SixLab Team

Max Gray
SixLab Director
Max has 23 years of energy industry experience in Upstream operations, data management, and digital transformation. He has led transformational projects across the globe with five years living and working in Norway and Malaysia. Currently he is the SixLab Program Director, working with startups to accelerate the energy transition.
Francesco Menapace
SixLab Mentor
Francesco has 15+ years of experience as an Exploration Geologist with deep knowledge in near-field exploration. Currently, he serves as the Business Opportunity Manager for the Exploration Digitalization program at Shell, driving innovation in hydrocarbon exploration with digital technologies.
Jeff Allyn
SixLab Mentor / Studio X CEO
Most recently, he served as Vice President of Operations at Simpler Trading. Prior to Simpler Trading, Jeff served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at NXT Board, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Carnegie Technologies and LocationSmart, as well as President of Locaid Technologies.
Hong Dinh
SixLab Mentor
Hong has 20+ years of experience managing complex business innovation and development opportunities across finance, operations, HR, and legal. Currently, she is leading program management for Exploration Digitalization at Shell aligning across multiple stakeholders to drive innovation.
Alice Hildick
Geoscience and Operations Advisor
Alice Hildick is a Director at Studio X, a company powered by Shell and focused on accelerating innovation in the Energy sector. She is passionate about working closely with business leaders and organizations to create sustainable, technology-driven solutions that help organizations operate more effectively.
Tracy Jones Martin
Sixlab Advisor
Tracy, a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades, master of some”, is an Engineer with a background in reservoir engineering, development planning and project management. She joined Studio X in September 2021 as a Project Manager and now is head of XCover.
Kenton Prindle
Machine Learning / Data Science
Kenton is Head of Data Science and Geoscience at Studio X. Before this, he was a Machine Learning Geophysical Engineer at Google & Google X. He is a subject matter expert for Oil and Gas (Geophysics), Machine Learning for Geophysics, and HPC/Cloud Computing. Kenton is a long-time rock climber and a proud father of two smart and very energetic children.
Louise Finlay
Head of Growth
Louise is the Head of Growth for Studio X with a diverse skill set that includes branding, digital, social, product and content marketing and PR and marketing communications. She has helped some of the world’s largest and best recognized brands connect with their target audiences as well as supported the growth initiatives for several fast-growing tech startups and SMEs.
Nate Suurmeyer
SixLab Mentor
Nate has been an Exploration Geologist at Shell for 13 years working projects from unconventionals to deep water, and currently leads exploration digitization projects. His passions include alluvial fans and interrogating heaps of data in order to develop new ways of finding hydrocarbons.
Nate Suurmeyer
Geologist
Nate Suurmeyer is the director for Xeek, the data science competition platform for Studio X. He has been a geologist with Shell Exploration for 15 years and has been passionately involved with Studio X since its inception. Triceratops fossils and falling off mountain bikes are his simple pleasures.

Mentors/
Subject Matter Experts

Subject Matter Experts

Nate Suurmeyer
SixLab Mentor
Nate has been an Exploration Geologist at Shell for 13 years working projects from unconventionals to deep water, and currently leads exploration digitization projects. His passions include alluvial fans and interrogating heaps of data in order to develop new ways of finding hydrocarbons.
Jeff Allyn
SixLab Mentor / Studio X CEO
Most recently, he served as Vice President of Operations at Simpler Trading. Prior to Simpler Trading, Jeff served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at NXT Board, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Carnegie Technologies and LocationSmart, as well as President of Locaid Technologies.
Hong Dinh
SixLab Mentor
Hong has 20+ years of experience managing complex business innovation and development opportunities across finance, operations, HR, and legal. Currently, she is leading program management for Exploration Digitalization at Shell aligning across multiple stakeholders to drive innovation.
Nate Suurmeyer
Geologist
Nate Suurmeyer is the director for Xeek, the data science competition platform for Studio X. He has been a geologist with Shell Exploration for 15 years and has been passionately involved with Studio X since its inception. Triceratops fossils and falling off mountain bikes are his simple pleasures.
Alice Hildick
Geoscience and Operations Advisor
Alice Hildick is a Director at Studio X, a company powered by Shell and focused on accelerating innovation in the Energy sector. She is passionate about working closely with business leaders and organizations to create sustainable, technology-driven solutions that help organizations operate more effectively.
Tracy Jones Martin
Sixlab Advisor
Tracy, a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades, master of some”, is an Engineer with a background in reservoir engineering, development planning and project management. She joined Studio X in September 2021 as a Project Manager and now is head of XCover.
Kenton Prindle
Machine Learning / Data Science
Kenton is Head of Data Science and Geoscience at Studio X. Before this, he was a Machine Learning Geophysical Engineer at Google & Google X. He is a subject matter expert for Oil and Gas (Geophysics), Machine Learning for Geophysics, and HPC/Cloud Computing. Kenton is a long-time rock climber and a proud father of two smart and very energetic children.
Louise Finlay
Head of Growth
Louise is the Head of Growth for Studio X with a diverse skill set that includes branding, digital, social, product and content marketing and PR and marketing communications. She has helped some of the world’s largest and best recognized brands connect with their target audiences as well as supported the growth initiatives for several fast-growing tech startups and SMEs.
Tristyn Leos
Max Gray
SixLab Director
Max has 23 years of energy industry experience in Upstream operations, data management, and digital transformation. He has led transformational projects across the globe with five years living and working in Norway and Malaysia. Currently he is the SixLab Program Director, working with startups to accelerate the energy transition.
Francesco Menapace
SixLab Mentor
Francesco has 15+ years of experience as an Exploration Geologist with deep knowledge in near-field exploration. Currently, he serves as the Business Opportunity Manager for the Exploration Digitalization program at Shell, driving innovation in hydrocarbon exploration with digital technologies.
FRANCESCO MENAPACE
SixLab Mentor
Francesco has 15+ years of experience as an Exploration Geologist at Shell with deep knowledge in all key Exploration workflows. Currently, he serves as the General Manager Exploration Technology in the Shell Digital Ventures team, driving innovation in hydrocarbon exploration with digital technologies.
LouiseFinlay
Hong Dinh
SixLab Mentor
Hong has 20+ years of experience managing complex business innovation and development opportunities across finance, operations, HR, and legal. Currently, she is leading program management for Exploration Digitalization at Shell aligning across multiple stakeholders to drive innovation.
LouiseFinlay
Alice Hildick
Geoscience and Operations Advisor
Alice Hildick is a Director at Studio X, a company powered by Shell and focused on accelerating innovation in the Energy sector. She is passionate about working closely with business leaders and organizations to create sustainable, technology-driven solutions that help organizations operate more effectively.
LouiseFinlay
Tracy Jones Martin
Sixlab Advisor
Tracy, a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades, master of some”, is an Engineer with a background in reservoir engineering, development planning and project management. She joined Studio X in September 2021 as a Project Manager and now is head of XCover.
LouiseFinlay
Kenton Prindle
Machine Learning / Data Science
Kenton is Head of Data Science and Geoscience at Studio X. Before this, he was a Machine Learning Geophysical Engineer at Google & Google X. He is a subject matter expert for Oil and Gas (Geophysics), Machine Learning for Geophysics, and HPC/Cloud Computing. Kenton is a long-time rock climber and a proud father of two smart and very energetic children.
LouiseFinlay
Louise Finlay
Head of Growth
Louise is the Head of Growth for Studio X with a diverse skill set that includes branding, digital, social, product and content marketing and PR and marketing communications. She has helped some of the world’s largest and best recognized brands connect with their target audiences as well as supported the growth initiatives for several fast-growing tech startups and SMEs.
LouiseFinlay
Nate Suurmeyer
SixLab Mentor
Nate has been an Exploration Geologist at Shell for 13 years working projects from unconventionals to deep water, and currently leads exploration digitization projects. His passions include alluvial fans and interrogating heaps of data in order to develop new ways of finding hydrocarbons.
Nate Suurmeyer
Geologist
Nate Suurmeyer is the director for Xeek, the data science competition platform for Studio X. He has been a geologist with Shell Exploration for 15 years and has been passionately involved with Studio X since its inception. Triceratops fossils and falling off mountain bikes are his simple pleasures.
With SixLab, you become a part of an ecosystem hyper-focused on bringing new ideas and technologies to life.