Veson Event
Houston Summit
Hotel ZaZa Memorial City | Houston, Texas
Thursday, October 22, 2026
2:00 – 8:00 pm CDT
About the event
Join us in October for Veson Nautical’s Houston Summit, a half-day gathering of the region’s foremost energy and maritime leaders. Hear from Dow’s Lance Nunez on the pressures reshaping the industry today, get a first look at the newest innovation within the Veson Platform, and walk away with practical guidance for putting AI to work in your own organization. Connect with peers and Veson executives at one of maritime’s premiere North American events, and stay on with us for a cocktail reception afterwards.
Why should I attend?
Connect with fellow industry leaders and Veson executives.
Hear about Veson’s newest product capabilities.
Gain insights into how the industry is reacting to market changes.
If you received an invitation, please complete the form to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you there!
If you did not receive an invitation but are interested in attending, please contact us. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate Veson partners as event attendees.
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What will be covered?
Explore the agenda below
Fill out your information to claim your spot.
Event agenda
Registration
Receive your event badge and engage in light networking with fellow attendees before we begin.
Opening Remarks
We are fortunate to open the day with Lance Nunez, Global Marine and Terminal Logistics Director at Dow, who will share his perspective on the pressures reshaping the industry today and the importance of innovation and collaboration.
Speaker:
- Lance Nunez, Senior Strategic Sourcing Director, Dow
The Next Wave of Maritime Innovation Is Here
The industry is at a pivotal moment of digitalization and change. Hear from Veson leadership on how we’re approaching AI, data, and the future.
Speaker:
- Sean Riley, President and Chief Operating Officer, Veson Nautical
The Veson Platform
An overview of what’s been added to the Veson Platform over the past several months and how your teams can benefit.
Speaker:
- Christine Sullivan, Chief Product Officer, Veson Nautical
Client Discussion: Leading Through Change in Energy and Maritime
This on-stage interview will give an insider’s view of leading digital transformation at scale. What are the biggest barriers and where does AI truly move the needle?
Moderator:
- Sean Riley, President and Chief Operating Officer, Veson Nautical
Sneak Peek: The Next AI Innovation in the Veson Platform
Be the first to hear about the newest innovation within the Veson Platform, designed to advance commercial workflows.
Speaker:
- Clarissa Brown, Principal Product Manager, Veson Nautical
Break: Networking & Demo Stations
The Practicalities of Implementing Modern Technology
Our Professional Services team has guided hundreds of diverse maritime organizations through their biggest technology shifts. Here’s what we’ve learned when it comes to implementing AI and other modern tech in practical ways that make a real impact.
Speakers:
- James Morgan, Senior Director, Professional Services, Veson Nautical
- Jay Campbell, Principal Consultant, Professional Services, Veson Nautical
Data in Context: Super Charge Your Workflows & Decisions
Learn how Veson’s Data Science is bringing data and market analysis together with advanced modeling to advance the workflows your team runs every day.
Speaker:
- Luca Bonfiglio, Senior Data Scientist, Veson Nautical
Veson Labs
Get a glance into the innovation engine room at Veson – where our experts experiment, test, iterate, and explore the art of the possible.
Speaker:
- Chris Barnes, Chief Development Officer, Veson Nautical
Cocktail Reception
Complete the day with a lively evening of cocktails, connections, and conversation.
Featured speakers
Lance Nunez
Senior Strategic Sourcing Director
Dow
Lance Nunez is the Senior Strategic Sourcing Director at Dow. He has global responsibility for setting and delivering key strategic initiatives in the areas of procurement excellence, operational excellence, digitization, and sustainability while navigating a fast‑moving geopolitical and regulatory landscape. Lance has a long track record of delivering innovative and cost-effective maritime solutions both internal to Dow and externally through involvement in various industry associations such as but not limited to the Chemical Distribution Institute (CDI), and Greater Houston Port Bureau (GHPB).
Sean Riley
President & Chief Operating Officer
Veson Nautical
Sean Riley is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Veson Nautical. Since joining Veson in 2012, Sean has built and scaled the company’s core operations, overseeing Sales, Marketing, Professional Services, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Veson’s global regional offices. A recognized voice on freight rate volatility, geopolitical risk, and the growing risks facing global supply chains, Sean helps maritime companies make faster, more confident decisions in volatile markets.
Christine Sullivan
Chief Product Officer
Veson Nautical
Christine Sullivan is Chief Product Officer at Veson Nautical, where she leads product strategy, product management, design, and product operations. Christine joined Veson in 2026 after a decade building and scaling SaaS products at high-growth legal tech and marketing tech companies, most recently serving as the SVP of Product Management at LinkSquares. Christine began her career in finance, bringing a strong commercial perspective to product innovation and growth.
Chris Barnes
Chief Development Officer
Veson Nautical
As Chief Development Officer, Chris Barnes leads Veson’s global engineering organization, further aligning teams and technology to deliver transformative, AI-powered solutions to the industry. Chris brings over 20 years of engineering and technology leadership experience across a multitude of enterprise software solutions and industry verticals. Most recently, he led ERP Reporting and AI Product Development at insightsoftware, where he managed global development teams across over 20 enterprise products. His deep expertise in product integration, cloud architecture, AI strategy, digital transformation, and agile delivery practices are instrumental as Veson continues to evolve its unified platform.
Jesse DiIanni
Chief Customer Officer
Veson Nautical
Jesse leads Veson Nautical’s Global Services organization overseeing customer deployment, enablement, and ongoing success. With the company since 2007, he’s worked with the world’s largest commercial maritime and commodity organizations, implementing the standard platform that propels maritime commerce. As the most experienced services organization in the commercial maritime industry, Veson Global Services delivers value at every stage of our client’s digital journey, from initial solution design through go-live and continuing education.
Nicholas Emmett
Vice President, Energy & Commodities
Veson Nautical
Nick Emmett is the Vice President of Energy and Commodities at Veson Nautical, joining Veson in 2021. He is passionate about fostering long-term partnerships built around delivering impactful solutions to industry challenges. Before joining Veson, he worked at KPI OceanConnect and Petredec, gaining hands-on experience in trading, vessel operations, and market research.
James Morgan
Senior Director of Professional Services
Veson Nautical
James is the Director of Professional Services for Houston. James is an experienced consulting executive with over 22 years of experience in project management and solution delivery for the Energy industry. He is experienced in all aspects of a project life cycle from strategy definition and business case development to production support, for both packaged and custom software implementations. Prior to Veson, James was a Director at Opportune for 7 years during which time he led the implementation of VIP at ExxonMobil. James has worked on business process improvement and software implementation projects for natural gas, power, crude, refined products, NGLs, petrochemicals, softs and ethanol. James has a B.S. in Information Systems and Decision Sciences (MIS) from Louisiana State University.
Jay Campbell
Principal Consultant
Veson Nautical
Jay Campbell is a Principal Consultant of Professional Services and has been with Veson since 2020. He specializes in the IMOS Chartering and Operations modules, with subject matter expertise in US Inland Barging. He has contributed to multiple IMOS implementations in all aspects of Chartering and Operations, especially those involving oil majors and trading organizations. Prior to his time as a consultant, Jay had a 25+ year career in trading and operations, including 20 years at Shell, 15 of those as a Gasoline Trader with Shell Trading US.
Clarissa Brown
Principal Product Manager
Veson Nautical
Clarissa Brown is a Principal Product Manager at Veson Nautical, where she leads the development of high-impact maritime software solutions. With deep expertise in product integrations and user-centered design, Clarissa brings a strategic lens to solving complex prefixture challenges.
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Luca Bonfiglio
Senior Data Scientist
Veson Nautical
Luca Bonfiglio is a Senior Data Scientist at Veson. A trained naval architect, Luca brings more than 15 years of industry experience to his work at Veson, where he develops predictive models for maritime markets that bridge operational logistics and investment analytics. Prior to joining Veson in 2024, Luca served as a senior maritime data scientist at CargoMetrics Technologies, where he focused on carbon emissions modeling and built a global maritime trade flow system designed for investment strategies and shipping intelligence. He has also previously served as a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.