Lifetime Membership Awardee
Galen Treadgold
Galen was born in Dallas, Texas, but grew up in Akron, Ohio until heading south again to study Geology and Marine Science at the University of Miami in Coral Gable, Florida. After completing a Master of Art degree in Geology and Geophysics from University of Texas at Austin in early 1985, he entered the training program at ARCO Oil and Gas in north Dallas, Texas. Over his 37 year career, Galen has worked in both upstream oil and gas, as well as oil and gas service companies – generally focused on applying geophysical technology to help find or develop new fields. At ARCO, Galen worked on special projects applying new tools from the ARCO research team to evaluate exploration targets. In the mid 1990’s, he transferred to ARCO British for a stint chasing anomalies in the North Sea and working the HPHT Shearwater Field before heading back to the US to manage G&G work in Trinidad and parts of South America. In the late 1990’s, British Petroleum (BP) knocked on ARCO’s door and Galen moved over to Weinman Geoscience in Dallas. There he continued AVO prospecting with Weinman specialty processing (many former ARCO folks) adding azimuthal velocity analysis and interpretation for fracture prospecting. When Weinman was purchased by Global Geophysical in 2008, Galen led the post-processing technical efforts just as unconventional reservoirs hit the scene, replacing more standard seismic prospecting practices used in conventional reservoirs. In 2012, Galen became Head of Exploration for Afren PLC (Africa focused E&P). In 2014, he joined Amni International Petroleum Resources as Managing Director and a member of the board for Amni International and Amni Ghana. Galen is also on the board of Ambient Reservoir Monitoring, a frac monitoring and fracture detection company based in Houston, Texas.
Galen has had a long relationship with US geophysical societies and has contributed approximately 25 talks and papers over the years. While working for ARCO, Galen started traveling to Brazil and restarted an old hobby – collecting minerals. The hobby grew into a company (GeoInteriors) and the pretty rocks gradually became Speakers Gifts for G&G societies across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Alaska, and a few national SEG and AAPG conventions. Rock and Fossil fund raising efforts supported by GeoInteriors volunteers raised more than $23,000 for local G&G societies in 2021, and have contributed minerals and fossils worth nearly $90,000 over the past decade. The rock effort jumped across to England in 2021 to benefit the PESGB and total charitable support from the group has reached nearly $400,000.
Galen and his wife Teresa plan to retire to southern New Mexico in the next few years to travel and play lots of golf.