The HBS Club of Houston presented its fourth annual Energy CEO Summit on April 3, which featured four of the industry’s top CEOs discussing trends and challenges around the theme of “Energy Security and Transition.” The day-long summit drew a sold-out crowd to the Houston branch of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank.

Billed as the “best one-day energy conference in Houston,” the summit explored a range of energy topics through a series of fireside chats and panel discussions with the Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, Jeff Miller, CEO of Halliburton, Travis Stice, CEO of Diamondback Energy, and Pablo Vegas (AMP 187, 2014), CEO of ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas).

In a city known for its large energy conferences, the HBS CEO Summit capped its attendance at 200 to encourage deeper conversations and expand audience engagement, says Stephen Horn (MBA 1983), the Summit’s coordinator and former chairman of the club’s board. “That intimate atmosphere is what makes it different. People feel more engaged with the speakers and the speakers often share more than they might in a conference at a hotel with 600 people.”

Following welcoming remarks by HBS Club of Houston President Andrew Leonpacher (MBA 2019), the summit kicked off with a presentation on “The Energy Transition Outlook through 2050,” given by Sanjay Kalavar (MBA 2004), a senior partner at McKinsey Company.

Horn summarized the McKinsey presentation by saying that “oil and gas are going to be around longer than people were perhaps forecasting three or four years ago,” he says. “Energy transition is going to be a long-term, expensive process. AI is going to drive a lot of demand for electricity so there’s more need for generation and distribution capabilities.” But, Horn adds, energy transition was only one topic at the conference.

“We covered a spectrum of the energy business, including EP, oil field service and electric power,” he says.

In addition to the featured guests, all of the chats and panels included HBS alumni from the energy and finance industries.

The club’s Executive Speaker Series coordinator Andrew Judge (MBA 2019), introduced thefirst fireside chat, featuring Diamondback Energy’s Travis Stice, who talked with moderator Hardy Murchison (MBA 2001), CEO of Encino Energy, about “The View from the Permian.” The Permian Basin, located in West Texas, is the highest-producing oil field in the US.

William Simmons (MBA 2017), Director, SCF Partners, introduced the second chat, featuring Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller, who talked about oilfield service with moderator Deviyani Misra-Godwin (MBA 2018), Director, SCF Partners.

Lourdes Long (MBA 2014), Commercial Manager at Chevron and the club’s VP for Programs, introduced ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance, who gave a lunchtime keynote speech on “Opportunities and Challenges in the Oil Gas Industry,” moderated by Suzanne Nimocks (MBA 1987).

ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegastalked on a panel discussion about the Texas Grid after an introduction by club chairman Todd Harris (MBA 1997), Principal at Houston Capital Partners.

An expert panel on energy transition technologies included Sarah Jewett (MBA 2019), VP Strategy, Fervo Energy, with introductions by the club’s incoming chairman Eric Calderon (MBA 2013), Managing Director, TXE Capital. Finally, a panel on financing energy transition included Stephanie Wisner (MBA 2014), Energy Tech Investment Banking, Goldman, Sachs, and moderator Osmar Abib (MBA 1987), Founder of SeracFund and retired Chair of Credit Suisse Energy.

“We had very high-quality speakers, including HBS alumni and several Harvard Law and Harvard Kennedy School grads who are members of the club,” says Horn. “With this kind of a gathering of high-caliber executives, we were able to cover a broad range of topics of interest beyond energy and energy transition, like leadership philosophy. We’ve had very positive feedback from the audience so we’ve already decided to have the 5^th Annual Energy CEO Summit in the same venue on April 2, 2025.

HBS alumni who were in Austin for the 2024 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals had the chance to connect with other Harvard University alumni at “Harvard@SXSW 2024,” a happy hour mixer co-hosted by the HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and the Harvard Innovation Labs.

Held on March 10 at Ember Kitchen in downtown Austin, the reception took advantage of the fact that many alumni would be in town for SXSW, the annual conference that celebrates the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture, and attracts an international audience of professionals, entrepreneurs, and artists.

“SXSW is a remarkable event that has really grown right along with the city of Austin over the last 10 years,” says Kirsten Billhardt (MBA 2001), President of the HBS Club of Austin. “And it was a great opportunity to come together with alumni from all over the world.”

More than 200 Harvard alumni stopped in to the afternoon gathering on a rooftop patio overlooking the city.

The HBS Rock Center and the Harvard Innovation Labs co-organized the gathering and partnered with the HBS Club of Austin and the Harvard Club of Austin with the goal of elevating and promoting all four organizations as resources for current and potential alumni members, and, specifically, entrepreneurs.

“We had multiple goals for this mixer,” says Laurie Bishop, Associate Director of the HBS Rock Center. “One was to provide visibility for both the Rock Center and the i-labs, which support students and alumni entrepreneurs. We try to take advantage of big events like SXSW to tap that energy and engagement to attract people. Another goal was to elevate the voices of early-stage founders across the University who attended the event.”

After some brief introductions by Bishop and Thara Pillai, Director for Alumni Programs at the Harvard Innovation Labs, they offered the mic to any founders who wanted to give a 30-second pitch. “We had about 8 founders step up to talk about their companies or projects and a current need,” says Bishop. “That was fun, and exposed the inspiring work of Harvard alumni to more of the global network.”

Billhardt says the Austin club jumped at the chance to get involved. “From a club standpoint, we are always delighted to have Harvard come to town,” she says. “Our alumni come out in force for these opportunities to connect with the school. We are a medium-sized and growing club, and it’s more important than ever that we have an opportunity to reconnect with the heart and soul of Harvard. It’s so important that the school comes out to visit us. We were absolutely delighted.”

The reception had help from Harvard Kennedy School alum Jonathan de Wolff, who suggested Ember Kitchen as the venue. The restaurant is supported by DeWolff’s organization, InKind, which provides startup funding for minority-owned restaurants in the Austin area.

Bishop says the feedback from the gathering has been overwhelmingly positive. “It was very well-attended and regarded, and we received tons of accolades,” she says. “With no formal programming, people could come and go, but most showed up and stayed. We were up against so many other events, so to have people stay says a lot. We’ll likely aim for this to be an annual event.”

In addition to the happy hour event, the HBS Club of Austin and Harvard Club also ran two smaller gatherings for alumni attending SXSW: an informal breakfast and a women’s luncheon.

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