Our Board

Mr Spence is an independent non-executive Director. He joined the Board on 1 January 2018 and became Chair on 19 February 2018. He is Chair of Santos Finance Ltd and Chair of the Nomination Committee.

Mr Spence has over 40 years’ experience in managing and governing oil and gas operations in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands and Africa.

A geologist and geophysicist by training, Mr Spence commenced his career as an exploration geologist with Woodside Petroleum Limited in 1977. He subsequently joined Shell (Development) Australia, where he worked for 18 years. In 1994 he was seconded to Woodside to lead the North West Shelf Exploration team. In 1998, he left Shell to join Woodside. He retired from Woodside in 2008 after a 14-year tenure in top executive positions in the company, including Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer. He has expertise in exploration and appraisal, development, project construction, operations and marketing.

Upon his retirement he took up several board positions, working in oil and gas, energy including geothermal, wind, solar and power from waste, mining, and engineering and construction services and renewable energy. This included Base Resources Limited where he served as Chairman from 2015 to 2021, Clough Limited where he served as Chairman from 2010 to 2013, Geodynamics Limited where he served as a non-executive Director from 2008 to 2016 (including as Chairman from 2010 to 2016), Verve Energy and Synergy (after merger with Verve) where he served as a non-executive Director from 2009 to 2014, Oil Search Limited where he served as a non-executive Director from 2012 to 2017, and Murray and Roberts Holdings Limited where he served as a non-executive Director from 2015 to 2020. Mr Spence is also a past Chair of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority Board. He led the Commonwealth Government’s Carbon Storage Taskforce from 2008-2010 and chaired the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagship Independent Assessment Panel from 2008-2012.

Mr Spence is currently a non-executive Director of IGO Limited (since 2014).

Mr Gallagher joined Santos as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on 1 February 2016, bringing more than 25 years’ international experience in the oil and gas industry.

Since joining Santos, Mr Gallagher has led significant transformation and growth of the company, delivering a competitive advantage in the energy transition. Under his leadership, Santos is now Australia’s second-largest independent natural gas and liquids producer after implementing a focused strategy to build and grow around five core long-life, producing natural gas assets in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The strategy has included successful acquisitions of Quadrant Energy and ConocoPhillips’ Australia-West business, and a merger with Oil Search.

Mr Gallagher has implemented a disciplined low-cost operating model and strengthened the balance sheet to support the company’s strategy, creating a strong cash-generative business that has delivered a series of record results. This has propelled Santos into the top-20 ASX list and the top 20 companies in the oil and gas sector globally.

Mr Gallagher has positioned Santos to leverage the critical role natural gas will play in delivering energy security through the energy transition to net-zero emissions. He has implemented a clear decarbonisation strategy building around the company’s existing infrastructure by developing natural gas projects for backfill and growing new revenue streams and reducing emissions through carbon capture and storage, and low carbon fuels projects such as hydrogen. Under Mr Gallagher’s leadership, Santos has made the world’s first booking of carbon storage reserves and taken a final investment decision on one of the world’s biggest CCS projects in South Australia’s Cooper Basin.

Commencing his career in the oil and gas industry as a drilling engineer in Scotland working with Mobil in the North Sea, Mr Gallagher migrated to Australia to join Woodside in 1998. He was Chief Executive Officer at Clough Limited from 2011 until his appointment at Santos.

Having built a strong, low-cost base business supplying natural gas to meet ongoing customer demand and laid out a clear action plan to develop lower carbon energy and low carbon fuels with an ambitious target of net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040, Mr Gallagher is committed to ensuring Santos remains resilient, value accretive and at the leading edge of the energy transition.

Ms Allen is an independent non-executive Director. She joined the Board on 22 October 2014 and is a member of the People, Remuneration and Culture Committee and Audit and Risk Committee.

Ms Allen has extensive experience in finance and investment banking, including senior roles at Deutsche Bank AG, ANZ and HSBC Group Plc, as former Chairman of Macquarie Global Infrastructure Funds, and a former Director of EFIC (Export, Finance and Insurance Corporation).

Ms Allen is also Director of ASX Limited (since 2015), a Director of the ASX Clearing and Settlement boards and a member of its Audit Committee. She is also a Director of QBE Insurance Group Limited (since 2022).

Ms Allen is a Director of  the George Institute for Global Health Board (since 2014), Chair of the Digital Skills Organisation (since 2020), Acting President of the Australian Government Takeovers Panel (since 2017), Chair of Tic:Toc Home Loans (since 2021) and is a member (and former Council member) of Chief Executive Women.

Ms Allen is a former non-executive Director of Cochlear Limited (2010 to 2024), Insurance Australia Group Limited (2004 to 2015) and a former national Director (2010 to 2016), and acting Chair (2015 to 2016), of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr Cowan is an independent non-executive Director. He joined the Board on 10 May 2016 and is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, a Director of Santos Finance Limited.

Mr Cowan had a 23-year career with Shell International in various senior commercial and financial roles. His last two roles were as CFO and Director of Shell Oil US and CFO of Shell Nigeria. He was CFO of Fonterra Co-operative Ltd between 2005 and 2009.

Mr Cowan is currently Chairman of Queensland Sugar Limited (since 2009), the Stahmann Webster Group (since 2021), Port of Brisbane (since 2021) and AFF Cotton Pty Ltd (since 2021) and sits on the Board of Ability First Australia. He is a past Director of UGL Limited (2008 to 2017) where he chaired the Health and Safety Committee and a past Chairman of Winson Group Pty Ltd (2014-2024). Mr Cowan is also a former Director of Coffey International (2012 to 2016) and Ludowici Limited (2009 to 2012) where he chaired the Audit and Risk Committees for both companies. Mr Cowan was also a Shell-appointed alternative director of Woodside between 1992 and 1995.

Dr Guthrie is an independent non-executive Director. She joined the Board on 1 July 2017 and is Chair of the Safety and Sustainability Committee and a member of the People, Remuneration and Culture Committee.

Dr Guthrie has more than 30 years’ experience in the resources sector in diverse roles such as operations, environment, community and indigenous affairs, corporate development and sustainability.

She has qualifications in geology, environment, law and business management including a PhD in Geology. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Curtin University in 2017 for her contribution to sustainability, innovation and policy leadership in the resources industry. In 2021 she became an Officer of the Order of Australia for her contribution to the mining and resources sector and as a role model for women in business.

Dr Guthrie is currently a non-executive Director of Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (since 2020), Cricket Australia (since 2021), Orica Limited (since 2023) and North American Construction Group Ltd (since 2024).  She is the former Lead Independent Director and Deputy Chair of AdBri Limited (2020-2023), Managing Director and CEO of Toro Energy Limited (2013 to 2016), VP Sustainable Development at Woodside Energy, Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia, and non-executive Director of Vimy Resources Limited, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2017 to 2021) and Tronox Holdings PLC (2019-2024).

Mr Lydon is an independent non-executive Director. He joined the Board on 11 April 2024 and is a member of the Safety and Sustainability Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Mr Lydon is a Board Member of the Net Zero Emissions and Clean Energy Board, which advises the NSW Government, and was from 2021 to 2023 the Economic Commissioner on the Greater Cities Commission, NSW Government. He is also Co-Chair of Australian Climate Leaders Coalition and the Chairperson of Generation Australia.

After starting his career at Citibank in London, Mr Lydon spent 25 years at McKinsey where he advised clients on strategic growth and operational opportunities and also held leadership roles including founding McKinsey Implementation globally, Managing Partner of McKinsey Australia & New Zealand, and leading Social Responsibility across Asia Pacific. He is also an Industry Professor at UTS Business School.

Mr Lydon has an MBA from INSEAD, France, and a BA from the University of London.

Ms McArdle is an independent non-executive Director. She joined the Board on 23 October 2019 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee, the Safety and Sustainability Committee and the Nomination Committee.

Ms McArdle has extensive global energy experience in engineering and design, physical and financial energy commodities trading, risk management and M & A.

She is the Founder and CEO of Apex Strategies, a global consultancy business providing advisory services to companies engaged in the oil and gas industry and more recently in the development of tools and strategies to facilitate achievement of corporate energy transition goals. Prior to forming Apex Strategies, she worked for Apache Corporation in the United States for 13 years, where she was an Executive Officer and held various executive roles including President, Kitimat LNG Co., Senior Vice President of Global Gas Monetization, and Vice President, Worldwide Oil and Gas Marketing with P&L and operational responsibility for the evacuation and sale of all of the company’s oil and gas production worldwide and the development and execution of their LNG strategy. Prior to joining Apache, she worked as an executive with Aquila Energy for nine years with P&L responsibilities across trading, M&A and B2B e-commerce, first in the United States and then in the United Kingdom as Managing Director of Aquila Energy Ltd, Aquila’s European Energy Trading Subsidiary. During this time, she was a key architect in the design and implementation of the ICE Trading platform and served on the ICE Board of Directors from 2000-2002.

Ms McArdle is Director of Antero Midstream Corp (US) (since 2020) and Director of Advantage Energy Ltd (since 2022) and was formerly Director of Halcon Resources (US) (2018 to 2019).

Ms McFadden is an independent non-executive director. She joined the Board on 11 April 2024 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Ms McFadden is an experienced company director and chairman and brings a broad range of skills and experience to Santos gained through her current and previous non-executive director roles and her executive career spanning investment banking, corporate finance and corporate law. Ms McFadden is currently a non-executive director of GPT Group, where she has been Chairman since May 2018. She is also currently non-executive director of Allianz Australia Limited. She was previously a non-executive director of Newcrest Mining Limited, Tabcorp Holdings Limited, President of the Australian Takeovers Panel, a non-executive Director of Myer Family Investments Pty Limited, Chairman of eftpos Australia Pty Limited, Chairman of Skilled Group Limited and a non-executive director of Leighton Holdings Limited, and a Member of the Executive Council and Advisory Board of the UNSW Business School.

Ms McFadden holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws. She is a member of Chief Executive Women and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr Utsler is an independent non-executive Director.  He joined the Board on 3 May 2022 and is the Chair of the People, Remuneration and Culture Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Mr Utsler has worked in the Energy Industry for more than 40 years, across multiple international areas. During his career, he has built deep knowledge and experience in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream areas of the energy industry. In addition, he has developed experiences in power generation, alternative energy solutions and some aspects of carbon management. He has had extensive involvement in fostering technological solutions for driving efficiencies in operations. He has held senior leadership and executive positions with Amoco, BP (including President of the Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation – GCRO and SVP BP Alaska Exploration), Woodside Energy and New Fortress Energy.  In September 2020, Mr Utsler joined Otto Energy as its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.  He was further appointed Otto Energy’s Executive Chairman from November 2020 to 2023.

Mr Utsler is a non-executive director of SciDev Pty Ltd (2024) and is a former non-executive Director of Integrated Asset Solutions and a former Director of Oil Search Limited. He has previously served on a variety of not-for-profit boards including the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Mr Werror is an independent non-executive Director. He joined the Board on 17 December 2021 and is a member of the Audit & Risk Committee and People, Remuneration and Culture Committee.

Mr Werror brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the mining and resources sector in Papua New Guinea. He was Managing Director and CEO of Ok Tedi Mining Limited from June 2020 to December 2022.

Mr Werror commenced his long career at Ok Tedi as a graduate in 1988 and previously held various roles and responsibilities including managing health, safety and environment, mine closure planning, tax credit scheme projects, government affairs and leading community relations in Western Province, PNG. He is the former Chairman of the Western Province Health Authority, Ok Tedi Development Foundation and a former Director of Oil Search Limited.