CGG manager receives SEG award

Image: Geoff Dorn/CGG

Geoff Dorn, senior advisor, seismic interpretation technology, and product development manager, Insight Earth, CGG GeoSoftware, has been distinguished with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ (SEG) Cecil Green Enterprise award in recognition of his entrepreneurial spirit and success through founding TerraSpark Geosciences.

The Cecil Green Enterprise award is awarded to “recognize the importance of an individual enterprise to the economic vitality of our industry and shall be conferred from time to time on persons who, in the unanimous opinion of the honors and awards committee and the board of directors, have demonstrated courage, ingenuity, and achievement while risking their own resources and future in developing a product, service, organization, or activity which is recognized as a distinct and worthy contribution to the industry”.

For the first 20 years of his career Geoff worked for ARCO’s geophysical research group, during which time he received numerous recognitions for his achievements in seismic interpretation and visualization research, most notably the ARCO Corporate Outstanding Technical Achievement award. He created his first entrepreneurial venture in 2000 when he founded and became executive director of the BP Center for Visualization at the University of Colorado, one of the world’s first walk-in 3D “caves” where oil companies could physically walk through their own seismic and well data. During this time Geoff served as an adjoint professor in both Geological Sciences and Computer Sciences at the university. He also formed an industry-funded research consortium, GIVC (Geoscience Interpretation Visualization Consortium), which is still active today, to support the ongoing development and sharing of seismic interpretation technology.

In 2006 he formed and managed the startup venture, TerraSpark Geosciences, to research and prototype new seismic interpretation algorithms and methods. In 2010 he founded TerraSpark Geosciences to develop 3D seismic interpretation software for commercial use, marketed under the name Insight Earth. In 2014 TerraSpark Geosciences and its intellectual property was purchased by CGG, providing a global reach for its innovative interpretation solutions.