ABB Vetco Gray
Houston, has appointed Mark T. Thatcher president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Donald K. Grierson who is retiring after holding the position for 11 years. Grierson will continue as a member of the board.
Thatcher has degrees in engineering from California Polytechnic University and the University of Southern California. He completed graduate courses in economics at University of California-Santa Barbara and the executive program at Stanford University. Thatcher has been with ABB almost 20 years, serving in Singapore, Houston, and Aberdeen.
ABB Vetco Gray is a supplier of drilling and production equipment to the oil and gas industry. Parent ABB serves manufacturing, process, and consumer industries, utilities, the oil and gas sector, and infrastructure markets, with 160,000 employees in more than 100 countries.
Object Reservoir Inc.
Austin, has named Stephen R. Kennon as its chief scientist. Since joining OR in 1996, Kennon's work has included development and implementation of 4-D space-time solutions and mesh adaptation algorithms, which enable unprecedented accuracy. His develop-ment of stabilized physical formulations for reservoir fluid mechanics and robust numerical solution techniques form the basis of Object Reservoir's modeling engine.
Kennon holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees with honors in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Object Reservoir was founded in 1995 to develop high-value desktop software tools for the petroleum engineer. OR's products enable the petroleum engineer to optimize the design, operation, and management of new and/or producing oil and gas properties.
PYPSA International
Houston, has named Robert E. MacMillan Jr. to the post of senior vice-president and chief financial officer.
Prior to joining PYPSA, MacMillan was marketing director of offshore services and technology for Enron Engineering & Construction Co. His duties at Enron included client liaison, primarily with PEMEX of Mexico.
MacMillan, who holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin, has over 30 years of experience in project management, marketing, finance and administration for industries including offshore oil and gas development, and general contracting.
PYPSA International is a division of Mexico City-based Grupo Profesional Planeacion Y Proyectors, SA de CV. The company provides engineering design, procurement, project management, and construction management to the upstream oil, gas, and pipelines industries.
TAM International
Houston, has announced expansion of its production facility in northwest Houston. The facility will grow from 30,000 to 68,000 sq ft, doubling TAM's capacity to meet increased world demand for its downhole products.
TAM International, in business for over 30 years, is the only remaining independent manufacturer of a complete range of inflatable packers and accessories for drilling, completion, workover, and hydrological applications.
TH Hill Associates Inc.
Houston, has announced that James M. Adams joined the firm as vice-president of marketing. He will direct strategic planning and marketing communication efforts for the company and its subsidiary, Prentice & Hill LLC, worldwide.
A published author, Adams holds a bachelor's degree in industrial technology from Texas A&M University, and completed the executive business development program at Rice University. He has over 30 years of experience in the petroleum industry.
TH Hill provides a range of drilling engineering services, including quality management, well planning and evaluation, drillstring design and optimization, and finite element and failure analysis. Its subsidiary, Prentice & Hill, is an innovator of training, books, and software for drilling engineering worldwide.
