David Lawrence is a director on the board of Stone Energy Corporation. He served as Executive Vice President Exploration and Commercial for Shell Upstream Americas and Functional Head of Global Exploration for Royal Dutch Shell worldwide from June 2009 until retiring from Shell in 2013. His responsibilities included exploration, new business development, LNG , Gas to Transport and wind energy in the Americas. Prior roles with Shell included Executive Vice President Global Exploration, Executive Vice President Investor Relations, and Vice President Strategy and Planning for Royal Dutch Shell based in The Hague and London, respectively, and Vice President Exploration and Development for Shell Exploration and Production Company in the United States.

Dave began his career with Shell in Houston in 1984 in the Global Geology research section working on the Gulf of Mexico and early exploration concepts of the Deepwater. In his almost 30 years with Shell, he conducted business in more than 40 countries around the globe and led successful exploration efforts offshore and onshore on six continents. He has worked in academia, government and industry on everything from new exploration plays to production to producer finance, from coal evaluation to uranium exploration, and from shale gas to ultra Deepwater oil, in places from Alaska to Australia to Brasil to China.

Lawrence currently serves on the Yale Climate and Energy Institute Advisory Board. He acted as Membership Chair for many years for the National Ocean Industry Association and was a commissioner on the Aspen Institute Commission on Arctic Climate Change. He was a member of the American Petroleum Institute Upstream Committee and Chairman of the European Association of Geologists and Engineers (EAGE) Annual Meeting in Amsterdam in 2008. Dave is the author of numerous technical articles, is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award from the American Petroleum Institute and the Wallace Pratt Memorial Award from AAPG, was an AAPG Distinguished lecturer, and delivered the Halbouty Lecture at the 2011 AAPG annual convention. He received his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University in 1984 and his B.A. in Geology from Lawrence University in 1977.