Mr. Bates is currently an adjunct professor and a member of the Advisory Board for the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute and the Energy MBA Program at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University where he teaches Energy Macroeconomics.  He also lectures at Skema Business School in Lille, France where he teaches Geopolitics and Energy in the Master of Supply Chain program.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors at Tetra Technologies, Inc. (NYSE), SSR Mining, Inc. (NASDAQ) and as chairman of Vantage Drilling International.  He has served on twelve other public company boards in North America, Europe, and Asia.  He started his career with Shell Oil in Houston and spent 15 years at Schlumberger in both domestic and international locations, was CEO of Weatherford-Enterra, and served as President of the Discovery Group of Baker Hughes.  Mr. Bates was later the Managing Director and Senior Advisor for thirteen years at Lime Rock Partners, an energy-focused private equity investment firm.   Mr. Bates has been involved in over a dozen technology startup companies as an investor and board member.  Mr. Bates holds a Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and served on the Leadership Advisory Board for the College of Engineering from 2014 to 2022.