LETs Pitch WA Judges
The judging panel for LETs Pitch WA was made up of organisations championing local innovation in low emissions technologies, helping WA businesses to develop cutting-edge technologies and connect to international markets.
Each of the LETs Pitch WA program participants delivered a five-minute pitch about their technology to the judging panel, followed by five minutes of Q&A at an online pitch event.
Judges selected three winners to join the 'Team WA' delegation to Offshore North Sea (ONS) 2022 in Stavanger, Norway. ONS takes place every second year and is one of the world’s most significant energy events, with +60,000 attendees from almost 100 countries. Meet the LETs Pitch winners and finalists here.
Meet the Judges
Marcia Evans, General Manager - WA Subsurface Group, Santos
Marcia has over 20 years of national and international experience in Reservoir Engineering roles in Australia, USA, Brazil, and Nigeria. Marcia is passionate about collaborative solutions to climate change and was a recent Chair of a Carbon Committee tasked with developing ideas to reduce process emissions, which has resulted in several projects being executed that have significantly reduced plant emissions. Marcia has a Bachelor of Petroleum Engineering from the University of New South Wales and has completed the Stanford Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies Program focussing on technologies to reshape the energy sector.
Ben Gust, Managing Partner, Virescent Ventures
Ben has almost 20 years’ experience in venture capital, including as Managing Director of GBS Venture Partners, one of Australia’s leading life-science venture capital firms, before moving to climate technology venture capital as Executive Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s $200m Innovation Fund in 2018. He has invested in and held numerous board roles with Australian and US based companies such as Hatchtech, Spinifex and Ivantis. Ben holds a legal practicing certificate and degrees in Science and Finance. Ben currently leads investments in JET Charge, SunMan, OmniTanker and GreenSync.
Dr Claus Otto, Director Institute for Energy Transition, Curtin University
Professor Claus Otto is leading the new Institute for Energy Transition at Curtin University. The vision for the cross-faculty Institute is to bring together its interdisciplinary research, teaching and engagement to facilitate the net zero carbon energy transition, taking into account environmental, social and economic considerations. Prior to joining Curtin Claus was for 9 years the Technology Manager at Shell in the Netherlands and Australia leading innovative upstream technology developments for its global operations. He worked for 15 years at CSIRO leading various research teams and programs. He has a MSc in Geology and a PhD in Hydrogeology.
Penny Oulton, Senior Interface Advisor for Energy Transition, Chevron Australia
Penny has worked in the energy industry for the last 23 years across a number of technical and commercial areas in Australia and the USA. Currently working in Chevron Australia's Energy Transition team, Penny works across a number of areas including decarbonization of facilities, strategy and policy.
Lisa Robson, Environment & Carbon Manager, Shell Australia
For more than 20 years, Lisa has worked as a Petroleum Engineer in Australia, the USA, Malaysia and Russia. Last year she moved into a new role with Shell Australia as the Environment and Carbon Manager, where she champions the Respecting Nature and Net Zero Emissions goals of Shell's Powering Progress strategy. Shell's capability along with the natural advantages Australia offers make it an exciting time to work on Energy Transition projects.