LUNCHEON - KEYNOTE - Governor Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal is Governor of Louisiana and is the youngest governor currently serving in the nation. He was sworn into office on January 14, 2008, after receiving 54 percent of the vote in the October 2007 primary. This marked the first time that a non-incumbent candidate for governor was elected without a runoff under the current election system.

BREAKFAST SESSION - Judge Andrew Napolitano

Andrew P. Napolitano joined FOX News Channel (FNC) in January 1998 and currently serves as the senior judicial analyst. He provides legal analysis on both FNC and FOX Business Network (FBN). He is also a fill in co-host for "FOX & Friends" regularly and co-hosts FOX News Radio's "Brian and The Judge" show daily

Judge Napolitano is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. While on the bench from 1987 to 1995, Judge Napolitano tried more than 150 jury trials and sat in all parts of the Superior Court -- criminal, civil, equity and family. He has handled thousands of sentencings, motions, hearings and divorces.

DINNER RECEPTION - U.S.Attorney General John Ashcoft

U.S. Attorney General. Governor of Missouri. U.S. Senator

John Ashcroft, the Chairman of the Ashcroft Group, has been leading Americans for over 30 years in public and private service. In 2005, Mr. Ashcroft established The Ashcroft Group, LLC to help domestic and international corporations apply the leadership principles, sound judgment, and high goals he embraced during his over three decades of public service to the business world.

MID-MORNING SESSION -Hal Hickey

Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, EXCO Resournces

Hal Hickey became the Chief Operating Officer of EXCO Resources, Inc. in October 2005.  In his role at EXCO, Hal has overseen the dramatic growth in size and capability of the engineering, geoscience and operations groups.  Hal joined EXCO in February 2001 as Production and Asset Manager, prior to serving as President of EXCO’s wholly owned Appalachian Basin subsidiary, North Coast Energy, Inc., from January 2004 until October 2005.  

MID-MONRNING SESSION - Bruce Vincent
IPAA Chairman, President and Director - Swift Energy Company
Mr. Vincent is President and Director of Swift Energy Company and has been employed at Swift Energy since 1990.  Swift Energy Company, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Houston, engages in developing, exploring, acquiring and operating oil and gas properties, with a focus on oil and natural gas reserves in the onshore and inland waters in Texas and Louisiana.  Over the Company’s 30-year history

MID-MORNING SESSION -Randall Luthi

President, National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA)

Randall Luthi became President of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) on March 1, 2010.   An attorney and rancher from Freedom, Wyoming and a former Speaker of the Wyoming State House of Representatives, Luthi has an impressive background in government service and the private sector. He most recently served as the Director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) at the Department of the Interior (DOI) from July 2007 through January 2009.  Immediately prior to directing MMS, Luthi served as the Deputy Director of the Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

AFTERNOON SESSION -Secretary, Scott Angelle

Secretary, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources

Scott Angelle was appointed secretary of the Department of Natural Resources by Governor Bobby Jindal in 2008. This is his second term of office in state government. He also served as the DNR secretary under past Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco from 2004 to 2007, making him the first DNR secretary to make the transition between two administrations since the department was created in 1976.

AFTERNOON SESSION - Commissioner Jim Welsh

Commissioner of Conservation

Jim is a Certified Professional Geologist and has served on Louisiana's Ground Water Advisory Group, Louisiana DEQ's "NORM" Advisory Committee and USEPA’s national negotiation team to draft the regulations for underground injection of hazardous waste.

AFTERNOON SESSION - Secretary, Peggy M. Hatch
Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. 

Employed with the state of Louisiana since 1985, she joined DEQ in 1990. Throughout her career with DEQ, she has worked primarily in the area of water enforcement. From 2002 until 2008, Hatch served as Administrator for the Enforcement Division.

AFTERNOON SESSION - Secretary, Robert Barham

Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Robert Barham, a life-long resident of Oak Ridge, served as a State Senator for Louisiana’s 33rd District from 1994 to 2008.In the Senate, he served as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and was a member the Senate Natural Resources Committee among others.

AFTERNOON SESSION - Assistant Secretary, Louis Buatt

Assistant Secretary for the Office of Coastal Management

Before joining DNR, he was the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Assessment for the Department of Environmental Quality. In addition to his position as assistant secretary, Buatt served as the general counsel for DEQ, and as attorney for the Office of Environmental Assessment. Prior to his state service, he was in private practice in Lake Charles and in Houston.

BREAKOUT SESSION - Pat Martin

Campanile Professor of Mineral Law

Patrick H. Martin is Campanile Professor of Mineral Law and has taught at the Louisiana State University Law Center since 1977. He is Director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute.

From 1982 to 1984 he served as the Commissioner of Conservation for the State of Louisiana. Prior to joining the faculty at LSU, Professor Martin taught at the University of Tulsa Law School. Before entering teaching, he was a staff attorney with Gulf Oil Corporation in New Orleans.