A Career Shaped by Curiosity

For Alessandro Mannini, a career in geoscience began with a simple fascination: understanding how the Earth works. That curiosity eventually became a professional life spanning continents, industries, technical disciplines and leadership roles. Although his responsibilities have changed considerably over the years, the question at the center of his work has remained remarkably consistent: how can better knowledge lead to better decisions?

After graduating in Geology in 1995, Alessandro gained his first professional experience in the mining industry in 1997. A year later, he joined ENI, beginning a career in oil and gas that would take him across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

His early attraction to geology came from the balance it offered between scientific thinking and practical problem solving. It allowed him to move between field observations, analytical work and technology while remaining connected to real world questions. As his career progressed, his interests expanded into geophysics, quantitative interpretation, reservoir characterization and decision analysis.

Over time, he became increasingly aware that the energy industry does not simply have a data problem. It has a decision problem.

Large technical and financial choices often have to be made without complete information, particularly when companies are evaluating exploration opportunities, developing fields or deciding where to allocate significant amounts of capital.

That realization gradually shaped the direction of his career. Rather than focusing only on producing increasingly sophisticated technical interpretations, Alessandro became interested in how uncertainty could be measured, communicated and incorporated into decisions.

Leaving Home and Learning to Adapt

One of the first major changes in Alessandro’s professional life came in 2001, when he left Italy for London as part of an international assignment with ENI.

The move represented more than a change of location. It was his first major experience of working outside his home country and placed him in an international environment where different cultures, professional backgrounds and approaches to business came together.

London also introduced him to the wider global energy industry in a new way. Working alongside people from different countries taught him that technical expertise, while important, was only one part of succeeding in an international organization. Listening, adapting and understanding different perspectives were equally valuable.

That experience helped establish an international outlook that would become a defining part of his career.

In 2007, Alessandro made another significant move, leaving ENI after almost a decade to join Hess. The transition took him from a large integrated energy company to an independent organization with a more entrepreneurial environment. It gave him greater responsibility and exposed him to new ways of working, faster decision making and complex international projects.

Each move required him to adjust. Each also expanded his understanding of leadership.

His career subsequently included work with organizations such as Maersk Oil, Petronas, Beach Energy, Santos and Delft Inversion. Across these roles, he contributed to exploration, appraisal, field development and production projects, working with both technical specialists and multidisciplinary teams.

• ENI
• Hess
• Maersk Oil
• Petronas
• Beach Energy
• Santos
• Delft Inversion
• Seisquare

The technical subjects were complex, but the broader lesson was straightforward. Progress often depends on the willingness to keep learning and to remain open to approaches that challenge established assumptions.

When Uncertainty Became a Teacher

Not every transition in Alessandro’s career was planned.

In 2016, during a major downturn in the energy industry, he was made redundant following restructuring at Maersk Oil. For someone who had spent much of his professional life building expertise and taking on increasingly senior responsibilities, the experience brought an unfamiliar degree of uncertainty.

Yet it also became an important period of reflection.

Instead of allowing the experience to define him as a setback, Alessandro used it as an opportunity to reconsider what he wanted from the next stage of his career. It encouraged him to broaden his leadership capabilities, embrace digital transformation and remain open to possibilities outside the path he had originally imagined.

That experience also reinforced something he had already encountered throughout his international career: uncertainty is unavoidable. What matters is how people respond to it.

For Alessandro, adaptability became less of an abstract leadership principle and more of a practical discipline. Moving between countries, organizations and roles had repeatedly required him to enter unfamiliar situations and learn quickly. The experience of redundancy added another layer to that lesson.

It also influenced the way he approaches leadership today. He believes that difficult periods can create room for development, provided people remain curious and willing to reassess their assumptions.

The same principle now sits close to the heart of his professional work. In his view, uncertainty should not be hidden or treated as a weakness in the decision making process. It should be understood and managed.

From Technical Expertise to Leadership

As Alessandro’s career developed, his responsibilities moved beyond specialist technical work. He began managing multidisciplinary teams and leading initiatives involving digital transformation, technology adoption and strategic decision making.

That transition required a different kind of learning.

Technical work often allows a person to focus deeply on a specific problem. Leadership requires a broader perspective. It means understanding people, communicating across disciplines, creating trust and making decisions when no answer is completely certain.

For Alessandro, some of the most meaningful achievements of his career are therefore not the projects themselves, but the people he has worked with.

He takes particular pride in seeing colleagues he has mentored develop into technical experts, managers and leaders. To him, that progression represents a lasting form of professional contribution.

His relationship with Ludo Van der Heyden, Owner and Chairman of Seisquare, has also played an important role in his leadership development. Alessandro credits Ludo’s confidence and encouragement with helping him broaden his perspective beyond technical leadership. At his recommendation, Alessandro undertook the Australian Institute of Company Directors course and became a Graduate, strengthening his understanding of governance and long-term organisational value.

These experiences have influenced the kind of leader he aims to be. He wants people to feel valued, listened to and able to contribute. He believes strong organizations are built when people with different perspectives can challenge one another respectfully and work toward a shared purpose.

Building Better Decisions at Seisquare

Today, Alessandro serves as CEO of Seisquare, where his technical background and leadership experience meet.

The company focuses on geostatistical solutions designed to help energy organizations better understand uncertainty and make more informed decisions. Its work sits at the intersection of geoscience, geostatistics, decision analysis and digital technology.

For Alessandro, the purpose is not technology for its own sake. The real question is whether technology can help people solve meaningful problems.

The energy industry regularly makes decisions involving significant investments while working with incomplete information. Exploration prospects, subsurface models, field development plans and portfolio choices all contain uncertainty.

By using probabilistic approaches, organizations can examine a broader range of possible outcomes instead of relying solely on a single deterministic interpretation. This can provide decision makers with a clearer understanding of risk and potential value.

That philosophy is central to Alessandro’s leadership at Seisquare. He wants the company to help move the industry toward a more transparent and evidence based approach to uncertainty.

His interest in this work is also connected to a broader belief that technical excellence has its greatest value when it improves real decisions. A sophisticated model matters less if it cannot help a team understand its choices and act with greater confidence.

The People Behind the Decisions

Although technology is central to Alessandro’s current work, people remain at the center of how he thinks about leadership.

Over almost three decades, he has worked with colleagues from many countries and professional backgrounds. Those relationships have become one of the most meaningful parts of his career.

He sees trust as one of the strongest measures of professional success. Former colleagues and team members have continued to stay in contact with him, recommend him for opportunities and invite him to work with them again. For Alessandro, those relationships carry more lasting significance than titles or individual projects.

His leadership philosophy rests on several principles. Integrity comes first because trust cannot exist without honesty and consistency. Respect for people follows closely because strong ideas often emerge when different perspectives are given room to be heard.

Continuous learning is another important part of his approach. The energy industry is changing through developments in artificial intelligence, data science, cloud computing and digital technologies. Alessandro believes leaders need to remain curious enough to learn alongside those changes rather than assume that past experience is always sufficient.

He also believes in evidence based decision making. His background has taught him that uncertainty does not disappear simply because it is ignored. Recognizing it allows people to assess risk more carefully and combine technical evidence with experience and judgment.

Above all, he tries to lead with humility.

A Broader Idea of Impact

For Alessandro, impact exists at several levels.

Yet Alessandro does not see technology as the complete answer.

He believes meaningful progress depends on people working together with openness and trust. Tools can support analysis, but judgment, communication and collaboration remain essential.

That perspective is consistent with the way his own career has developed. His technical education opened the door, but his international experiences, setbacks, relationships and leadership responsibilities shaped the person who eventually stepped through it.

Looking Toward a More Probabilistic Future

Alessandro’s ambitions for the future are closely connected to making uncertainty easier to understand and use.

At Seisquare, he is working toward the development of a new digital platform designed to help geoscientists and decision makers propagate uncertainty throughout the subsurface characterization workflow. The vision brings together cloud computing, artificial intelligence, modern software architecture, geoscience and geostatistics.

The goal is not simply to introduce newer technology. It is to make sophisticated probabilistic workflows more accessible and practical for the people who rely on them.

Alessandro also hopes to expand Seisquare’s international presence and build long term relationships with operators, service companies and research institutions. For him, growth has meaning when it reflects genuine value for customers and contributes to better decisions across the industry.

At the same time, his personal ambitions remain connected to learning and mentorship. After nearly three decades in the energy sector, he sees value in sharing what experience has taught him with younger professionals entering a rapidly changing field.

He wants the next generation to remain curious, challenge assumptions and be willing to step outside familiar territory.

Success Measured in People

Perhaps the clearest change in Alessandro’s outlook can be seen in how he defines success.

Earlier in his career, success was closely connected to technical achievement, international projects and career progression. Those things still matter, but they no longer provide the full measure.

Today, he places greater importance on the people he has helped, the trust he has earned and the relationships that have survived changes in companies, countries and professional circumstances.

Leaving the Industry Better

After nearly thirty years in geoscience and energy, Alessandro’s story is not simply one of technical progression. It is a story about learning to live and lead with uncertainty.

He has experienced international transitions, career changes, industry downturns and the responsibilities that come with leading a technology company. Each chapter has added something to his understanding of what it means to make decisions when the answer is not obvious.

His greatest lesson may be that uncertainty is not necessarily an obstacle. It can be an invitation to examine assumptions, listen more carefully and find a better way forward.

That philosophy now informs both his work and his leadership.

Alessandro hopes to leave behind more than successful projects or a growing company. He wants to leave stronger teams, better decision making practices, useful technology and people who feel that their careers were enriched by working alongside him.