Newsgroup: it.discussioni.giallo
Titolo: Key Women in Energy

2004 Key Women in Energy-Americas recipients were recognized at a special ‘Chocolate Reception’ at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Honorees and executive committee members(*). (Front row, L-R): Jane Kyle Edgar, Schlumberger Ltd.; Kathleen Clarke; U.S. Department of Interior – Bureau of Land Management; Megan Gibbs, ABB; Jill Prince, Hitachi Consulting; Kim Clark, Entergy-Koch Trading; Cynthia Kase, Kase and Company; Leslie Haines, ‘Oil and Gas Investor’ magazine; Dr. Lisa Shevenell, Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy and Nevada Bureau of Mines & Geology; Claritza Zavarce, BP Venezuela; Johnnie Burton, U.S. Department of Interior – Minerals Management Service; Paula McCann Harris, Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development; Helen Burroughs, U.S. Department of Commerce – Office of Energy; Karyl McCurdy Lawson*, Attorney-at-Law and Energy Consultant; Pia-Angela Francini, Schlumberger Ltd.; Holly Koeppel, AEP; Alicia Warlick*, Jones School of Management, Rice Universtiy; and Kandy Lukats, Upstream Technology Consultants and Time Finders.
(back row, L-R): Deborah Fiorito*, 20-K Group; Maria Lizardo (presenter; 2003 honoree); Alison Dancey, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Georgia Baxter, J.H. Baxter & Company; Diane Webb, Hitachi Consulting*; Lois Hedg-peth, Centrica North America; Catherine Hughes, Schlumberger Canada; Sherry Hagerty (MacDonald), EPCOR Utilities; Deborah Resley, DR & Associates; Linda K. Rader, Rader Energy (founder/chair, Key Women in Energy); and Elisabeth Eljuri, Macleod Dixon.
Attending, but missing from photo: Presenter Marcy Grossman, Canadian Consulate General; Carlos Garibaldi*, The Scotia Group; Amy Myers Jaffe, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy; Jackie Lafontaine, Shell International Exploration and Production; Gerrit Maureau*, University of Newfoundland; Evangelia (Lea) Souliotis, Enchange; and Maryanne Tidwell, Canadian Consulate-Houston (sponsor).
 
 
“Persistence is the key to achieving any goal,” said Catherine Hughes, president of Schlumberger Canada, Ltd. Hughes was recognized in the ‘Wisdom’ category in Rader Energy’s 2nd annual Key Women in Energy-Americas awards for 2004.
 
She was one of 100 women who live and/or work in the western hemisphere (or who lived/worked there some time during 2001-2004) who were honored in Houston, Texas, on May 4 for excellence in their individual contributions to the energy sector or to the supporting services and programs that support the energy sector. The award is designed to recognize those individuals making a difference to their company, country or to the entire industry as a whole.
 
Awards were given in six categories representing personal characteristics: Leadership, Wisdom, Visionary, Pathfinders/Trailblazers, Innovation/Creativity and Potential. Honorees were selected from among approximately 360 nominations by a distinguished panel of judges that included energy insiders, dignitaries and past honorees from Newfoundland to Uruguay (see list).
 
Honorees include many of the top-ranked executives in Canada, the United States and South America. Nominations are now available in six languages – English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Arabic.
 
The result has been the presentation of exceptional talents that might not, in the past, have been formally recognized by corporations, organizations or entities that were proud of associates yet a bit wary of individual attention. One somewhat surprising result of these awards has been a subtle expressed interest by talented individuals looking to make career movements toward companies with past honorees. Corporate excellence shines through its most valued assets – employees.
 
Six women were recognized as ‘winners’ of their respective categories: Kristine A. Burnell, Vice President of Operational Excellence Mid East Region, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), stationed in Kuwait (‘Pathfinders/Trailblazers’); Holly Koeppel, Executive Vice President – Utilities East (until June 2004, Executive Vice President – Commerical Operations), American Electric Power (AEP), of Ohio (‘Leadership’); Alicia Izarraraz, Works General Manager, BP Amoco Chemical Company-Chocolate Bayou Works, in Alvin, Texas (‘Wisdom’); Vicki Colvin, Executive Director, Rice University Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory, and Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, in Houston (‘Innovation/Creativity’); Pia-Angela Francini, Business Development Manager-Well Production Services, Schlumberger Ltd., in Houston (‘Visionary’); and Megan C. Gibbs, OEM Marketing Representative, ABB, in Florida (‘Potential’). Burnell, Koeppel, Colvin and Izarraraz were each also recognized in March as honorees in the 2004 Key Women in Energy-Global awards.
 
The Key Women in Energy-Americas program is presented by Houston-based Rader Energy. Silver Sponsors include the Canadian Consulate-Houston, Bozell & Jacobs, Sullivan & Worcester and the 20-K Group. Bronze Sponsors include Raleigh-based ABB, GE, Kase & Company, Progress Energy, Walden Energy and YES, Inc.
 
The formal media host is Lachenaie-Quebec-based ElectricEnergyOnline.com electronic magazine. Supporting media includes Latin America Energy Report, published by WorldTrade Executive in association with Dow Jones. Related articles appear in ‘Diversity/Careers in Engineering and Information Technology’, ‘ElectricEnergyOnline.com’, the ‘Calgary Herald’, ‘Alberta Ventures’ magazine and on multiple corporate Web sites and publications.
 
Supporting organizations include ARPEL-Asociación Regional de Empresas de Petróleo y Gas Natural en Latinoamérica y el Caribe (Regional Association of Oil and Natural Gas Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean), the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI), the Comité Femmes de L’Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (Women’s Committee of the Order of Engineers of Quebec), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the Energy Forum, the Green Trading Summit 2004, ILNGA (International LNG Association), Lukoil Overseas Ltd., the National Energy Marketers Association, the North American T&D Conference & Exhibition, and Ottawa-based Nation Media, which arranged the 2004 awards through and in cooperation with its Canadian First Nations, Metis and/or Inuit suppliers.
 
Carolyn Ritchie, Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 2004 Program Vice-Chair arranged for a panel of executives, including many 2003 and 2004 Key Women in Energy-Americas honorees, to present ‘Key Women in Energy: Technology and Policy’ at OTC’s 2004 conference held in Houston the same week. The creative honors ceremony, a ‘Chocolate Reception’, attracted 125 diplomats, executives and honorees. It was held in conjunction with ‘Chocolate: The Exhibition’ a Houston Museum of Natural Science exhibit highlighting Mayan culture. Presenting awards with Linda Rader were Marcy Grossman, Consul and Senior Commissioner of the Canadian Consulate General and Venezuela-based Maria Lizardo, a 2003 ‘Americas’ and 2002 global honoree.
 
Nearly half the 2004 ‘Americas’ honorees were admitted in the ‘Leadership’ category from nearly 200 nominations submitted for consideration for that category alone. So many women were proposed for their outstanding leadership skills, in fact, that the category will be split for 2005 into ‘Leadership’ and ‘Teamwork’, the latter to identify excellence in those who both lead and manage an entire cohesive team that works effectively in unison.
 
Contrary to some long-standing myths, there are now so many outstanding female energy leaders and executives that a new rule was implemented for future years, commencing with 2005 -women recognized for two consecutive years will be ineligible to stand for consideration the following year. This rotation will provide the opportunity to recognize specific accomplishments and acknowledge the depth and breadth of talent across the western hemisphere. There was a six-fold increase in South American honorees from 2003 and a nearly 30 percent increase in Canadian honorees.
 
As an individual honors program instead of a corporate recognition, no limit was placed on the selection committee for the number of employees admitted from a single company. Therefore, several companies had multiple employees recognized in 2004: Schlumberger (6), Shell (5), BP (4), GE Energy (4), the United States government (6), ABB (3) and ConocoPhillips (3). Two employees each were recognized from US-based firms American Electric Power (AEP), Calpine Corporation, and the combination of Halliburton and Kellogg Brown & Root, and from BC Hydro & Power Authority in Vancouver, Canada, and Macleod Dixon in Caracas, Venezuela.
 
There is an increasing acknowledgement of the international flavor of energy among this multi-national, multi-lingual and well educated group. There is a noticeable movement and placement of executives in both the natural transition of leadership and recognition of outstanding performances. For example, prior to her current assignment in Kuwait, Kristine Burnell (‘Pathfinders/Trailblazers’) spent six month living in the Presidential Palace in Baghdad. Paula McCann Harris (‘Wisdom’) of Schlumberger worked on every continent except Antarctica. Elizabeth Sue ‘Susie’ Crawford (‘Pathfinders/Trailblazers’) of Fluor Corp. is based in Houston, yet lives and works out of Tengiz, Kazakhstan. Xenia Baumgarten, General Manager, Lukoil Overseas Colombia Ltd., in Bogotá, opened Colombia and South America for Russian oil giant Lukoil.
 
On the personal side, as they balance business and personal lives, a growing number of husbands manage household for this year’s honorees. Several honorees have been blessed with children this year. Lisa Bodensteiner, (‘Wisdom’), Executive Vice President and General Counsel, had her eighth child in 2004.
 

Sherry Hagerty - EPCOR