David Archer
President and CEO, Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium (POSC)

David Archer is President and CEO of POSC, a position he has held since late 1997. In this role, he is the leader of the consortium with responsibility for its direction, operation and communication with both the POSC Community and the industry at large. Mr. Archer is a well-known industry spokesman frequently playing the role of organizer, moderator and/or speaker in seminars and conferences.

David is a native Texan, and he holds MA and PhD degrees in Mathematical Sciences from Rice University as well as a BS degree in Mathematics from TCU. Other academic affiliations include past President of the Rice Engineering Alumni, Adjunct Professor Mathematics at the University of Houston; he is also on the Advisory Board of the College of Technology at UH.

In 1972, Mr. Archer began his career as a university mathematics professor at the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, CA, where he was also Lieutenant in the US Navy) and at the University of North Carolina (Charlotte).

In 1977 David joined a small Houston-based software company to develop software for simulating fluid flow in pipelines. While at DREM, Inc. (now Stoner), he was part of a team that designed, developed and maintained several pipeline simulators. Among these was the novel (at the time, anyway) Real-Time Predictive Model (RTPM) that used input from real-time operational data (via SCADA) to tune and to execute a simulation model in lock-step with actual pipeline performance. The calibrated model was then the basis for leak detection and for a number of what if scenarios designed to help pipeline operators investigate the impact of upsets or other changes in the system s operation. The RTPM was a very early version on absolutely primitive hardware -- of today s smart -systems.

In 1983 David joined JS Nolen and Associates (which eventually became a central component of Western Atlas Software (WAS) and which was eventually purchased by Landmark) as Director of Production Software. During this period he developed (or lead the development of) commercial solutions for pipeline simulation, nodal analysis, well test analysis and graphical workstations. He also was active in the establishment of software standards within the Western family especially in the visualization arena, where his team created one of the first 3D visualization solutions for reservoir simulation.

In 1990, David became Director of Exploration Software at WAS, and he lead a team that developed an object-oriented seismic interpretation package. Western was an early POSC member, and David s team was one of the principal contributors to the POSC User Interface and Style Guide.

By 1993 David s interest in the emerging X Windows / Motif standards lead him to join INT as Executive Vice President of Marketing. INT was a very active POSC member, and David was elected At Large Director of POSC in 1993; he was re-elected to the Board in 1994. He was appointed COO of POSC in the fall of 1995 where he served until his appointment as President.

Throughout his professional career beginning with his choice of department for graduate work -- David has had strong interests in collaborative efforts across both disciplines and organizations. He has also been very interested in new technologies and has helped pioneer several for the industry among these are graphical user interfaces, 3D visualization, XML and Web Services. The two themes of collaboration and new technologies have been central to his tenure at POSC.