Mr. Ufuoma Ewherido

Mr. Ewherido, an ExxonMobil executive is currently the Exploration Commercial Manager for Africa. He began his career with Mobil Producing, Lagos Nigeria in 1991. Over time, he held multiple technical and managerial positions that include leadership of large organizations and major geoscience projects in exploration, development and production stages.

His most recent positions include Operations and Commercial Manager for the Asia Pacific and Middle East Regions in Houston, General Manager – Geoscience Operations Technical in Nigeria, General Manager – Upstream Nigeria Plans, Program and New Business. He has managed opportunities across the globe in Africa, the US, Venezuela, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Middle East.

Mr. Ewherido holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Benin-Nigeria. He holds diplomas from executive leadership and strategy programs at Columbia, Kellogg, Thunderbird, UNC and INSEAD. A member of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. His other interests include thought leadership in his communities, and mentoring / coaching of professionals. He joined the NAMC Board of Trustees in 2017.

He is married with children and lives in Houston Texas.

He was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and attended Yaba College of Technology, the class of 1973.

After a brief working stint at R.T Briscoe in Apapa and Brussels, Belgium, he proceeded to the United States of America in 1979 for his University education. He completed both his undergraduate degree in Accounting and Masters Degree in Clinical Sociology at Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas. Upon graduation, he worked briefly as an Accountant at Educational Institutions before finally establishing his own Accounting and Mortgage business in 1999. He is the President and CEO of Midland Mortgage & Financial Services in Houston, Texas. He is a father and grandfather; happily married with seven children and five grandchildren.

He loves to relax to music and participate in sporting, political and cultural activities at both local, national and international levels. He is also civic minded and always try to give back to all his communities both in religious and cultural arenas.

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Hezekiah Adesola (‘Sola) Oyinlola retired from Schlumberger Limited after 31 years in executive, operational and financial positions across the world. His last assignment was Chairman Africa & Global Head of Sustainability and CSR, based in Houston. He also served as President of the Schlumberger Foundation from 2011 until his retirement in 2015. Prior to these positions, Sola Oyinlola was Vice President & Group Treasurer between 2007 and 2011.

Before arriving at the Schlumberger corporate headquarters, Mr Oyinlola had a long career in the field, based in multiple countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East and the USA, spanning executive, operations and financial positions, including Vice President & Managing Director for Nigeria & West Africa, and Vice President & Managing Director for the Malaysia-Brunei-Philippines region in East Asia. He has served as Personnel Director for Europe, CIS & Africa, and has held several financial management positions in the US and Europe, including North American controller, Europe & Africa controller, Product Group Controller, Assistant Treasurer, Group Tax Director of various business units of the company. Prior to Schlumberger, Mr Oyinlola worked at the Central Bank of Nigeria and in ABB in Sweden.

Since 2014, Mr. Oyinlola has served as a non-executive director of Guaranty Trust Bank in Nigeria. He also serves on the boards of directors of Lekoil Limited, Shelf Drilling Offshore Services both in NIgeria, and on the boards of several non-profits, including the Schlumberger Foundation in the USA, and the FSD Africa, the UK DFID supported organization working to eradicate poverty through deepening capital markets in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is currently Chairman of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce in the US and sits on its board in Nigeria, and as a co-founder of the Lagos Petroluem Club, remains on the Advisory Board of that organization in Nigeria. He is co- founder & Chairman of Spectralink Wireless Limited, a new generation ISP utilizing TV white space technology to provide broadband connectivity in sub Sahara Africa. Today, Mr Oyinlola is primarily an angel investor and mentor, and additionally provides financial advisory services through his African Infrastructure Partners, LLC entity based in Houston.

He holds a BSc in Accounting from the University of Ghana, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1984. He is an alumnus of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and has attended executive courses in several business schools in Europe and the USA.

Mr Oyinlola is married with children, and primarily lives in Houston.

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Eno Ukpong is the Regional HR Business Partner – Central US for Booking.com responsible for the HR function in nine states, a position she has held since February 2017. In her role, Eno is responsible for talent acquisition, organizational and talent development of the people leaders and the overall management of the HR function.

Eno is a highly experienced human resources professional with 13 years of experience in talent acquisition, organizational and talent management, employee relations, global mobility, compensation & benefits, performance management, training & development and policy design.

Prior to Booking.com, Eno was HR Business Partner for Tullow Oil based in London, while at Tullow, Eno was responsible for engaging with senior corporate leadership, heads of functions and executives on change management, strategic planning and people operations implementation initiatives covering Europe and Africa regions.

Eno has a strong international HR professional track record, having worked extensively in Houston, USA, Paris, France and London, UK and held generalist and specialist roles as an HR manager; HR business partner and global mobility lead for Schlumberger. She has also held leadership roles driving critical global HR projects, covering mergers & acquisitions, change management, people operations and compensation and benefits. Eno works with senior leaders and executives on transformation initiatives including leading and managing high performing teams. She is motivated to yield effective results, influence others to get things done and passionate about impacting positive change. She is a Senior Professional Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) in the United States.

Eno holds an MBA in Management and Organizational Behavior from Rice University, Houston, Texas and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Science in Occupational Therapy from Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas. She is a Nigerian-American and currently resides in Houston with her husband and daughter. Her passions include traveling, reading, visual and performing arts.

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Oluseyi Afolabi retired from ExxonMobil Upstream Companies in Nigeria on April 1, 2017. Her pre-retirement assignment was Executive Director, Upstream Commercial/General Manager, Business Development. In this role she was primarily responsible for leading significant commercial negotiations with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and potential farm-out/in companies.

Seyi joined Mobil Producing Nigeria in February1989 as Reservoir Engineer III. During the period of her career, she held several key technical and managerial positions, including: Snr Reservoir Engineer, Mobil Exploration and Production Technology Center, Dallas Texas, USA; Reservoir Modeling Engineer, Central Technology Office, Houston Texas, USA; Reservoir Engineering Supervisor, General Manager, Plans & Programs/New Business Development; General Manager, Commercial & Nigeria Content; General Manager, Projects Development; Senior Technical Advisor, Project Management and Execution, ExxonMobil Development Company, (EMDC) Houston, Texas; Manager, Construction Support Manager (Africa & Asia Pacific region), EMDC, Houston, Texas; General Manager, Project Support and General Manager, Business Development, Upstream Nigeria, Commercial.

Seyi was elevated to the Board of Mobil Producing Nigeria as an Executive Director in July 2012. In December 2015, she was also appointed to the Board of Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL) and EEPNL (Offshore East). She was the only female on the eight-man Board of Directors of these upstream companies. She was also a member of the Upstream Nigeria Extended Leadership Team, Leadership Development Committee (LDC) and was a key Advisory Committee member of the ExxonMobil Women Interest Network (WIN).

Seyi is a 1984 graduate of Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos, Akoka. She completed her mandatory National Youth Service Corp at the Ashland Oil Company Port Harcourt in 1985 and was immediately hired as a Reservoir Engineer with the same company until February 1989.

Oluseyi Afolabi is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (Nigeria Council), and the University of Lagos Faculty of Engineering Alumni Association. She is a Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and a Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers.

She is happily married to Chief Tunde Afolabi and they are both rewarded by the Almighty God with blessed children.

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Unwana has over 23 years of experience spanning oil exploration, project management and human resources development. He is currently Manager, Human Resources and Organizational Capability for a corporate function in Chevron Corporation, Houston, Texas. In his role, he acts as principal advisor to the Vice President on human capital issues.

He has worked as a Geologist and Human Resources Business Partner in Chevron Corp. His experience spans the fields of competency development and total remuneration analysis. With a background in earth sciences, he spent the earlier part of his career in oil exploration and project management. He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), has also been a Member, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), and he is a Professional Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) in the United States.

Unwana holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Geology from the University of Calabar, Nigeria.

With an avid interest in community development, he is a member of the International Association of Lions Clubs. He has served in many offices of the Board of Directors of his club, including the President, Lagos Achievers Lions Club. Unwana holds the highest honor of the Lions Clubs International – the Melvin Jones fellowship. He has chartered community service organizations in Nigeria and currently volunteers in service projects in the Houston area and beyond.

He also enjoys exercising, strategy development, real estate and traveling. He is married with children.

ID Boyejo brings over 20 years of experience in the Financial Services Sector, primarily in Corporate Banking.  He currently serves as Senior Vice President in the Global Banking and Markets Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, covering Texas and Louisiana markets.  In this capacity, his responsibilities include leading a team of commercial banking product specialists to deliver strategic financial guidance and comprehensive solutions to Corporations and Institutions.    

His Banking career has included diverse roles of increasing responsibility at leading global financial firms, such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and presently at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  He advises corporate executives on complex banking transactions to support growth or restructuring objectives.  ID’s experience includes coverage of Commercial and Industrial companies in diversified Industries, as well as Governmental and Non-Profit Institutions with Tax-Exempt designations.  These include, Cities & Municipalities, Port Authorities, Transit Systems, as well as Healthcare Systems, School Districts, Universities and Social Service Organizations.  

Prior to his current role, ID served as Chief Financial Officer and Business Development Executive at SBSC, a mid-sized Technology Consulting Company.  There he worked with the CEO and the Management team to develop and execute a growth strategy that included successful expansion into new markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

To help create a more sustainable future for the companies and communities he serves,  ID volunteers with several not-for-profit organizations focused on ending hunger and homelessness, most recently with the Houston Food Bank, and Habitat for Humanity.   He’s also passionate about mentoring teammates and young professionals.  He has participated in formal Board / Community Leadership Development Programs including United Way of Greater Houston’s Project Blueprint, as well as Leadership Greater New Haven, in Connecticut.  ID’s prior non-profit Board / Committee experiences include: the Urban League of Greater Hartford and the Affordable Home Ownership Program initiative of the City of New Haven, both in Connecticut.  He has also served on the Finance Committee at his local Church.  He also generally enjoys volunteering on ad-hoc sub-committee projects at local not-for-profit organizations around the Greater Houston area.  

ID attended IGBOBI College and completed his undergraduate degree in Biology, from the University of Lagos, both in Nigeria.   He obtained his MBA (Accounting Concentration) from the University of New Haven, Connecticut.   He resides in the Houston metro area with his wife and two teenage sons.

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Dr. Adesina is currently the Director of Neuropathology and Molecular Neurophathology at Texas Children’s Hospital and Professor of Pathology, Immunology and Pediatrics-Hematology/Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. His research interest is in understanding the molecular determinants of neoplastic transformation in general and more specifically in the nature of deregulation of signal transduction in pediatric brain tumors.

He is a board certified physician in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Vermont. His professional activities include associate editor of Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine; member editorial board of Journal of Human Pathology; reviewer Journal of Neuro-oncology and Journal of Clinical Pathology; Member of the Awards Committee, American Association of Neuropathologists; Inspector & Team Leader, Anatomic Pathology and Molecular Pathology, College of American Pathologists and membership in many other professional associations.

He has over 100 publications done individually or jointly including: Atlas of Pediatric Brain Tumors. Adesina, AM, Fuller C, Tihan T, Poussaint TY (Editors) and FoxG1 dysregulation is a frequent event in medulloblastoma. Adesina AM et al, J Neuro-Oncol 2007 Nov;85(2):111-2.

Dr. Adesina has had numerous honors and awards including the Visiting Professorship / Endowed Chair in the Neurosciences, University of Ibadan; Arthur Weill Honorable Mention Award for best paper in Experimental Neuro-oncology at the International Congress of Neuropathology, San Diego; and Richard W. Leech Teaching Award presented by the Department of Pathology at OUHSC.

He is one of the founding members and coordinator of the action committee of the Friends of Africa (FOA)-USCAP initiative, which is involved in outreach efforts to sub-Saharan pathologists.

Dr. Adesina graduated from University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria in 1980 with an MBBS and shortly after, did his MSc. in ChemPath/Immunol also at Ibadan. He received his Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal, Canada with his thesis in Molecular Generics/ Neuro-Oncology. He has had various post graduate training programs at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria; University of Vermont, USA; McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA. He has held various academic positions at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City (OUHSC); OK.

Dr. Adesina is a family man, married with children.

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Mr. Tony Henshaw is currently the Manager of the Small Business Development Group (SBDG) for the City of Houston, Department of Public Works and Engineering (PWE). In that capacity, he is responsible for the administration and implementation of the Small / Minority / Women Business Enterprises (S/MWBE) Program; and the management of the Pay or Play Program.

He has over 25 years of experience in Accounting, Auditing, Contract Compliance and Business Development in the public and private sector.

Tony is a Certified Public Manager (CPM); also a Certified Compliance Administrator (CCA); holds a Master of Compliance Administrator (MCA); and a graduate of the University of Houston A.A. White Dispute Resolution Institute.

As a strong advocate for small, women and minority-owned business, he has implemented strategies that have increased minority participation in all areas of PWE procurement.

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