Trygve Botn – Founder, Decision Advisor

Trygve has over 20-years of energy industry experience from Chevron and as a consultant where he held several key roles as a Decision Professional in Norway, the USA, and Kazakhstan. Over the years, Trygve has taught Decision Analysis and Decision Quality to over 1000 professionals and he have supported a range of upstream capital investment opportunities on critical investment decisions for greenfield and brownfield opportunities in oil & gas, and renewables. Further, he has been instrumental in enhancing and developing methods, tools and framework for project framing, analysis, and evaluation. Trygve is the Founder of ThinQ Decisions and is a Fellow and Board Member of the Society of Decision Professionals (SDP).

Trygve holds a MSc in Business Administration and International Business from BI Norwegian Business School and Case Western Reserve University, and a BSc in Economics from BI Norwegian Business School.

Reidar B. Bratvold – Decision Advisor

Reidar is a Professor of Investment and Decision Analysis at the University of Stavanger where he is teaching and supervising graduate students doing research in decision & data analytics including artificial intelligence and machine learning, project valuation, portfolio analysis, real-option valuation, and behavioral challenges in decision-making. Prior to academia, Reidar spent 15-years in the industry in various technical and key management roles such as Vice President, Managing Director, Senior Scientist, and Reservoir Engineer. Reidar has published numerous papers on topics such as decision-making, value of information, application of machine learning, Bayesian evidence learning, stochastic reservoir modeling, fuzzy logic, data assimilation, and reservoir management. Reidar has also served as the executive editor of the SPE Economics & Management journal.

Reidar holds a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering and an MSc in Mathematics, both from Stanford University and has Business and Management education from INSEAD and Standford University.

Ainur Zhumagaleyeva – Decision Advisor

Ainur Zhumagaleyeva is an energy sector advisor specializing in investment decision analysis, valuation, and strategy for capital-intensive energy and infrastructure projects. With more than 20 years of experience across the global energy industry, she has worked with organizations including Chevron, Shell, Addax Petroleum (a subsidiary of Sinopec), and Fortescue.

Her work has focused on evaluating complex investments across the evolving energy system, spanning oil and gas, LNG, renewable power, and emerging energy carriers such as hydrogen and ammonia. Ainur’s expertise lies in financial modelling, probabilistic risk analysis, and decision quality frameworks that help leadership teams navigate large, uncertain investment decisions. She has supported multi-billion-dollar project developments, strategic transactions, and portfolio decisions across Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

Ainur holds a Master’s degree from Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas and is a member of the Society of Decision Professionals.

Brian H. Putt – Decision Advisor

Brian is currently on the Board of Directors for SDP, acting Chair of the SDP-San Francisco Bay Area chapter and sits on the SDP certification committee. He is a Fellow in the Society of Decision Professionals. He also donates time to the non-profit Probability Management that promotes the “Arithmetic of Uncertainty” and is the Technology and Applications Chair for Probability Management. Brian consults on Decision Quality using uncertainty analysis and maintains a YouTube Channel that includes many videos about applications of decision analysis using Excel and SIPmath. Brian worked multiple decades with Chevron performing project economic analysis in the petroleum industry, mostly upstream. 

Brian holds a BA in Economics from Claremont McKenna College, BS in General Engineering Stanford University, and a MS in Operations Research from Stanford University.