Arne Nielsen is a retired petroleum geologist and senior corporate executive. He earned his BSc in geology from the University of Alberta in 1948 and his MSc in 1950 and went on to discover the Pembina Cardium oil field near Devon, Alberta in 1953. Arne Nielsen became President and General Manager of Mobil Oil Canada, then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Superior Oil, and was twice Chairman of the Canadian Petroleum Association. He was co-architect of the energy policies adopted by the Mulroney government after the contentious National Energy Program of the 1970s. He participated in Canada’s first energy trade mission to China in 1972. He lives in Calgary, Alberta.