Salim Taoutaou is the founder of Taoutaou Consulting LLC and currently serves as its managing director. Prior to this, he was the cementing and well integrity technical adviser for Schlumberger in Paris, where he managed the global development of technologies and solutions for oil and gas sector. Throughout his 24 years in the oil and gas industry, Taoutaou has held various managerial and technical global positions, as well as regional ones in North Africa, the North Sea, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. He has authored more than 58 international journal and conference papers and holds several patents. In 2014, Taoutaou received the SPE Asia Pacific Regional Technical Award in Drilling Engineering. He also served as SPE Distinguished Lecturer for the 2017–2018 season. He received his MS degree in mechanical engineering from Guelma University and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.

John Cook retired from Schlumberger Cambridge in 2018, after 35 years in research and development there. His main focus was with geomechanics and its use in drilling planning and optimization, wellbore instability control, lost circulation, stimulation, sand production, and field and reservoir management. Cook is the author or co-author of many technical papers for SPE and other journals, co-author of a chapter in the SPE-published Advanced Drilling and Well Technology handbook, and assignee on a number of patents. Before joining Schlumberger, Cook worked on materials science and electron microscopy, with a BS degree in natural sciences and a PhD in physics, both from Cambridge University.

Ken Russell has been geomechanics adviser and director of Russell Geomechanics, based in Aberdeen, Scotland, since 2014. He has gained more than 45 years of experience working for a variety of oil service companies in wireline operations, management, and formation evaluation. Since 2000, Russell principally has worked in real-time geomechanics operations and developing acousto-geomechanical applications. He was one of Schlumberger’s principal instructors, delivering geomechanics training at operating company locations, training centers, and operational centers worldwide. Through extensive operational and wellsite experience in the North Sea, Europe, Africa, South America, and the Far East, Russell has gained a broad-based knowledge of drilling, production, log data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation that has allowed him to develop and deliver pragmatic solutions to the geomechanical challenges of drilling, sand production, fracturing, and unconventional reservoirs faced by operators. His principal interests include the development and application of acousto-geomechanical techniques for the evaluation of anisotropic formations and fracture systems and the identification and prevention of wellbore instability. Russell holds a BSc (Hons) degree in physics from Aberdeen and has been a member of SPE since 1984.