Fractional CEO, CTO & CSO
Interim and part-time executive leadership from Archway’s founder, who sets direction, aligns technical and commercial teams, allocates resources and sees delivery through to measurable results.
First Principles·Elegant Strategy·Applied AI
Clarity from complexity.
Elegant strategy and a practical execution roadmap to help your company unlock its full potential and get from good to great.
Most organizations have plenty of ideas. They may benefit from a systems view of their business strengths, ways to objectively rank opportunities, sharper questions to direct investment, and a plan that turns the answers into results.
Selected outcomes
- $1B+ conservatively banked value from 8 digital and AI platforms built and scaled across Shell’s Upstream business Shell Upstream · 2020-2024
- 50%+ reduction in Deepwater decommissioning liabilities in two years, delivering multi-billion-dollar savings Shell Deepwater · 2018-2020
- ~95% less cycle time and cost for AI-enabled seismic imaging and interpretation, at decision-grade quality ThinkOnward, a Shell spin-out · 2025-2026
- +50% project delivery at the Shell spin-out in two years while cutting costs, plus the first external revenue in its six-year history ThinkOnward, a Shell spin-out · 2025-2026
- 130+ LNG R&D projects led globally; budget cut by more than half while delivering many billion dollars in savings and value Shell Global Solutions · 2014-2017
- 10,000+ people’s lives changed by enabling access to clean water, sanitation, education and small-business support through Sanitation for All NGO micro-loans Sanitation for All · since 2007
From the founder’s 25+ years across Schlumberger, Shell and its spin-out ThinkOnward, and Sanitation for All. Figures are as reported by those organizations for the periods shown.
Approach
From first principles
to first wins.
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01
Map the system
We use first principles and systems thinking to understand how the business, its technology and its market really work.
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02
Ask better questions
A Socratic set of questions for frontline teams, leadership, the CEO and the Board, so the best ideas come from the people who will own them.
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03
Find the leverage
We identify the opportunities worth chasing and the threats worth mitigating, including opportunities others have overlooked.
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04
Test the Achilles heel
Penetrating insights to understand and select fast, cheap trials to test ideas at their weakest point before more money goes in.
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05
Stage, gate, scale
Early wins build momentum while we do the deep work on problems once thought too big to solve.
Services
Value delivered through
Impact delivered through a Board session, facilitated workshops with executive leadership teams, and engagements with frontline teams. Every engagement is led by Josh Etkind, Archway’s founder, with specialists brought in as the work requires. We use data science, machine learning, generative AI, software development, Lean and innovation methods throughout, with an eye on category creation, commercialization, partnerships and sustainability.
AI & digital strategy for energy
Moving machine learning and generative AI from pilots to repeatable, profitable enterprise products. Select and integrate third-party, off-the-shelf solutions into end-to-end workflows that move the needle.
Energy & LNG advisory
Advice on upstream, LNG, offshore mega-projects and decommissioning, backed by 25 years of hands-on engineering and management.
Data center design & build-out
Securing affordable gas, acquiring turbines and switchgear before competitors, and leveraging cutting-edge cooling for data centers, where access to power, backlogged equipment, and labor are often the deciding factors.
Transformational change projects
Designing and leading change initiatives that unlock untapped potential in your organization, delivered through a structured approach to ensure early wins that keep people committed.
Board roles
Independent director and advisory roles for companies going through growth or major change, bringing deep technical knowledge to the boardroom.
Domains
Industries we know
from the inside.
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Subsurface & deepwater
Reservoir engineering on the $9B Mars B / Olympus development and led the drill/complete of discoveries and producer wells proving 130+ MMBOE (million barrels of oil equivalent).
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Offshore & mega-projects
Deepwater digital transformation worth $1B+ in banked value, decommissioning liabilities cut by more than half, and Board service on the Sable Offshore Energy Project.
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LNG
Led Shell’s global LNG R&D portfolio across the value chain, from wells to regasification. The team filed 50+ patents, spun out Cumulus Quality, transformed the project portfolio into a subset of profitable opportunities saving many billions in spend, and built and deployed a machine learning solution that cut LNG-vessel fleet fuel use and emissions by about 7%.
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Data centers & power
Siting and building data centers for AI, including power supply, grid connection, cooling and the energy strategy behind them.
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Rigs-to-Reefs & restoration
Rigs-to-Reefs and ecosystem restoration for late-life offshore assets, alongside coastal restoration, low-carbon fuels and carbon capture partnerships, and launching the LSU Institute for Energy Innovation with a $25M Shell gift.
Founder’s track record
Twenty-five years, strikingly different domains.
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2025-2026
CEO & Member of the Board
ThinkOnward · Shell-owned technology spin-out
- Increased project delivery by 50% in two years while reducing costs
- Achieved the company’s first external revenue in its six-year history within the first year
- Grew the expert community to 8,000+ consultants with deep applied-AI and oil-finding track records
- Standardized AI seismic imaging and interpretation, cutting cycle time and cost by ~95%
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2020-2024
Upstream Deepwater Digital Transformation Manager & Business Opportunity Manager, Louisiana Coast
Shell · Gulf of America leadership team
- Identified, built and scaled 8 software platforms generating $1B+ in conservatively banked value
- Owned a $20M+ annual portfolio; led global teams of 100+ across the US, Brazil and Argentina
- Built an embedded data-science team running up to 21 concurrent projects, delivering $100M+
- Launched the LSU Institute for Energy Innovation with a $25M Shell gift
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2018-2020
North America Deepwater Decommissioning & Abandonment Manager; Deepwater GoM Digitalization Lead
Shell E&P
- Reduced decommissioning and abandonment liabilities by more than 50% in two years
- Shell shareholder representative on the Sable Offshore Energy Project Board
- Delivered decommissioning scope ahead of schedule and under budget, with zero lost-time injuries or environmental incidents
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2014-2017
Manager LNG Technology & Program Manager Regas & New Markets
Shell Global Solutions · Rijswijk, the Netherlands
- Led a global portfolio of 130+ projects, $84M budget and 30+ people
- Delivered several billion dollars in value while halving the R&D budget
- Team filed 50+ patents; launched the technology that became Cumulus Quality (~30% faster, cheaper flange makeup, zero leaks on startup)
- Applied machine learning for LNG vessels cut fuel use and emissions by ~7%, later commercialized with Kongsberg Marine
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2005-2014
Reservoir Engineering, Project Development & Planning
Shell E&P · Gulf of Mexico
- Supported the $9B Mars B / Olympus tension-leg platform (TLP) from concept through first oil
- Reservoir engineering behind the West Boreas and South Deimos discoveries, proving 130+ MMBOE
- Lead Reservoir Engineer and Strategic & Business Planning Coordinator for the Mars Basin
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2000-2005
Well Engineer
Schlumberger Integrated Project Management
- Drilling, completions, production and reservoir engineering, from plan to field execution
- Buy- and sell-side acquisition and divestiture valuation and advisory
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2007-now
Co-Founder, CEO & Board Chair
Sanitation for All · international nonprofit
- Clean water, sanitation, education and small-business support for 10,000+ people across the developing world
- 100% of donated funds go directly to families in need; a microfinance model recycles capital to multiply impact
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2007-now
Industry board & committee leadership
Society of Petroleum Engineers International · EAGE
- Director at Large, SPE International Board of Directors (2007-2010): led the Board Committee on Print and Electronic Media, supporting the creation of SPE Connect and PetroWiki and the growth of OnePetro; member of the Finance and Administration Committee
- SPE ATCE Executive Committee (2022-2026): with past, present and future SPE Presidents, sets the strategic direction, theme and opening sessions of SPE’s flagship global conference
- EAGE Digital Strategic Committee (2025-now): shaping the theme, focus, key sessions and expo of the annual event
- Chair, SPE Sustainable Development Technical Section and SPE Gaia Sustainability Program (2021-2023); Board, SPE Data Science & Engineering Analytics Technical Section (2022-now)
- Board Member and Startup Coach, ATCE Startup Village (2018-2022), awarding non-dilutive funding to promising energy startups
- President, SEEDS, Shell US Sustainable Development Employee Resource Group (2018-2020), leading Gulf Coast environmental restoration and community volunteer events
The keystone
Every strategy has a keystone.
In strategy breakthroughs, one insight can unlock everything else, like the keystone at the top of an arch. We work with you to find it, then support the team to build ownership and deliver the ideas that will help them create a better future for their team and the company.
Principles
Built with people, not for them.
Lift the team
We find the strengths and motivating factors, and support the team to build a future they envision.
Non-zero-sum by design
Cost and revenue matter. So do partnerships, circularity, local communities and the environment. Good strategies create value for all of them.
Where others stalled
Across very different domains, Archway’s founder has delivered where top minds, top consultancies and years of effort had already tried and failed.
Room for fun
Hard problems go better with some humor. We try to make the work enjoyable as well as effective.
Founder & CEO
CEO, board member, builder.
For more than 25 years in energy and technology I have worked where strategy, deep domain expertise, emerging technology and execution meet: finding consequential problems, shaping solutions, allocating resources, aligning technical and commercial teams, and carrying ideas through deployment and scale.
Most recently I was CEO of ThinkOnward, a Shell-owned technology spin-out. My career spans upstream, LNG R&D, digital and AI, mega-project development, decommissioning, sustainability and innovation. The consistent theme is translating between business and technology, and owning delivery through to measurable impact.
Governance & industry leadership
- Board of Directors, ThinkOnward (Shell-owned technology spin-out)
- Director at Large, Society of Petroleum Engineers International Board of Directors (2007-2010)
- Executive Committee, SPE Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (ATCE) (2022-2026)
- Digital Strategic Committee, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers (EAGE)
- Shareholder representative for Shell, Sable Offshore Energy Project Board (seven offshore platforms, two onshore gas plants)
- Co-Founder, CEO & Board Chair, Sanitation for All (board since 2007, CEO since 2012)
- International initiatives in sustainability, digital knowledge sharing, young professional development and industry collaboration
Contact
Let’s find your keystone.
Transforming a business, building a new growth engine, commercializing innovation, deploying AI at enterprise scale, or looking for an independent director. Start with a conversation.