Donations to Local Charities Since May 2020 = $91,356 Donations Since January, 2022 = $30,300
Awarded Trade School Scholarships Since January 2022 = $2,000
Houston East - Facilities
Houston, TX
Meeting Schedule - 1st Tuesday of each month
Meeting Location - Battleground Golf Course, Deer Park, TX
Chapter Leadership

Melissa Wolkenhauer
Chapter President
Melissa is a Chicago transplant that moved to Houston after college to start a career in the Oil & Gas industry. With her father and brother-in-law in the industry for most of their careers it gave her a nice perspective. The opportunity to work for Enterprise Pipeline and Genesis Energy and their data integrity teams gave her an in-depth knowledge of the midstream sector. With a passionate personality and motivation to interact with customers she transitioned to a sales role in the waste packaging space.
In her everyday life Melissa is always with her family and friends. If she can help you or connect you to a need you have then she will drop anything to help. With a competitive edge if you ever need a partner to attend an event she will show up and hopefully help you win. At work Melissa is the Client Strategy Manager for BIC Alliance, which distributes BIC Magazine- the largest multi-industry, multi-departmental energy publication in the US. Melissa loves to interact with BIC’s partners and connect people in business and industry with one another to help grow everyone’s business.

Joshua Smith
Chapter Vice President & Chapter Chaplain
Joshua is a native Houstonian, raised in Pasadena by a family that relied on Oil & Gas to provide for them and their future. He’s familiar with the world of Oil & Gas and the benefits it offers, for which he now relies on to take care of his own family.
As an adult, Joshua jumped straight into vocational ministry; he has become connected locally and throughout Texas, while also spending months on different continents. With 12 years of pastoring experience, he decided to round off 15 years of vocational ministry and pursue bringing encouragement and leadership into a different arena.
Joshua’s life statement is: “Love people where they are at, Help them become who they are called to be so that we can Shape history together." Armed with pragmatism, encouragement, and a genuine desire to connect. Take the opportunity to get to Joshua and you won’t regret it.

Belinda Burch
Chapter Social Media & Communications
Belinda Burch
I am Belinda Burch, Director of Sales and Marketing of the NEW Candlewood Suites Houston Pasadena Hotel.
I am an Ambassador for the Pasadena and Laporte Chambers of commerce and have been a part of those organizations 4 plus years, and on many committees, from New Business development to golf tournaments.
I have been in Hospitality Industry for 18 plus years. I was recently involved with some community outreach with a few other companies to make families life a little lighter for the holidays.
Currently serve on the committee for Cenikor, which is a Substance Abuse/ drug and alcohol addiction rehab center
My aspiration is making our community the best it can be, AT ALL TIMES. I have built some amazing friendships, relationships and business-ships in the Pasadena and surrounding communities and hoping to continue to do this as long as the Good Lord let me…

Jim Sorg
Sponsor Chair
Jim Sorg spent 20 years in the chemical industry in various sales and operations roles and switched to the service side of the oil and gas industry starting with Fluor. He is now the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Space City Services and the Sponsor Co-Chair for Oilfield Connections International.

Gabe Jackson
Veterans Affairs Officer
Gabe Jackson is from Pearland, Tx. He is 15-year veteran in the Oil and Gas Industry. He has experience in Telecommunications, Security and Access Control for remote harsh environments. Working for BlackHawk Datacom as an account manager.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 2003 to 2007 with deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
My Passion is assistance and management of PSTD in combat veterans. We lose 22 veterans a day to suicide and even one is just too many! My spare time is spent volunteering for combat veterans with PTSD and equine therapy for children with special needs.
Gabe’s life Motto is “Love, Serve and Remember” Love Everyone, Serve Everyone and Remember God.
Upcoming Chapter Luncheon Speaker

February 7st, 2023 - Guest Speaker
Scott Ray
Commonwealth LNG
Scott Ray is Commonwealth LNG’s Chief Engineering and Construction Officer with
overall responsibility for project execution including engineering, procurement,
construction, and permitting. He has over 30 years of domestic and international
engineering and management experience and has contributed to multiple liquefaction
facility projects around the globe.
Ray’s extensive experience in LNG includes past roles as President, Engineering &
Construction for SCT&E LNG. He also served VP of Business Development and
Commercial for DORIS, conducing feasibility studies and pre-FEED development for
floating LNG facilities.
His earlier experience included a Senior Director role at Aker solutions, leading the
organization in development of new business opportunities focusing on natural gas
liquefaction and LNG regasification worldwide. A portion of his time at Aker was in
Project Manager roles for regasification facilities and oil and gas gathering facilities in
multiple locations.
Early in Ray’s career, he served as Senior Process Engineer at KBR, Inc. for eight
years working on LNG and gas processing process design for projects worldwide,
following prior work as a Process Engineer for MW Kellogg.
Ray holds a B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Scheduled Chapter Events
