Thomas Named Geoscience Director

John B. "Jack" Thomas has been named AAPG geoscience director, assuming the position held on an interim basis by John Shelton since January.

Thomas has been an active consultant since his retirement from BP Amoco in 1999. His career with Amoco included assignments in exploration and production, research and technical risk evaluation, manager of coalbed methane exploration and manager of the Integrated Studies Section and supervisor of the Petrophysics Research and Training Group.

He previously was a partner and director with Reservoirs Inc. in Denver; an exploration geologist with Mobil in various locations; and also has taught at College of William and Mary and the University of Oklahoma, where he also earned his doctorate.

He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Miami and Ohio Universities.

He has published more than 24 works on petrology, clay mineralogy, petrophysics and reservoir studies.

A member of AAPG since 1965, Thomas has served on the Education, Distinguished Lecture and Publication committees.

As geoscience director, Thomas will oversee the activities of the education department, scientific publications and the BULLETIN, as well as AAPG Datapages.

AAPG's geoscience department has been restructured since January, when Shelton accepted the interim leadership. As Executive Director Rick Fritz noted in his February column, changes were made to modernize the operation for maximum efficiency to prepare for AAPG's digital future.

Geoscience has been divided into three departments: production, services and marketing.