AMIE Robert Earll McConnell Award

Mr. Theodore Streit, Sr. VP for Gaddy Engineering Company of Charleston, WV, has been advised by the Board of Directors and the worldwide membership of the Society of Petroleum Engineers International that he is the 2013 recipient of the Robert Earll McConnell Award. Mr. Streit is the 20th person to win the award from the petroleum industry. The Robert Earll McConnell Award was established in 1968 to recognize beneficial service to mankind by engineers through significant contributions that advance a nation's standard of living or replenish its natural resources base.

The award was presented Oct. 1, 2013 at the Society's Annual Technical Conference held in the Ernst N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The SPE is the largest individual-member organization serving managers, engineers, scientists and other professionals worldwide in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry. With over 110,000 members, worldwide the SPE's mission is to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence.

In 1999 Mr. Streit served on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) strategic planning committee charged with reviewing and updating the existing USAID strategy. This committee delivered an up to date strategic plan for USAID, a description of the respective roles of various contractors and the relationships between current activities, and a description of a process by which the contractors kept each other informed of the work done in energy and environmental areas

During the years from 1998-2004 Mr. Streit served as an Economic Policy Specialist with the USAID Regional Mission in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). He was responsible for the US Government's natural resource energy development programs in Central Asia, assessing and implementing overall policy related to the development of oil and gas and other energy resources, while being cognizant of their intimate links to overall natural resource management

Mr. Streit worked with the Ministry of Energy to improve their capabilities to better analyze, communicate, and process both national and international energy data; the Agency for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies and the support of Small Business, to find fair and equitable tariffs that will be sustainable and fair for its customers; the local heating companies to demonstrate better heating technologies that are replicable though out the region; and the international and local oil companies and regulatory agencies, to demonstrate best practices in the management of oil field waste, and to clean up sites that are left in the region as a result of poor past practices. He was responsible for managing local, regional, and national assistance across a wide range of activities including: provision of natural resource management training; installation of specific data collection systems; promotion of sound natural resource policy development; completing and then replicating demonstration projects; and increasing public participation and commitment to sound natural resource management.

Mr. Streit attended the University of Illinois and received a B.S. Electrical Engineering in 1975. Schlumberger Well Service hired Mr. Streit in 1975 as a Jr. Field Engineer in Tyler, TX. Over the seven years he worked for them he was promoted successively to Field Engineer, Sr. Field Engineer, General Field Engineer, Center Manager, and Offshore General Field Engineer. He successfully provided engineering services in physically and technically hostile environments including Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and West Virginia.

Through the years 1982-1998, Mr. Streit served as the Head of the WV Office of Oil and Gas for the Department of Mines and its successor agencies. Mr. Streit successfully integrated the functions of an Environmental Regulatory Agency, the Oil and Gas Conservation Agency, and the coal safety functions of WV, serving under four governors.

Mr. Streit returned to Charleston, WV from Kazakhstan in 2004 and has been with Gaddy Engineering Company for the past nine years, a West Virginia natural resource management company operating in several states. He is currently the Sr. Vice President and a joint owner of the company.

Mr. Streit is a Registered Professional Engineer, Petroleum in WV. He is the Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee of the WV Land and Mineral Owners Association, a member of the Appalachian Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and was appointed by WV Governor. Earl R. Tomblin to serve as an advisor to the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), to provide guidance developing a regulatory framework for Marcellus Shale Well Drilling.

Mr. Streit has been married to Brecken Streit for 29 years and has four children: Lara Streit Franks, Aaron Streit, Lydia Streit Cendana, and Rose Streit. He is a grandfather of three grandchildren.