Francois M. Auzerais, Ph.D.
Ammonite is honored to announce that Dr. Francois M. Auzerais has joined Ammonite as Senior Consultant for Geoscience Technology and Innovation. Prior to his retirement in 2016, Francois worked 34 years for Schlumberger, initially as a field engineer in South America in 1982, and subsequently in a variety of roles around the world before assuming a number of leadership positions. His main impact at Schlumberger was as General Manager of Schlumberger-Doll Research, Vice President Research, and then VP of Product Development, where he worked with the executive management team on value creation and technology enabled solutions to increase market share, revenue and profitability. Francois commercialized hundreds of technology projects taken from early phase research concepts to successful development. He worked worldwide with technology partners including academic institutions, government labs and commercial partners. Dr. Auzerais is an innovator in the oil & energy industry and holds thirty-one patents. As Vice President Research and Development at Schlumberger, he oversaw the R&D budget and $200MM of profit & loss for Product Centers.
Francois Auzerais is a recognized executive with 30+ years of experience in the energy and technology industry. He is currently a senior advisor to private equity, venture capital and angel investors. In this capacity, he works with investors on due-diligence and post-investment value creation. Auzerais was a board member for Diamould Ltd., UK, and 3 Phase Measurements, AS.
Dr. Auzerais received a PhD from Princeton University in 1989 and a MSc from the University of Houston in 1980. His undergraduate degree is in Chemical Engineering from INP_ENSIACET (France). He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and has been involved in many engineering professional activities, including: Offshore Technology Conference IEEE-Oceanic Engineering Society Committee Member (2013-Present); Advisory Committee member of the SPE Productions & Operations Discipline (2009-2012); service as a Session Chair at numerous Offshore Technology Conferences; and Chairman of SPE Production and Operation Young Professionals Task Force subcommittee (2012). Dr. Auzerais has served since 2013 as an Advisory Council member, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University. He was a member of the MIT Energy Initiative governing board (2012-2016); and was an External Advisory Committee member, Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, at The University of Texas at Austin (2004-2006). He resides in Westport, Connecticut.
Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs said that “the addition of Francois Auzerais to Team Ammonite gives our firm world class expertise in helping entrepreneurs to bring new energy technologies to market, and in assisting capital providers in technology due diligence. I look forward to working closely with Francois. He lives just twenty minutes from New Canaan, and we both enjoy a good glass of wine.” Hobbs and Auzerais were introduced by their wood working instructor at the Silvermine Art Guild!