/ Who you’re engaging with
An operator-led practice with an advisory bench in the rooms that matter.
ModalPoint is led by a single, accountable principal — with a working advisory bench of energy operators, AI systems leaders, finance & governance specialists, and enterprise architects. We describe the bench by what it brings, not by who’s on it. The named decisions stay with the principal. The depth is real.
Founder · Principal · Accountable
Matthew Bertram
President, ModalPoint · CEO, EWR Digital · Houston, TX
25+ years operating at the intersection of energy commercialization, regulated digital marketing, and now AI decision governance. Built and scaled EWR Digital (the parent agency) for two decades; took 100% ownership December 2024. Founded ModalPoint to productize the Digital Information Governance® framework after watching upstream / midstream operators face 40+ AI-influenced decisions per week with zero authorization layer.
Active inside the Texas regulatory process (active in the HB 149 / TRAIGA process). NIST Cyber AI Profile + Zero Trust Communities of Interest member. Goldman Sachs 10KSB graduate (April 2026). 2026 Crystal Awards Finalist (AI category). Named OTC Ericsson AI panel moderator. Authoring the 2026 industry annual report on AI governance in regulated energy.
3 Provisional Patents
NIST CoI member
TRAIGA process participant
Goldman 10KSB graduate
IAPP AIGP candidate
TAMU Corps alumnus
OTC 26 moderator
Founder (2013–2025) · Strategic Advisor
Mark LaCour
Founder, ModalPoint · Founder, Oil & Gas Global Network (OGGN)
Mark founded ModalPoint and built its original presence in the oil and gas industry between 2013 and 2025, making it a recognized name in energy-sector commercial advisory. Along the way he created the Oil and Gas Global Network (OGGN), one of the most-listened-to oil and gas podcast networks in the industry, and one of the most connected voices in the energy media landscape.
He now serves ModalPoint as a Strategic Advisor, lending decades of energy-sector relationships, industry-media reach, and go-to-market judgment to the firm’s decision-intelligence work with technology, equipment, and software companies selling into oil and gas.
Energy media network
26+ yrs in oil & gas
Industry relationships
The advisory bench — described by capability, not name.
We don’t sell advisor logos. We bring the right person to the right call. Each capability area below represents a working relationship with an industry veteran whose involvement is matched to client engagement scope. Names disclosed under engagement letter, not on the homepage.
/01 · Energy operator strategy
Oil & gas commercialization veteran · OGGN founding-partner network
25+ years inside upstream / midstream commercialization. Chairs an industry podcast network with 400+ episodes of operator conversations. Brings real-time intel on what permitting offices, joint-venture partners, and refinery procurement teams are actually asking about AI in 2026.
How clients see this: when a Tier 2+ engagement involves a regulated decision in upstream / midstream operations, this veteran joins the scoping call. Disclosed by name on the engagement letter.
/02 · AI systems & agentic governance
AI engineering & evaluation specialist
Builds and evaluates production AI agents inside large-scale deployments. Brings the technical view on detection vs. authorization layers, evaluation harness design, agent telemetry, and the seam where vendor stacks (Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic) meet operator-side accountability.
How clients see this: consulted on Decision Registry schema design, evaluation gates, and Tier 3 Governance-as-a-Service ongoing monitoring architecture. Joins technical-architecture review.
/03 · Finance & corporate governance
CPA-trained corporate governance advisor
Public-company-grade financial controls, audit committee fluency, and the operator-side discipline of evidence chain that survives quarterly review. Brings the lens that translates AI governance into board-ready posture and SOX-equivalent rigor for the AI decision layer.
How clients see this: consulted on Audit Readiness binder structure, board-reporting cadence, and the financial-control parallels for Tier 1+ engagements. Reviews binder before delivery.
/04 · Enterprise architecture & data
Energy enterprise architecture advisor
Decades inside enterprise data architecture for energy. Knows where the IT / OT seam actually breaks, what production systems look like inside a refinery vs. a midstream control room, and how AI-assisted decisions thread through PI Historian, OSIsoft, Cority, and the operational stack the rest of the AI governance vendors don’t touch.
How clients see this: consulted on operational AI seam questions, IT/OT/AI ownership mapping, and any engagement involving production-environment AI. Joins architecture deep-dives.
/05 · Regulatory & legislative
HB 149 / TRAIGA legislative-process insider
Active inside the HB 149 / TRAIGA legislative process and the Texas HB 149 / TRAIGA process. Brings calibrated read on what the regulator is likely to ask, what the substantial-compliance defense actually requires, and how Sept 1 enforcement will unfold — not what the marketing decks claim.
How clients see this: consulted on TRAIGA-specific engagements, regulatory posture review, and the cure-playbook design. Joins regulatory readiness reviews.
/06 · Industry organizations
Active in NIST, IAPP, TAMU, NACD networks
The principal sits inside the working groups and credential paths that shape this category — NIST Cyber AI Profile + Zero Trust Communities of Interest, IAPP AIGP candidate (Q3 2026 sit), TAMU Mays advisory pursuit, NACD Houston path. Surfaces emerging practice early.
How clients see this: intel feed inside Tier 3 GaaS retainers; quarterly briefings cite the emerging-practice signals before they’re widely distributed.
Why we describe the bench by capability instead of by name.
Three operating reasons. None of them are about hiding anything — advisor names get disclosed inside the engagement letter, where they belong.
One signature. One accountable party. Advisors inform; they don’t dilute the principal’s accountability or the binder’s defensibility.
Not every engagement needs every advisor. Matching is determined at scoping, not on a homepage roster.
Logos on a homepage don’t survive an audit. A named relationship inside an engagement letter does.
Want to know who joins your engagement?
Start with a $2,500 Shadow AI Exposure Assessment. The advisor matched to your engagement is named in the proposal — before you sign anything.
Mark LaCour and Matthew Bertram are both available as keynote speakers. Together they host the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast and co-authored The Energy Growth Playbook. See our guide to the best business and energy keynote speakers in Houston.