You're Invited! OCTOBER 1-2, 2026!
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Women Offshore Conference 2026
Agenda, October 1-2
Below is the tentative agenda; all times are in Central Time (Houston). This event is in person at the LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy, & Technology (7901 Fairmont Pkwy, Pasadena, TX, 77507).
0800-0900: Registration & Breakfast
0900-1000: Welcome and Opening Keynote Speaker Holly Strople, Noble Corporation
Holly Strople, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Noble Corporation, has more than 15 years of experience in talent acquisition, talent management, and employer branding, Holly has built a career centered on developing strong teams, fostering authentic leadership, and helping people reach their full potential.
1030-1130 Morning Panel Sessions
Choose from the following sessions:
Build Your Future: Career Jeopardy
What is your next big career move? Join us for a fast-paced game covering confidence, leadership, career opportunities, and navigating change. You’ll pick up practical ideas for recognizing your strengths, speaking up for what you want, and taking intentional steps toward your next opportunity.
Panelist: Robert Simpton, Certified Financial Planner, REDFish Capital Management
Panelist: Shanna Castanie, USCG Curriculum, Compliance and Auditing Coordinator, San Jacinto Maritime College
Panelist: Karen Forys, Founder, Full Keel Wellness
Moderator: Dennis Depre, Senior Recruiter, Disney Cruise Line
Build Your Career: Family Feud — Career Coaches vs. Maritime Professionals
Survey says… it’s time to settle the score! Watch coaches and maritime professionals face off over the skills, choices, and real-life lessons that shape careers on the water. You’ll hear different perspectives on workplace challenges, major career decisions, and balancing your professional goals with life beyond work. Leave with advice you can use as you build your own path.
Professional Maritime Team: LeighAhn Ferrari-Pepin, Mooring Master, AET
Professional Maritime Team: Colleen Moran, Maritime Pilot, Delaware Bay Pilots Association
Professional Maritime Team: Azize Reed, Service Administrator, Total Marine Solutions
Coaches Team: Shelia LaFleur, Principal, Trackline Search Partners
Coaches Team: Shelby Bybee, Owner, Beehive Coaching & Consulting
Coaches Team: Tony Martin, Manager of Talent Management, Valaris
Moderator: James Spear, Director of Professional Mariner Training, SUNY Maritime College
1145-1300: Networking Lunch
1300-1400: Afternoon Panel Sessions
Choose from the following sessions:
Sea Stories Panel
Hear unforgettable stories from life and work on the water, along with the lessons that came from them. You’ll gain honest insight into building resilience, growing through challenges, and carrying your offshore experiences into every stage of your career and life.
Panelist: Esra Konak, Texas A&M master’s student, Women Offshore Ambassador, and Stolt Tankers intern
Panelist: Kate Hubbert, Marine Nautical Manager, Disney Cruise Line
Panelist: Christine MacMillan, Director of Career Support, Women Offshore
Panelist: Kami Bucholz, Port Captain, Operational Support Engineer, Anduril Industries
Panelist: Amanda Ringo, Deck Officer, Chouest
Moderator: Coronado Hickman, Ship Broker, Stolt Tankers
Defining Your Identity in Work & Life
Your job is part of your story, but it is not the whole story. Panelists will share how they have shaped who they are both personally and professionally, offering real perspective and encouragement as you define your own path forward.
Panelist: Alisa Tijerina, most recently Operations Director at Hess
Panelist: Ceili Colletti, Manager, Technology & Projects Americas, Shell
Panelist: Phil Schifflin, Director of the Center for Mariner Advocacy, Seamen’s Church Institute
Panelist: Samina Sadaf Mahmood, Commercial and Business Development Manager, Resolve Marine
Panelist: Nilsu Uyguner, Voyage Operations Specialist, Chevron
Moderator: Shelby Bybee, Founder, Beehive Coaching & Consulting
1430-1530: A Complaint Free Team: Building Resilience by Turning Complainers into Collaborators with Dori Eversman, Founder & CEO, RRG Leadership
Resilience is about responding to a demanding work environment effectively. In this interactive workshop, you'll learn to recognize the hidden motivations behind complaints and transform negative conversations into opportunities for collaboration and problem-solving. Through practical exercises and discussion, we will practice how to stay focused on what’s important and communicate more effectively. You’ll leave knowing how to redirect negative complaints into collaboration.
1540-1700: Happy Hour/Networking
0800-0900: Breakfast
0900-1030: Morning Keynote Speaker Capt. Kate McCue, Four Seasons Yachts
Captain Kate McCue, inaugural Captain of Four Seasons I, has three decades at sea, Captain Kate has built an extraordinary career across the cruise industry, serving aboard vessels with Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and now Four Seasons Yachts. In 2015, she made history as the first American woman to captain a mega-ton cruise ship and has since become a leading voice for leadership, innovation, and representation in the maritime industry.
1030-1130: Skill Building Workshop - Read the Room, Hold the Line with Erica D’Eramo from Two Piers Consulting
Erica D’Eramo is the Founder and CEO of Two Piers Consulting, PBC, a leadership
development firm helping leaders, teams, and organizations navigate growth, change,
complexity, and pressure with greater clarity, alignment, and impact.
An engineer and former energy operations leader, Erica spent more than two decades working
in complex, high-accountability environments, much of it in offshore and remote operations. She
now works as an executive and leadership coach, organizational development consultant,
coach educator, and facilitator, bringing together real-world operational experience, systems
thinking, and evidence-based approaches to leadership development.
Erica is also an instructor with the University of New Hampshire’s Professional Coaching
Certificate program, where she teaches coaching skills to aspiring professional coaches and
leaders seeking to strengthen how they communicate, listen, ask questions, and develop others.
Her work focuses on the practical challenges leaders encounter when the stakes are high,
including communication and influence, leadership transitions, team effectiveness,
decision-making, and sustainable performance.
Erica holds an Executive MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BS in Mechanical
Engineering from Penn State, and is an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC).
1130-1300: Wave Maker Awards & Luncheon
1300-1400: Closing Keynote Speaker: Andrea Morrison, Maritime Technical Advisor, Shell
Location: Main Stage
Sometimes the path you planned changes in an instant. What happens next can shape not only where you go, but the impact you have along the way.
Closing out the 2026 Women Offshore Conference, Andrea Morrison will share a personal story about an experience that challenged the direction she thought her career would take. Through her story, she’ll reflect on navigating unexpected turns, the people we encounter along the way, and the impact our choices can have beyond what we see in the moment.
Andrea’s closing keynote is a reminder that “Yes, You Can” doesn’t always mean following the path you originally planned.