Ian Palmer is a partner of Higgs-Palmer Technologies. He is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he consults in shale gas, coalbed methane, well completions and production, hydraulic fracturing, sand prediction, compaction/subsidence, and general geomechanics. Palmer was most recently a Geomechanics Specialist with BP in Houston. Before that he worked many years for Amoco in Tulsa, and shorter times for National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research, University of Arizona, Oral Roberts University, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer in 2001–2002 and has published more than 100 papers. Palmer earned his PhD from Adelaide University, Australia.

George E. King is a registered professional engineer with 39 years of oilfield experience. He worked for Amoco production from 1971 to 1999 and BP from 1999 to 2008. He is now with Apache, where he assists on shale stimulations, production chemistry and workovers. King has written more than 60 technical papers and a book on completions and workovers. He was a 1985 SPE Distinguished Lecturer, and 1999 SPE Short Course Lecturer. Industry positions include Technical Chair of 1992 SPE Annual Meeting, API subcommittee chair on perforating, adjunct professor at the University of Tulsa (teaching well completions and fracturing), and numerous SPE committees.

King holds a BS in chemistry from Oklahoma State University, a BS in chemical engineering, and an MS in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.