Future Leaders Cohort

Contact:

Selcen Gunduz

The Future Leaders Cohort brings together current female geothermal professionals to share experiences that focus on developing female leaders and supporting the increased presence of women in business and community leadership roles. The program facilitates the sharing of experiences, tools and insights with other women seeking leadership roles.

The cohort is a year in length with monthly virtual meetings. Program activities include:

meetings with current leaders sharing their career path to date, motivations, and goals;
round table discussions on the type of knowledge and skills required to be a leader;
plan development to build a leadership pathway for each attendee; and
the opportunity to build relationships with other geothermal professionals looking to move into leadership roles.

2023-2024 Participants

Rebecca Bolton, Technical Lead

Rebecca, a dynamic technical lead at CGG's InCube, specializes in pioneering geothermal energy transition projects. With extensive experience in global resource assessments and due diligence in both Oil & Gas and Geothermal, she leverages her geoscience expertise and project coordination.

Risa Putri, Geochemist

Risa is a geochemist at Star Energy Geothermal Salak. She supervises surveillance programs and conducts geochemical investigations to interpret reservoir processes and surface facility issues, such as scaling, marginal recharge influx, and high non-condensable gas (NCG) content.

Þórdís Björnsdóttir, Drilling Engineer

Thordis has 7 years drilling experience from various sectors of the energy business. Currently working on CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) project Greensand, planning CO2 injection in the North Sea.

Stephanie Favre, Information System Manager

With a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences, Stéphanie has been contributing to the Geological Department of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, for over 8 years.

Phoebe Parson, Geothermal Adviser

Phoebe’s Ph.D. (University of Waikato, 2022) examined the regulatory management of New Zealand’s high-temperature geothermal resources used in electricity generation. Her research critiqued processes for acquiring, managing, and using information and data about geothermal energy developments.

Sam Houwers, Project Manager

As part of the Generation team at Mercruy, Sam manages and leads cross-functional teams to deliver capital projects for the geoethermal sites including carbon reduction projects, geothermal drilling and major equipment procurement.

Annie Pedersen, Geologist

Anine is a multi-disciplinary geologist with broad technical and leadership experience in the oil and gas, tech and geothermal industries. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Gabrielle Ramirez, Project Geologist

Gabrielle began her career as an exploration geologist in oil and gas in 2018 and pivoted to the geothermal industry in 2021. At Ormat, she works on a variety of projects spanning exploration, development, and operations in fault- and sedimentary basin-hosted systems.

Claudia Finger, Reservoir Seismologist

Claudia Finger has been a research associate at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Systems (IEG) in Bochum, Germany, since the founding of the institute four years ago.

Jennifer Aguilar, Geophysicist

Jennifer works as a geophysicist in LAGEO, El Salvador since 2015. She has a vast experience in geophysical exploration tools applied to characterize the geothermal resources in subsurface during exploration and development stages of the geothermal projects.

Megan Holdt, Postdoctoral Research Associate

At the University of Cambridge, Megan investigates the relationship between mantle dynamics, surface processes and geothermal energy. Her work is being integrated into Project InnerSpace's Phase I Global Mapping Project.

2021-2022 Participants

Bertha Arenivar , Environmental Specialist

Having completed the UNU Geothermal Training Programme, Bertha has gone on to work in environmental and social studies. She gets to know about new company projects before they start, which is interesting because it aligns with her job of reducing any negative environmental and social impact

Laura Bocanegra, Geologist

Laura works as Geologist who is part of a team that describes stratigraphic columns, types of rocks and sedimentary structures. She has strong project Managemnet skills built from her career so far - Laura also serves as the Treasurer on the Geothermal Colombia Association AGEOCOL.

Jamie Potter, Reservoir Engineer

Jamie is a Reservoir engineer with experience in multiple geothermal systems, including coordinating a team of geoscientists, and devlivering clear technical guidelines to others.

Julie Chiquet, Mechanical Engineer

Julie has taken a leading role in project planning & execution in her role within MB Century. She has technical leadership, people management and project management.

Silke Lohman, Project Leader (Geologist)

Silke has worked in geothermal in Chile for many years, on multiple projects including geothermal prospects planning, managing and conducting surface and borehole geothermal geology programs and participating in international teams. Currently residing in Germany and working on project developments.

Mathilde Urquizo, Planning Department Engineer

Mathilde coordinates geothermal projects in CELEC EP she has been project leader in previous roles & holds strong skills in organisation, creativity & commitment in challanging circumstances. She has also completed the UNU Geothermal Training Programme.

Emilie Gentry, Regulatory Analyst

is a Geothermal Geoscientist with Petrolearn, LLC. She has transitioned from the O&G industry & is providing subsurface geologic expertise to explore geothermal energy potential through utilizing heat waste with existing oil and gas infrastructure across the United States.

Rachel Grobecker, Operations Manager

Rachel is leading a team in a smaller start up company, extracting minerals from geothermal fluids. Her current role is varied & challenging with her manage operations, key stakeholders & implementing systems.

Diana Barillas, Investment Project Analyst

Diana has been in LaGEO since 2015 and has rapidly become a go-to person concerning her knowledge & experience of financial analysis of geothermal projects. She has a varied background with stong business knowledge & has been a key part of the WING El Salvador chapter.

Charis Wong, 2nd Year PhD

Charis is an experienced Geochemist having previously worked at Mercury prior to entering a PhD program in Canada. Charis has continually been an advocate & sponsor of womens empowerment across the globe, where she has driven WING in its foundation in NZ, completed volunteer work abroad & an ongoing mentor for others.

Elenore Dalmais, Geosciences Engineer

Elenore has worked a geoscientist & project manager on significant projects in France including a 23MW biorefinary project at Ritthershoffen. She has also worked on other global projects including the European R&D MEET project & Serbian GOSPEL project.

Nyssa Brewer, Production Engineer

Nyssa currently works at Ngatamariki power station as a Production Engineer where she is focused on plant optimistaion & process safety.

2020-2021 Participants

Lucy is currently the Business Development Snr Geologist for Cornish Lithium involved in the integration of shallow heat & naturally occurring lithium in Cornwell, UK. Her passion lies in the synergies between raw material extraction and energy production.

Lillian Aketch Okwiri

Lillian has completed a Masters of Science in Sustainable Energy Engineering at the Iceland school of energy in 2017, and currently working as a Rig Maintenance Engineering for the Geothermal Development Company based in Kenya.

Phyllis Gathoni Mathenge

Gathoni has spent over 6yrs working as a Drilling Engineer for Geothermal Development Company (GDC) in Kenya & unoffically was the first female in this role. She has been part of a team that has delivered some of the largest & most complex successful drilling campaigns in East Africa.

Rosa is currently the Engineering Manager at LAGEO, S.A. de C.V. Among the Key functions is the development and Management of all the Geothermal Projects, from design to construction and commissioning, which guarantees the maintenance of existing geothermal fields and the development of new fields in El Salvador.

Michelle Ramirez

Michelle is well known for her contributions to foster geothermal in Mexico, Honduras and Panama, for developing cutting edge public policies through analytic and logical work, but mostly because of the easiness to present and transmit technical subjects and translate their solutions into public policies and legal wording.

Valeria is a Geological Engineer currently working as the Directorate of the Observatory of Threats & Natural Resources. She has experience in marketing, customer management & sales. She is passionate about issues related to leadership, teamwork, brand position, organization, event logistics and entrepreneurship.

Rosalind Julian

Rosalind is Team Leader with WorkSafe with Integrity Processes, she is involved in Pressure Equipment Integrity Management, Risk Based Assessment, Materials and corrosion consulting and component Life Assessments.

Silvia Patricia Barredo

Silvia holds a PhD in Geology & since 2005 she has been a Professor of Geology for Petroleum Engineering and of the subject General and Petroleum Geology for the Exploitation of Hydrocarbons, both from the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (ITBA) and recently joined as a professor of geothermal energy for ITBA-KIT

Daniela Blessent

Daniela is the current President of the Colombia Geothermal Association & is an Associate Professor at the Environmental Engineering college at the Universidad de Medellin. She has published extensively in her field of technical expertise of Geothermal energy in Colombia,

Diana Adhiambo Macodawa

Diana has worked for the GDC in Kenya for 12 years and started off in a group of 70 engineers with only 2 other women. She credits her leadership at GDC for encouraging and empowering her early in her career to propel her forward and support her within the male dominated field.

Esther Nyambura Njuguna

Esther is an engineer at the GDC in Kenya and is currently working on the direct use application of geothermal fluids from the Menengai geothermal field. “My greatest delight is knowing that I impact people positively, that I am truthful and I carry myself with a lot of integrity.”

Laure Mora is the Head of Sales for North America and Scotland for Climeon, a Swedish geothermal technology company. Previously, she also held various roles in Sales, ranging from technical support to global account manager. Climeon plans to build their first US geothermal powerplant are now well advanced.

Thecla Munanie Mutia

Thecala is a Ajunct Lecturer for the Environment & Climate Change Kenyan School of Government in Kabete, Kenya. She is an experienced scientist with extensive knowledge in numerous fields.

Loraine Pastoriza Primaleon

Loraine is a geologist holding a doctoral degree on structural geology currently based in the Philippines for the Energy Development Corporation (EDC). Has over nine years of experience in the geothermal industry as a geologist, in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Chile.

Makda Kinfe Gebreyesu

Makda, since 2013 holds the role of Drilling Engineer for Geological Survey of Ethiopia. Her role has allowed her to develop crisis management skills through quick decision making, time management & prioritization of tasks.

Irma Khoirunissa

Irma is currently working as as the Senior Environmental Analyst for Pertamina Geothermal Energy in Indonesia. Irma holds this management role with a growthoriented leadership style that looks for opportunity to gain exposure to upper management levels.

Wini Rizkiningayu

Wini is the head of business development from NZTE Indonesia who handles mainly Geothermal portfolios. Her core focus is to work with New Zealand customers in Renewable Energy and Tech, establish and grow their business internationally esp. in Indonesian markets