Most notably
Ricardo has led business initiatives and managed design, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and decommissioning of capital projects valued at up to $21 billion.
At Noble Corporation, he set an industry record by delivering a $650 million first-of-a-kind drillship in 28 months. Ricardo’s work has resulted in several prestigious awards and recognitions, including the Award for Excellence in Engineering and Construction for his paper on “Best Solution to the Climate Challenge and Water Crisis” from the Rice Global E & C Forum; the Sustainable Retrofit Project of the Year for Saudi Aramco.
Also at Noble Corporation, he oversaw a project with more than 10 million man-hours and a track record of consistently safe, on-time, and on-budget delivery across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. His work at the company contributed to its recognition as Lloyd’s List Award for Offshore Operator of the Year.
During his career, Ricardo has delivered more than 300,000 tons of floating offshore energy infrastructure through a full EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) lifecycle.
He has authored and presented more than 15 technical papers at leading oil and gas conferences, including the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the Deepwater Operations Conference & Exhibition, and the Topsides, Platforms & Hulls Conference & Exhibition.
Professional experience
Prior to joining ZettaJoule, Ricardo co-invented and patented the Offshore Energy Generation System (OEGS). He pioneered system architectures that integrate zero-carbon nuclear energy with heavy industry, enabling decarbonization, hydrocarbon recovery, and petrochemical processing. He also developed technologies for producing zero-carbon ammonia, hydrogen, desalinated water, and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), as well as providing reliable power for floating data centers.
Ricardo previously served as a Senior Project Manager at Wood, a global engineering and consulting firm. While there, he led the planning and execution strategy for multibillion-dollar offshore energy projects, including floating oil production and floating liquefied natural gas facilities. He earned best-in-class customer satisfaction recognition for an Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contract supporting BP’s Floating Production Systems program in the Gulf of Mexico.
At Worley, a global engineering firm, Ricardo led a team that achieved concept-to-delivery success on multibillion-dollar first-of-a-kind floating production unit projects by developing innovative methods for improving the effectiveness of capital use in concept definition and delivery strategy. He provided investment decision support, optioneering, risk management, strategic regulatory roadmaps and feasibility studies for floating and offshore nuclear technologies in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East.
As a Project Manager at Noble Corporation, Ricardo set two industry records:
- delivered the $650 million first-of-a-kind Don Taylor drillship in 28 months
- delivered more than 300,000 tons of floating offshore energy infrastructure through a full EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) lifecycle
He also achieved multimillion-dollar savings and ensured seamless transitions to operations by applying risk-based planning, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, operational readiness practices and digital twins.
As a Project Manager and Lead Facilities Engineer at Heerema Fabrication, Ricardo oversaw the growth of the staff from fewer than 20 to more than 250 engineers in West Africa, Venezuela and the U.S., serving major clients including ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron.
Ricardo’s career also includes project management roles at Schlumberger, where he oversaw projects from business development to the build-own-operate phase in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador; and at Strycon, where he helped scale the engineering team from 12 to more than 500 employees. Earlier in his career, Ricardo established a pioneering research and development center at Universidad de los Andes focused on sustainable technologies for Colombia’s emerging oil and gas industry.
Education
Ricardo earned a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University-Victoria and a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering with a concentration in fluid mechanics from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia.
He also holds Certified Data Center Professional (CDCP) and Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications, along with certificates from MIT in Sustainable Energy and Nuclear Energy: Science, Systems and Society.
More about Ricardo
Ricardo’s career has taken him to diverse environments across the globe, including jungles and deepwater marine settings.
He has a keen interest in systems philosophy, specifically exploring the intersection of quantum physics with Ken Wilber’s Integral Model.
Ricardo enjoys running, taking long walks in nature, and playing traditional folk and classic rock music on the guitar and piano.