Donations to Local Charities Since July 2020 = $125,171 Donations Since May, 2023 = $34,010
Awarded Trade School Scholarships Since January 2022 = $3,000
National Leadership Team
Lowell Millican
National President / Board Member
What is the craziest career decision you ever made?
Mine was at age 53, leaving a stable engineering manager’s position after 25 years of history with the same Japanese automotive company.
I grew up in the oil patches of North Central Texas in a small oil and agricultural community of Olney Texas. At an early age, I discovered my happy place was either in the wheat field or the oil patch.
After High School, I finished a mechanical engineering technology degree from Texas Tech in 1990 and completed an MBA program in 2012. Much to my surprise, all my combined experiences are crucially necessary for success in my current roles. I currently handle business development and sales for Omni Air & Nitrogen and R&H Technical Sales. These roles give me the best opportunity to help large and small companies with their capital projects. Most of the projects I get involved with are in the Oil & Gas sector. I steadily met the right people at the right time to open the right doors.
In early 2019 I met Sarge Summers and kindled a long friendship that led to my involvement with OCI. I first led the Katy, Texas Oilfield Connections network group (OC-Katy). This was an extension of the group Sarge started in 2019 in Midland, Texas. I now function as the National President of OCI and carry on the legacy of Sarge since his tragic automobile accident in 2022.
My life has been an amazing ride so far and will likely continue to require seat belts to be worn at all times. Where do we go from here? I have no idea, but it will be exciting. God has blessed me so much, only He knows what is next for me.
Lowell
Marc Broussard
Chapter President / Board Member
With over 25 years of experience, Marc specializes in energy, telecoms, maritime, nuclear and infrastructure. He currently serves as an Ambassador to Scotland’s department of trade, serves on the board of a few PTSD foundations, Business Development for Fe Demolition and Remediation and a Flotilla Staff Officer for the U.S. Coast Guard.
Pastor Robert Burdett
National Vice President / Chaplain
Robert Burdett serves as the Senior Pastor of PowerHouse Church in Katy Texas. PowerHouse Church has been in Katy since 1996 and is active in impacting the community through various social outreaches such as food drives and neighborhood family outreaches. PowerHouse has church plants world-wide including Peru, Namibia (Africa) and Sri Lanka and is committed to preaching the Gospel to all nations. Robert has been with PowerHouse Church since 2000 and has been the Senior Pastor since 2016. Robert also has a background in manufacturing. He spent time running an automotive electronic manufacturing factory and a corrugated paper factory prior to being called into the full-time ministry. Robert is married to his wife Yolanda for 30 years and has 3 daughters.
Melanie Woods
National Vice President - Career Enrichment
As an HR professional with over 25 years of experience, Melanie’s areas of expertise include HR consulting, talent management, strategic planning, developing human capital management systems, cross functional team building and coaching management teams at all levels within an organization.
Melanie founded CGL Recruiting with the intention of creating an HR consulting and recruiting firm focused on developing a true business partnership with the organizations they work with. She believes the best way to build a top performing company is by selecting the talent which best aligns with the short and long-term goals of the corporation to accomplish their strategic business objectives. Melanie has a degree from UT in Applied Learning Development, holds several HR certifications including a GPHR, SPHR and SHRM-SCP.
Amy Wood
National Vice President - of Communications / Board Member
Amy Wood is a marketing strategist with over 20 years of international experience in product and service marketing and strategic planning. Her background is primarily in Energy and Technology industries, servicing global brands with content development, design, and delivery. Amy is the Founder and CEO for Flint Avenue Marketing, headquartered in Lubbock, Texas with offices in the Gulf Coast and Offshore. Amy serves several organizations including Texas Women in Business, Association of Women in Communications (AWC), Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, 1MillionCups and the Kauffman Foundation, and is a Startup Mentor at the Texas Tech Innovation Hub and Guest Lecturer at Texas Tech University.
John Robertson
National Vice President, Veterans Affairs
John Robertson is a 45-year veteran in the Oil and Gas Industry. He has experience in the Equipment and Services industries as well as Exploration and Production. John has owned and operated his own oil and gas company, been on the boards of many industry organizations.
John is a 2019 Honoree of “25 Impactful Veterans in Energy”
He served in the US Army from 1968 to 1973. John attained the Rank of Captain, AH1G(Cobra) Pilot in Vietnam-received Distinguished Flying Cross and other awards.
I want to help people and veterans connect with each other with the help of this organization.
Darrell Ortiz
National Vice President - of Innovation and Technology
Darrell Ortiz, CEO & Founder of CDM Software Solutions, Inc.Professional BiographyCDM Software Solutions, Inc. ∙ 2591 Dallas Parkway ∙ Suite 300 ∙ Frisco, Texas ∙ (972) 469-3082Over three decades ago, the planet was set on its axis. From a time when computers were not a staple of how we function and those that existed utilized the elemental PC-based DOS, technology became the driving force impelling the reshaping of society. On the cusp of such transformative change, Darrell Ortiz, a 19-year University of Texas at Austin student, had an idea. Founding CDM Software Solutions, Inc., with a vision and a handful of employees, he leapt into the software technology revolution, and with subsequent unparalleled growth in logistics, Homeland Security and Oil & Gas asset tracking sectors, he has assumed a global leadership role serving an international clientele ranging from small home businesses to top Fortune 500 titans, as well as working with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and Major League sports franchises. The recognition for CDM spans a ranking among the Top 100 Logistics IT Providers by Inbound Logistics magazine to being named as the third-fastest growing private company in the region.by Houston Business Journal. It has also been designated as a CERTIFIED U.S. CUSTOMS software provider since 1990. The company has also notably grown, with 100 top professionals around the world with global alliance partnerships with Roanoke Insurance Group, Omni-ID, IBM, Impinj, GT Nexus, and Descartes When asked to describe his approach as a leader, Darrell is characteristically humble, identifying personal strengths of an adaptability depending on the project and the timeline to completion. When a customer describes what they see as insurmountable challenges, he consistently demonstrates the ability to expertly apply technology, business rules, and therein, deliver a software product that meets the needs of operations through management. This goes far to explain CDM’s growth and extraordinary 99 percent customer retention rate or as Darrell explains, “by staying agile, we’ve been able to see our customers through the dotcom bubble, energy crises, the energy boom, an increasingly connected global marketplace and much more,” The innovations pioneered by the firm with Darrell at the helm include Cargo Intelligence, a product enabling mission critical global asset tracking utilizing GPS, RFID, IoT and Barcode technologies with On-Demand Tracking and Exception Notifications, offering comprehensive shipment compliance and regulatory solutions for the United States, European Union, Canada, Japan, Singapore and China and CDM Asset Tracking, one of the first tablet and web-based asset tracking software solutions designed to enable Oil & Gas service providers/producers, Utility Contractors, airports, professional sports teams, broadcasting and manufacturing companies to effectively manage their assets utilizing that the latest in data capture technologies.
