About Dr Samantha Meehan

Dr Samantha Meehan is an accomplished Non-Executive Director and strategic advisor with more than twenty years of leadership across natural resources industry.

A PhD qualified geologist with deep commercial and governance experience, Samantha supports boards and executive teams to make confident decisions in complex, high-stakes environments.

Her career spans Australia, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, bringing a genuinely global perspective to strategic, commercial and sustainability challenges.

Career Overview

Samantha began her career as a geologist and hydrogeologist in environmental consulting before joining Shell, where she spent over 20 years in technical, commercial and governance roles across upstream, midstream and downstream businesses.

She has worked across the full asset lifecycle — from opportunity identification and exploration through development, construction, operations and decommissioning — in both onshore and offshore environments, across the arctic and tropics.

Her experience includes oversight of portfolios and projects valued up to US$50 billion, leadership of multi-disciplinary teams, and collaboration with global partners such as bp, Lightsourcebp, Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC), Chinese National Overseas Oil Company (CNOOC), Tokyo Gas, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Maersk and multiple government-owned entities.

A professional woman with long, wavy brown hair wearing a navy blazer and white blouse, holding a white coffee mug, standing indoors with a blurred modern office background.

Board & Governance Experience

Independent oversight, complex environments

Samantha has served as a director and shareholder representative on multiple joint venture boards and industry committees spanning oil, gas, power, renewables and emerging low-carbon value chains.

Her governance responsibilities have included:

  • Oversight of operational and commercial performance

  • Capital allocation, portfolio optimisation and major investment decisions

  • HSSE, environmental and social performance

  • Crisis management and incident leadership

  • Risk, assurance and regulatory engagement

  • Stakeholder and community engagement, including governments, NGOs, lenders and Indigenous groups

She has contributed to decarbonisation taskforces and industry groups focused on energy security, economic diversification, hydrogen value chains and carbon markets in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Global footprint

Experience across diverse jurisdictions and operating environments

Samantha has lived and worked in Australia, Russia, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago, with oversight and/or executive leadership of business opportunities in:

  • Asia-Pacific including Australia, China, India, Philippines

  • West Africa including Ghana, Namibia, South Africa

  • Caribbean and South America including Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela

  • Europe including Greenland, Denmark, Ukraine, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom

  • Central Eurasia including Kazakhstan and Russia

This breadth allows Hawksburn Advisory to support organisations navigating cross-border governance, geopolitical complexity and volatility, regulatory diversity and multi-partner alignment.

Academic & Professional Credentials

  • Doctoral research into contaminated land and groundwater analysis, remediation, land and receptor management (flora, fauna and societal impacts).

  • Awarded top of cohort, with a strong foundation in earth sciences (structure and metamorphic geology; economic geology) and earth, climate and environmental systems.

  • Committed to contemporary governance practices and director responsibilities within the Australian and international context.

  • Engaged in Canadian corporate governance community and committed to contemporary governance practices and director responsibilities across western Canadia.

  • Driving best in class contracts and agreements through this industry association; member of the Hydrogen and Nuclear Agreements working groups.

  • Contributes to academic programmes and industry engagement within the Faculty of Business & Economics.

  • Industry representative speaker on the energy industry, energy transition and leadership for undergraduate and MBA audiences.