HGS October General Lunch

HGS October General Lunch

Title: The Art of the Pivot: Geoscience Careers

Panelists: Amanda Rico, Bob Alysworth, Sarah Pietraszek-Mattner

Date: Wednesday 22 October

Time: 11:30 am – 1 pm

Location: Murphy, 9805 Katy Freeway, Houston, TX 77024

Cost: $30 Members, $35 Non-members, $25 Students

Registration closes October 21 at noon.

Description: The geoscience business landscape is evolving faster than ever—and so are the career opportunities for geoscientists. Join us for a dynamic panel discussion featuring professionals who have successfully navigated career transitions and coached geoscientists to find their next career move.  Our panelists will share candid insights on recognizing when it’s time to pivot, identifying transferable skills, and personal branding for your next role.

Whether you’ve been impacted by workforce reductions or are reimagining your professional future, this conversation will provide strategies, inspiration, and practical advice for building resilience and staying relevant in a changing landscape.

Amanda Rico

Dr. Amanda Rico specializes in resume building, editing, and career solutions for senior and executive professionals. With 15+ years of experience — from crafting materials for TEDx speakers to optimizing profiles for oil, gas, and energy leaders — she helps forward-thinking executives elevate their careers.

A former career columnist for the Houston Business Journal and Oilwoman Magazine, Dr. Rico has collaborated with public officials, diplomats, and E&P executives including Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison, Jeff Immelt, Jeff Shellebarger, and Jeff Miller. She has taught resume writing at the University of Oklahoma and Texas A&M University, presented workshops for NASA, served on an OTC panel, and volunteered as a Suncast Clean Energy Mentor. Recognized as one of Houston’s Top 15 LinkedIn Experts (2023) and among Transition Economist’s Top 100 Women in Energy Transition (2021), she is a trusted voice in career strategy and energy transition.

She earned her Ph.D. in English at Texas A&M University and her M.A. and B.A. in English from the University of Oklahoma.

Bob Aylsworth

Bob Aylsworth is the Business Development Manager at RevoChem. He is a geologist with over 16 years in the oil and gas industry. Bob began his career at Ingrain, a digital rock physics laboratory, where he developed a workflow for imaging and characterizing rocks at the pore-scale. He then joined the unconventional resources exploration team at Apache where he was a geologist and petrography subject matter expert working exploration projects throughout the Permian, Rockies, Egypt, Suriname, and others. In 2021, Bob moved to RevoChem, a geochemical laboratory where he uses his technical background and start-up experience to lead the business development efforts. Bob earned both his BS and MS in Geological Sciences from Michigan State University.

Sarah Pietraszek-Mattner

Sarah Pietraszek-Mattner has over 25 years experience in the Energy industry as a geoscientist and manager, working assets and opportunities around the world in onshore conventional, deep water, unconventional, CCS and Lithium. Now in the twilight of her Energy career, she has shifted her focus to end-to-end career coaching for geoscientists and considers it a natural extension to the people management roles she has held. Sarah specializes in coaching mid-career transitions and has a keen interest in meeting people in geoscience industries of all types. She holds a MS in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines and a PhD in Biogeochemistry from Indiana University.