Ione L. Taylor

Ione Taylor joined Queen’s University in 2014 as Executive Director of Earth and Energy Resources Leadership. Dr. Taylor’s areas of professional focus include the application of physical science, integrated with economics, to inform decision-making for land and natural resource development, as well as designing and applying models of innovative leadership in the energy and mineral sectors. She began her career as a petroleum geologist on drilling wells in the Gulf of Mexico. She spent the next 15 years in domestic and international hydrocarbon exploration, holding multiple scientific and technical positions at Amoco Production Company and British Petroleum. She eventually moved into senior leadership positions including R&D Director of Worldwide Technology Applications, Vice President of Overseas Exploration, and Upstream Technology Group Lead for Worldwide Reservoir Description. She then joined the United States Geological Survey (USGS), where she focused on energy and mineral resource security, interdisciplinary environmental science, and the application of satellite remote sensing for earth observation. As USGS Associate Director for Energy and Minerals, and Environmental Health, Dr. Taylor served as the Senior Executive responsible for oversight of research and assessment programs for energy and mineral resources and economics to inform natural resource management, as well as toxic and contaminant substances that impact environmental and human health. At the national level in the U.S., she served as Technical Committee Chair for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Federal Interagency Group on Unconventional Oil and Gas, and as Co-Chair for the OSTP Working Group on Critical Mineral Supply Chains.

Dr. Taylor has a PhD and master’s degree in Geology/Geochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Guilford College. She is a graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management, and holds an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from Sloan School of Management at MIT.

---