Thank you for attending this year's event. Please find the approved speaker materials below.
Woody Rickerson - ERCOT.pdf
Jared Ware - RRC.pdf
Benjamin Sebree - Geothermal Energy.pdf
Thank you for attending this year's event. Please find the approved speaker materials below.
Woody Rickerson - ERCOT.pdf
Jared Ware - RRC.pdf
Benjamin Sebree - Geothermal Energy.pdf
As Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Woody Rickerson oversees Grid Operations, Commercial Operations, and Planning and Weatherization.
Mr. Rickerson brings a considerable amount of electric industry experience to his position, including more than 26 years at ERCOT in various roles. A licensed professional engineer, Mr. Rickerson has worked for utilities in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. He has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University and a master’s degree in Engineering Management from the University of Colorado.
Benjamin W. Sebree, Esq.
Ben Sebree is an attorney and well-known governmental relations practitioner (deciphered, that means lobbyist). Among other clients, Ben currently serves as General Counsel for the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance, the trade association representing the geothermal energy industry in Texas. Additionally, having served as Vice-President and General Counsel for the Texas Oil and Gas Association, having been appointed by Governor Perry to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, having been elected to the Governing Council of the Oil, Gas and Energy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, and possessing a long and effective career in Austin, Sebree's governmental and legal expertise are well recognized.
Ben occupies a highly respected tenure in the Austin legal and lobby communities with a reputation for integrity, intelligence, tenacity, and fairness which have accorded him with an unusual longevity of positive relationships with elected officials.
Ben possesses an institutional knowledge of Texas legislative, regulatory, and public policy matters, especially regarding energy, geothermal energy, oil & gas, natural resources, water, tax, and environmental matters. Finally, Ben is a well-published legal author on the subjects of geothermal energy, produced water, oil and gas, natural resources, and Texas Legislation.
Current Business Activities
Ben manages a legal and governmental relations practice before the Texas Legislature and several state agencies in Austin. He and his firm are active in legislative and regulatory matters concerning all types of energy with an emphasis on geothermal, oil and gas, natural resources law, as well as the energy-water nexus, competing landowner rights, eminent domain, the environment, local government, taxes, and economic development. Among Mr. Sebree’s clients are several Fortune 100 companies, including clients in the upstream, mid-stream, and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry, geothermal energy clients, large land and mineral owners, produced water recycling clients, several leading trade associations, various elected officials, and other clients including his service as General Counsel for The Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance.
Education/Honors/Appointments
Juris Doctorate | Law | University of Houston College of Law, Houston, Texas
Bachelor of Arts | University of Texas, Austin, Texas
Appointed by Governor Perry to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
Elected to the Governing Council of the Oil, Gas, and Energy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas
Jared Ware is a Systems Analyst and Senior Engineer at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). He works special projects with respect to geothermal energy, Class V & VI well permitting, and lithium/brine mining activities. He previously directed RRC’s Critical Infrastructure Division, served as the director of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) Program Support and Environmental Assistance Division (PSEAD), and served at Army Futures Command in Austin, Texas as the organization’s chief Installation, Energy and Environmental (IE&E) Engineer.
Jared served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for over two decades with assignments as a battalion commander, the 82nd Airborne Division’s Senior Engineer, and as an Assistant Professor of Geospatial Information Science at the United States Military Academy (West Point, New York). He is a certified Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP), Certified Energy Manager, and member of the Gamma Theta Upsilon geographic honor society.
