Women's Energy Council

Fathima Hussain joins us on today’s episode to talk about her passion for emerging markets, her positivity around the financial markets and the need for strong, flexible organisational structures that can enable diversity and inclusion as well as the importance of mentors and sponsors.

Find out more about the Women's Energy Council here. 

In this episode we catch up with Tracy Ellerington, Director Europe & Russia Operations at Solomon. In this wide-ranging conversation, we delved into how her upbringing, journey through education and early career led her to the top. Enjoy!

Find out more about the Women's Energy Council here. Tracy is also part of the Global 275 list of Female Influencers in Energy - find out more.

Dawn Farrell joins us to walk through her journey at TransAlta, which started back in 1985.  Throughout the episode, Dawn discusses how sometimes there is no such thing as work/life balance but if you stay true to yourself, can achieve work/life balance over a lifetime and career. She also stresses the importance of surrounding yourself with great leaders if you want to continue growing, learning, and challenging yourself.

Elisabeth Eljuri is an Independent Arbitrator and Energy Consultant. Until 2019, Ms. Eljuri was an executive with Sierra Oil & Gas, where she was the VP, Chief Negotiator and Chief Legal Counsel.  Prior to that, she practiced law for nearly three decades in the areas of energy/natural resources and infrastructure in two major international law firms.  She also held important industry positions such as President of the Texas-based Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN).  Elisabeth taught me a lot in the years we have known each other, one of those things we discuss in this episode – that being risk averse will never make you happy or help you to grow to your full potential.

Whitney Wickes joins us from Rocking WW Minerals, a private minerals & royalties company focused on the Powder river Basin. Early on, Whitney was focused on competitive sports where she was a professional skier and competitive triathlete and marathon runner. After suffering some career ending knee injuries, Whitney pivoted her passion into oil & gas where she began building up her career in Petroleum Management. Throughout the episode, Whitney talks about the importance of taking risks, work ethic, and exploring new opportunities in order to help jumpstart your career.  She also highlights the different perspectives, ideas, efficiencies, and technology innovation that can result from having different generations represented on your leadership team.

Stephanie Prior joins us from EY-Parthenon to discuss her unique career path and how her different experiences have given her an appreciation for diversity of thought and the importance of intangibles like trust & community for the long-term value creation of businesses.

Valentina Kretzschmar, Vice President Corporate Research

Julie Wilson, Research Director, Global Exploration

Amy Bowe, Head of Carbon Research 

from Wood Mackenzie...

All three came from very different backgrounds and have very different stories to tell but what unites them is their passion for the future of energy. It is the geopolitics, the magnitude of it as well as a bit of luck that drove and kept them loyal to this industry. What Valentina, Julie and Amy also have in common is the knowledge and evidence that diversity has a significant positive impact on businesses and especially when it comes to sustainability and the energy transition. Is there a correlation between diversity and success? Why have women been more climate change conscious? And what are the biggest lessons they have to share from their personal challenges? 

Listen to the episode to find out...

Maria Fernanda Suarez is a Minister of Energy of Colombia (from July 7th she no longer holds the post) but also held a CFO position at Ecopetrol (a National oil and gas company of Colombia) and a CIO of Porvenir, a Colombian pension fund. The 3 things I’ve learnt from our conversation:

1. Sometimes you can’t “have it all” and that’s ok, but you can take a break and come back even stronger which is what Maria proved with her decisions

2. Diversity requires an organised approach and a clear path. Maria’s goal is to have 50% in senior public sector filled by women in 10 years from the current 10% - an ambitious plan she discusses

3. We all have gender biases but we need to overcome them first as parents to achieve equality. Empowering girls is key to allow them join STEM jobs, become CEOs and entrepreneurs of the future

We also talked about an important leadership trait like being open-minded, an ability to listen respectfully and accept other people’s views, which is what helped Maria excel at her career. I hope you enjoy this episode...

Today I’m speaking to Emma Wild, the Upstream Lead for the UKI and Europe at Accenture. Emma is an industry leader with over 20 years of international experience within the energy sector, as well as financial services. Prior to Accenture, she was a Partner and Head of Upstream at KPMG in the UK. She began her career as a reservoir engineer with Santos, and then held positions with RISC Advisory, and Bank of Scotland.

Emma’s practical and pragmatic nature makes her a great adviser. But advice is not what people always need and I love Emma’s story about working to overcome this default position to fix problems but instead to coach and listen. Emma talked about what drove her to the next challenge as well as invaluable lessons on mentorship. Enjoy the episode…

Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani is currently a Managing Director and a Founder of EnergyInc Advisors. Rolake held several advisor, analyst and Head of Energy positions in West Africa for Control Risks, Eurasia Group, FBNQuest Merchant Bank and the IFU. The 3 things I’ve learnt from our conversation:

1. Don’t be afraid to take on the next challenge even if it makes you uncomfortable. This is how you will learn

2. Not knowing what you want in the beginning of your career is ok. Invest in self-reflection and follow your passion

3. What we post online is a bad reflection of who we are but this is what people will remember. Before acting with a keyboard in a public space, ask yourself: did you do everything in your power to resolve the situation?

I hope you enjoy her stories of humility and discovery as much as I did…