Herbert George Davis was born in Buffalo, New York in June 1930. He has been a member of AAPG since 1956 and became Certified Petroleum Geologist No. 940 in 1967.

He has served in numerous AAPG roles: Chairman, House of Delegates (1972-73), President, Division of Professional Affairs (1978-80), Charter Member, Trustee Associates (1978), Trustee Associate Chairman (1983), Member of the Corporation (1986-99), Foundation Trustee (1986-99), and Trustee Emeritus (1999). He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 1982, Honorary Life Membership in 1986, D.P.A. Life Membership in 1995 and the AAPG Foundation Chairman's Award in 2012. He was a 56-year member in 2012.

Davis and his wife, Shirley, established a Grants-In-Aid Named Grant with the AAPG Foundation in 2006 that is restricted to geology students at Oklahoma State University.

Davis was Certified Professional Geologist No. 1573 in the American Institute of Professional Geologists and served as Chairman of several committees of the Oklahoma Section from 1968 to 1977, and National Committees from 1970 to 1986. Davis has also been a member of the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists No. 797 since 1978.

He was President of the Oklahoma City Geological Society (1970-71), and was awarded Honorary Membership in 1985. The Oklahoma City Geological Foundation honored him with the "Legend Award" in 2009.

Davis graduated from Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College (Oklahoma State University) in 1953 with a degree in geology, served as a Military Geologist and Intelligence Officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Heidelberg, Germany from 1953-55.

Davis married Shirley Ann Etheredge in June 1953 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. They lived in Germany before returning to the USA to begin his career as an Exploration Geologist with Stanolind Oil and Gas Company in 1955. They lived in Wichita and Liberal, Kansas for nine years before returning to Oklahoma City, OK in 1963. Stanolind became Pan American Petroleum Corporation in 1957.

His professional experience was primarily in the Mid-Continent and concentrated in the Hugoton Embayment and Anadarko Basin. His publications are on the Morrow/Springer Sandstones; Morrow/Springer High Pressure regimes and the Anadarko Basin reserves and economics.

Davis became an Independent Geologist in 1967, forming Davis and Northcutt Consulting Geologists and D.N.C. Exploration. He and Shirley owned Herbert G. Davis, Inc., an oil and gas exploration company from 1973- 1988, with production in OK, TX, KS, LA, MS, and KY.

Davis’ commitment to service goes beyond his geological expertise and memberships in professional societies. He has donated his knowledge and time to the Oklahoma State University Department of Geology, serving as an Adjunct Professor from 1983-2008. He has sponsored both undergraduate and graduate students, part-time and full-time employment, as a means to break into oil and gas company employment.

Davis served as a member of the Board of Governors (1980-1992), and as a Trustee of the Oklahoma State University Foundation (1981-1992), Chairman (1984-85) and (1991-92). The OSU Foundation established the Herbert G. and Shirley A. Davis President's Distinguished Scholarship in 1980 for a geology student at OSU. Davis was named a Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Arts and Sciences Alumni in 1990. He is a Life Member of the Geology Alumni Board.

Herb and Shirley reside in Edmond, Oklahoma, and have two daughters and four grandchildren: Teresa (Cobb) Pope and her husband Don of Norman, OK; Joe and George Cobb of Oklahoma City, OK; Linda Dorfman and her husband, Jan; Jason and Karen Dorman of Littleton, CO.