Scott W. Tinker is Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology, the State Geologist of Texas, a professor holding the Allday Endowed Chair and acting Associate Dean of Research in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of the Advanced Energy Consortium. He spent 17 years in the oil and gas industry prior to joining UT in 2000. Scott is past President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the Association of American State Geologists, and the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. He has been a Distinguished Lecturer for the AAPG and Society of Petroleum Engineers, a Distinguished Ethics Lecturer for the AAPG, and the Geological Society of America (GSA) Halbouty Distinguished Lecturer.

Tinker is a Fellow of the GSA and has received the American Geoscience Institute Outstanding Contribution to the Public Understanding of the Geosciences award, the American Institute of Professional Geologists John T. Galey, Sr., Memorial Public Service Award, and was named a "Top Producer in Texas" by Texas Monthly magazine. Tinker holds appointments on the National Petroleum Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission; sits on the Geoscience Advisory Board at Sandia National Lab and is a Southwest Research Institute Trustee; and serves on several other private, professional, and academic boards. Scott has given over 500 invited and keynote lectures in nearly 50 countries to groups of all kinds, and most recently co-produced and is featured in the acclaimed documentary, SWITCH. Tinker's degrees are from the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan, and Trinity University.