Denise M. Butler-Ford, 1996 Distinguished Service Award
Denise M. Butler-Ford has been chosen to be the recipient of the 1996 Distinguished Service Award by the GCSSEPM. Denise was born in Florence, Alabama and grew up in Tennessee and Kentucky. She graduated with a BS degree in Biology from Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1975, later receiving her MS in Geology from that same institution. Denise married Tim Ford in 1990 and has two step sons.
Her career in the oil business began with Chevron's micropaleontology group in New Orleans, La. There she was trained in foram analysis of the late Tertiary and Pleistocene and worked for the Offshore Exploration and Production Groups in the Gulf of Mexico. Denise left Chevron in 1984 to join Sohio in Houston (later to become BP Exploration). She spent five years as a Senior Geologist in Offshore Operations specializing in foram biostratigraphy and computer applications. She also designed and served as database administrator for the Sohio/BP's paleontological database. While at BP, Denise also served as the Technical Service liaison to Exploration and was a member of the Stratigraphic Studies Group. In 1992, Denise left BP to join Pennzoil as Biostratigraphy Coordinator and to design and manage a computer database for storage and retrieval of paleontologic data. She is currently responsible for all aspects of biostratigraphy for Offshore, Onshore and International business units. In addition, Denise is an active member of the Industry Biostratigraphy Coordinators Group (IBCG) and is currently participating in the Taxonomic Equivalency Project.
Denise has been a member of the Gulf Coast Section SEPM since 1980. She has served as Vice President (1986-87) and President (1990-1991) and is currently serving her second 3-year term as Trustee of the GCSSEPM Foundation. She was cochairman and co-editor for the 1987 GCSSEPM Foundation Research Conference on Innovative Biostratigraphic Approaches to Sequence Analysis. Since that time she served on the conference organizing committees of numerous GCSSEPM Foundation Research Conferences. In addition to the GCSSEPM she is also a member of the Paleontological Research Institute, National SEPM and the Houston Geological Society.
This award is being given to Denise M. Butler-Ford in appreciation and recognition of her many years of service and involvement with the Gulf Coast Section of SEPM and the GCSSEPM Foundation.
Sheila C. Barnette