Reginal Spiller
SUNY Fredonia alumnus Reginal Spiller will be the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Science degree from SUNY at Commencement.
The degree will be conferred during the 10 a.m. ceremony on Saturday, May 16. Mr. Spiller will be presented by SUNY Fredonia President Stephen H. Kolison Jr. and the degree conferred by SUNY Trustee Eunice Lewin.
Spiller graduated from SUNY Fredonia in 1974 majoring in Special Studies and emphasis in Geology. He was the recipient of the 2023 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Fredonia Alumni Association. He is an international energy expert who has successfully worked and invested in over 80 countries, has taken two petroleum companies public on the U.S. and London Exchanges and brought major investment to projects in the U.S., Africa, South America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
Currently, Spiller is President and CEO of Azimuth Energy LLC, and CEO of subsidiary Azimuth GIS-E. He is also former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Gas and Petroleum Technologies at the U.S. Department of Energy, and was the first petroleum geologist named to that position, where he managed a $400 million research and development budget. While at the Department of Energy, he was the co-founder of the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship, a minority and women-focused STEM program which has placed over 1,500 students into national lab internships.
Spiller earned his Master of Science degree in Geology from Penn State University and has received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a 40-year founding member of the National Association of Black Geoscientists, and a board member of both the U.S. publicly traded Range Resources Corp. and The African Energy Chamber.
In addition, Spiller is Chief Scientist for the SAMEC mining company, which is engaged in power generation and bauxite development in Guinea Conakry in West Africa. He was previously the COO for Allied Energy, where he managed the company’s deep-water Nigeria production and development, and he formerly served as the Honorary Consul General to the country of Sierra Leone.
As a highlight of his visit to Fredonia to accept the Outstanding Achievement Award at Homecoming and to celebrate the Department of Geology’s 60th anniversary, Spiller offered two talks to current students.
With a group of devoted geology alumni, Spiller and his wife have established an endowment scholarship fund through the Fredonia College Foundation to benefit the next generation of Fredonians.
