directors of Alliance Petroleum Corporation and currently serves as lobbyist for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV). He is a past president of IOGAWV and served as IOGAWV’s representative to Governor Tomblin’s Natural Gas Vehicle Task Force. In 1988, he chaired the transition team for incoming West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton and ultimately served the new governor as his Chief of Staff. He has represented the state to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and served as its Vice Chairman, co-chaired the Higher Education Advocacy Team, served two terms as Chairman of the State College System of WV Board of Directors, served on the WV Judicial Investigation Commission, was as a member of the WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, served on the WV Prepaid College Tuition Trust Fund Board of Directors. He is the recipient of two Distinguished West Virginian Awards of Public Service. Reale has served as Chairman of Special Olympics of WV, is the Chairman of the WV Golf Hall of Fame and President of the WV Golf Association Executive Committee. He serves on the Leadership Council of the WVU Cancer Institute.

Delegate Clay Riley is a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 72, Harrison and Wetzel Counties. He assumed office on December 1, 2022. His current term ends on December 1, 2024.  Outside his legislative duties, Riley is Vice President of Strategic Growth for The Thrasher Group.  A Professional Engineer, he earned two engineering degrees from West Virginia University.

Paul E. Ruppert is president – Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Gas Transmission & Storage. He oversees all FERC-regulated businesses and projects in the company’s Gas Infrastructure Group, including Eastern Gas Transmission, Carolina Gas Transmission, Cove Point LNG, and various unregulated LNG businesses.
Ruppert joined Consolidated Natural Gas (CNG) in 1987 within Operations and moved to Production and Storage Engineering later that year. He transferred back to Operations in 1990 and became division engineer in 1991. He was named manager–Field Support in 1995 and later held various supervisory positions within Engineering.

He was promoted to vice president–Pipeline Engineering & Plant Operations for Dominion Transmission in 2003. He was named senior vice president–Dominion Transmission in June 2009, and senior vice president–Business Development & Generation Construction in April 2012. In January 2016, he was named president-Gas Transmission. He assumed his current post in October 2019.

Ruppert is a board member of International Gas Associations of America. He also is a registered professional engineer.
Paul assumed his current post upon Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s acquisition of the Dominion Energy interstate natural gas businesses, in November 2020.
A graduate of West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, he also earned his master’s degree in business administration from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Ravi Srivastava has served as the President, New Technologies of CNX Resources Corporation since December 8, 2021. In this role, he is responsible for developing and commercializing emerging technology opportunities. Prior to this role, Mr. Srivastava served as the Vice President of Data Operations overseeing CNX’s data and digital transformation journey. He has an extensive tenure with CNX having served in a broad range of leadership roles including Engineering, Research & Development, Drilling and Production Operations, Production Engineering, Information Technology, and Data Science and Analytics. Mr. Srivastava graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Bluefield State College and holds master’s degrees in engineering management and business administration from Penn State University and MIT respectively.

A small business owner, Senator Eric Tarr and his wife Natalie have three children. He was a Bachelor of Health Science, MBA, and Doctor of Physical Therapy. His community affiliations include: Member, Putnam County Rotary Club; Board Member, Putnam County Chamber of Commerce; and Member, West Virginia Physical Therapy Association. Elected to the Senate in 2018, he has served as Vice Chair,  Committee on Health and Human Resources, 84th Legislature. In addition to his legislative service, he is Policy Advisor to West Virginia Chairman of Senate Health and Policy Advisor to West Virginia Senate Majority Leader.