Brij Hall-Potnis
Strategic Leader
Dynamic, value-creating leader with a Master of Science degree and Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Global Project Management Institute, bringing over 26 years of proven success in executing multimillion-dollar projects. Expertise spans engineering and infrastructure planning, advanced analytics, technical optimization, product innovation, feasibility studies, managing implementation teams, and business model development. Recognized for orchestrating end-to-end project lifecycles across diverse organizations and asset classes.
Led cross-functional teams and collaborated with partner organizations and vendors to deploy high-impact projects for a leading tech accelerator in Alaska, driving towards an ambitious goal of deploying $1 billion in projects by 2030. Partnered with founders and CEOs of startups in renewables, aviation, and space industries, integrating requirements for business-level partnerships in operations, manufacturing, supply chain, and more.
Advised technical and business leadership with a data-driven, value- and risk-blended decision-making approach. One such engagement achieving 54% cost savings through robust insights. Demonstrated proficiency in managing complex, concurrent milestones and dependencies, consistently compressing schedules, negotiating contract changes, and delivering programs that exceed stakeholders' expectations.
Passionately committed to quality, accuracy, and measurable improvements in consequential performance indicators, thriving in fast-paced, ambitious environments with inherent ambiguities. A self-directed, highly organized performer and active listener who empowers teams by fostering their professional growth and enabling functional upskilling.
We deliver clean and versatile power to the planet at cost comparable to fossil fuel generation.
We are an integrated energy company. We are commercializing Super Hot Rock Enhanced Geothermal Systems
We drill faster, deeper, and cheaper. Our drilling automation prototype has demonstrated substantial CapEx reduction ability.
Skills: Startup Development · Fundraising · Strategic Leadership · Technology Leadership · Business Decision Making · Financial Modeling · Argumentation · Geothermal drilling
Graduate School of Business | Stanford University | September 2024 – September 2025
Learn, Engage, Accelerate, and Disrupt [LEAD] organizations, industries, and the world.
The fundamental business skills and innovation mindset needed to successfully navigate and implement real change.
Transform knowledge into impact.
Yearlong flagship business program
Activities and societies: Pathfinders Cohort
✅ Critical Analytical Thinking
✅ Financing Innovation: The Creation of Value
✅ Strategic Leadership
✅ Design Thinking: From Insights to Viability
Supervising, problem solving, and innovating operations for Cache Energy that has developed an ultra-long duration [inter-seasonal to annual timeframe] energy storage technology. The non-hazardous, non-flammable and non-explosive, solid storage material can be safely stored and transported at atmospheric temperatures and pressure with zero energy loss over time and is not reliant on critical minerals and their related supply-chain issues.
Help move the needle forward for the energy transition by working with a dedicated and motivated team implementing Cache's solution which is approximately 100x cheaper than Li-ion batteries, 10x cheaper than thermal storage, 5x cheaper than hydrogen, and can be utilized for electricity generation or to supply process heat/steam to industries.
Skills: Rapid Prototyping · Product Development · Resource Allocation
Advising geothermal developers [Enhanced and Advanced Geothermal Systems] on drilling- and optimization-specific knowledge areas to accelerate deployment and improve their odds of success.
Skills: Geothermal drilling
Lead the execution of programs, including the Aerospace Innovation Hub/Campus, the U.S. Department of Energy Energyshed Project, Port of Alaska’s Defense Community Infrastructure Project, and Equipment Installation and Techno-Economic Analysis for Peter Pan Seafoods. In addition to ensuring program objectives and deliverable are met, major responsibilities include managing, supporting, and aligning internal teams, board members, and project managers from disparate organizations.
Team up with government, industry partners, and startups to deploy $1 billion in technical projects in Alaska by the year 2030. Collaborate with founders and CEOs of cutting-edge tech startups in renewables, aviation, and space. Influence and manage expectations of high power and high interest stakeholders by prioritizing projects using a strategic and finely refined, multi-variate, decision-making framework.
Intimately involved in building and nurturing strong relationships, formation of business models, award and budget negotiations, procurement, and stakeholder and vendor management.
Solve for operational risks and dependencies by precise assessments, analyzing tradeoffs, mapping resources to organizational impactful goals, and pre-empting disruptions to schedules and deliverables.
Skills: Program Management · Cross-functional Team Leadership · Contract Negotiation · Resource Allocation
Worked alongside the CEO, with focus on business organization and programmatic function. Established company policies and procedures for IT/Cyber security, knowledge-, financial-, and human capital-management. Championed initiatives that enabled smooth transitions for organizational-level change.
Interviewed internal teams to gather departmental requirements, crafted tailored products to facilitate adoption of change, and drove performance and achieved business results.
Skills: Technical Requirements Gathering · Optimization
Project Management Professional (PMP)® + Agile | Global Project Management Institute | 2021
Senior Advisor | Hilcorp | December 2019 – June 2020
Advised leadership by deploying my software products and identified compelling cost reductions; for one field/location these amounted to an average savings of 26% of operational cost or $11 million over a three year period.
Data mining of best practices and quantitative contrasting of tools/services/methods to execute with the optimum balance between cost and quality.
Completed a comprehensive 1-D Geomechanical / Wellbore Stability Study for an entire offshore field. Greatly reduced risk by parsing critical project parameters.
Led program-wide root-cause assessments for non-productive time. Presented findings to leadership and technical teams, and recommended solutions.
Skills: Optimization · Big Data Analytics · Technical Leadership · Critical Thinking · Argumentation · Data-driven Decision Making
Senior Engineer, Analytics | ConocoPhillips | December 2017 – October 2019
Scoped, integrated, and scaled my software solution suite to address customer’s operational objectives, of pushing the boundaries in Extended Reach Drilling [ERD], and implemented in a complex ecosystem. Added new product features to meet stakeholders’ requests and expectations, and prioritized value while optimizing risk.
Identified technical limits, to maximum operational efficiencies, and created execution roadmaps to overcome them. Influenced redesign of tools and automation technologies; an example of such prescriptive guidance was a 54% reduction in operational costs.
Process-critical role in the successful implementation of a first-of-its-kind hardware tool. Discovered and created a workaround for a design problem, that the vendor had failed to identify and was unable to resolve, which otherwise would have compromised success, safety, and future utilization.
Systematically flagged suboptimal practices and products and quantified their impact. Elevated the understanding of all team members by presenting digestible data.
Skills: Optimization · Machine Learning · Big Data Analytics
Bootstrapped a startup to commercialize an innovative oil and gas / geothermal machine learning software suite. Pitched the product suite to secure high-visibility, cross-functional contracts with two major oil & gas companies.
Automated the data ingestion, transformation, and analysis workflows to assure data quality, consistency, and scalability.
Designed unique and insightful data visualization dashboards to provide prescriptive guidance, correlate complex relationships, and track key performance metrics to enable aggressive continuous improvement.
Skills: Technology Leadership · Startup Development · Product Development · Machine Learning · Rapid Prototyping
Drilling Engineer | Schlumberger | July 2013 – August 2017
Subject Matter Expert in upstream engineering planning. Directed implementation teams to execute high-profile projects on schedule successfully and consistently.
Balanced-matrix, rolling-wave project management. Accustomed to rigid milestones and phase gates, and frequent schedule compressions.
Adapted to changing project requirements and priorities, including flexibility in handling unexpected challenges in a dynamic environment.
High level of proficiency in numerous technical, physics-based, and cloud computing platforms to achieve project objectives.
Skills: Data-driven Decision Making · ERD (Extended Reach Drilling) · Optimization
Senior Well Design | Halliburton | February 2005 – June 2013
Planned and implemented engineering and technical products / solutions as a Subject Matter Expert and directed field crews during deployment.
Shared and reinforced solid understanding of technical aspects of projects with team members to align everyone with the specific requirements for deliverable.
Built, managed, and scaled a database project, including quality assurance and significant change control.
Proactive approach to identifying and implementing best practices and process improvements.
Skills: Directional Drilling · Data-driven Decision Making · ERD (Extended Reach Drilling) · Data Analysis · Optimization
Technical Support Engineer II | Baker Hughes | January 1998 – December 2004
Integral to a multi-disciplinary team that took a prototype hardware product through planning, field testing, and launch. Creatively, and in collaboration with solutions architects, solved the emergent issues through the different iterations of hardware and software deliverables and trained end users.
Set up procedures, tailored processes, and wrote technical user manuals.
Successfully introduced and supported a real-time monitoring and remote communications service to assets on the extremely remote North Slope of Alaska. Swiftly formulated resolutions to the daily, challenging problems to avoid disruptions in service.
Skills: Rapid Prototyping · Drilling Engineering
Master of Science | University of Alaska, Fairbanks | September 1996 – May 1998
Petroleum Engineering, Reservoir
Graduate Student of the Year Award, 1997
Research & Teaching Assistantships