Benchmarking Women's Leadership

Women in the Oil Patch: Plying a Male-Centered Trade

Houston Chronicle
Monica Hatcher
October 27, 2010

As a woman in the energy industry, Heather Adam has endured catcalls on jobs at chemical plants, sneers about being the token female engineer and other jabs about her gender. But over the years, she's learned that confidence and competence are powerful antidotes to stereotypes and old-fashioned sexism.

Vestiges of an old boys' club still linger in the industry. The Fortune 500 lists only one female CEO of an energy company — Lynn Elsenhans of refiner-retailer Sunoco.
But Adam, now a planning engineer at El Paso, a Houston-based pipeline and natural gas company, said she sees few obstacles to what women can do in the oil patch if they have the skills and determination.

On Wednesday, she and about 600 women attended the Women's Global Leadership Conference in Energy & Technology, one of the largest energy conferences in the world dedicated to exploring women's role in the male-dominated industry.

Running through today at the Westin Galleria, the conference features technical presentations along with discussions about career development and leadership skills.
Several of the technical presentations focused on the natural gas boom in the U.S. Castlen Moore Kennedy, manager of government affairs at Apache Corp., talked about driving a natural gas-fueled car from Austin to Boston as part of her master's thesis.

Leadership talks included tips on building rewarding careers and achieving work-life balance.

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