Ash Shepherd is Director of Business Development for Talos Low Carbon Solutions. There he leads the commercial negotiations for all CCS transactions. Recently, Ash negotiated the first permanent offshore CCUS lease in United States history. Ash has previously been named by Oil & Gas Investor to their “Thirty Under 40” list and is a former appointee of President Bush in the Department of Energy. Ash earned his BA from St. Edwards University, JD from South Texas College of Law and is earning his Executive MBA from Rice. He is married to his wife Heather and together they have three children. 

Ryan Peay joined the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in December of 2015. He is currently the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resource Sustainability, and he serves as the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary on policy, strategic planning, budget, and administrative activities. Ryan coordinates and integrates daily activities across the Office, to include four separate subordinate offices, the professional staff, and an annual research and development budget of over $95 million.

Prior to joining DOE, Ryan was a manager and consultant in Deloitte’s Federal Advisory practice, focused on strategic planning, financial programming, and budgeting activities. From 2002 to 2007, Ryan served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a Field Artillery Officer in the 101st Airborne Division.

Xan Fishman is the Director of Energy Policy and Carbon Management at the Bipartisan Policy Center, working on energy and infrastructure policy and carbon management. Prior to joining BPC, Fishman worked for Congressman John Delaney for nine years, most recently as his Presidential Campaign Manager and as his Chief of Staff in Congress. He helped Congressman Delaney draft and champion priority legislation to invest in infrastructure, address climate change, and spur social impact investing.

Before his career in policy and politics, Fishman was a teacher for five years, teaching high school physics and math in Greensboro, North Carolina, and English as a Foreign Language in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Fishman graduated from Swarthmore College with a double major in Astronomy and Religion. He received his M.A. from Tel Aviv University in TESOL.

Ken Rice is a Commercial Advisor with ExxonMobil. He also teaches International Petroleum Transactions as an Adjunct Professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. Ken started his career with Anadarko as a Landman, eventually working in Commercial roles on various projects in the U.S., Africa, and Latin America, then moving to ExxonMobil in their business development group. Ken holds a BS in Political Science/Economics from University of Houston and JD from South Texas College of Law Houston.